Good News: Urbandale Library Roof Repair Is Less Than Expected

The Urbandale Library Board of Trustees got some good news last week: The structural problems with the roof around the children's story room can be fixed for $16,750.

Last fall, initial estimates were that the problem could cost $30,000 to $40,000 to fix.

Those estimates caused the board to pause, partly because the building isn't that old and because the library needs to replace its carpeting, which could cost $100,000 or more.

Dave McKay, Urbandale city engineer, had been helping Library Director Julie Wells and the board of trustees sort out the issue.

McKay said Monday that the early estimates on the roof repairs came from the general contractor who built the library. McKay said he wasn't completely comfortable with that opinion, so after the Library Board of Trustees expressed concern over the cost, he asked FEH Associates Inc., Architects and Engineers, who had an architect involved with the original construction and a building envelope specialist to look at the project.

The problem is caused by damage from heavy snow on the roof, specifically around a cupola, that juts up from the sloped metal roof on the south side of the library, McKay said. That cupola is the roof of the story room. 

The solution involves installing snow guards on the roof to slow some of the snow as it slides off the room, adjusting some downspouts, and adding a rubber roof around the cupola where the snow and water flow. 

McKay said the rubber roof won't be visible from the ground.

McKay said the roof doesn't leak during heavy rains, just heavy snow, so it hasn't been leaking recently. He expected the work will be done in one to two months.