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Coffee County Director of Maintenance Rick Soucy brought before the Capital Outlay March 2 a proposal to have a moisture scan that will assess the condition of the Coffee County Administrative Plaza roof so a long term solution can be found.

Soucy was approached by County Mayor Judd Matheny to develop a long-term plan concerning the roof.  He told the commission that when the roof was replaced seven or eight years ago, adding the now-defunct local company with the lowest bid applied a really bad product on the roof. That product failed and the business also went under. 

Soucy said he has spent $20,000 last year and this year on leak repairs. Before a plan can be put together, state contract roofer Tremco requires the moisture scan. He told the committee that hopefully the company can restore the roof and give the county a 12 to 15-year warranty. If the test shows extensive damage, it could mean a full tear off.

Soucy did not have firm estimates on prices, but a restore could be $800,000 to be broken into three phases. To completely tear the whole roof off and redo it could cost $2.5 million.

The scan, which will cost $6,700, was approved March 2 by the Budget and Finance Committee to come from a capital projects line item. It will assess if water is finding its way into the layers of roofing down into the insulation. A leak could be present but not showing because it’s soaking into the insulation.

“The longer it sits the more damage it’s going to cause,” Soucy said. “The company won’t put anything on top of the roof that’s on there now without knowing for sure that there’s not water inside the roof,” Soucy said.

He was optimistic about a restore job, but, according to Soucy, Tremco would not speculate on the roof until after the scan is complete.  

Tremco won the contract for the state for roofing through OMNIA PARTNERS state contracts.