An overlooked warranty was a source of confusion during Tuesday morning’s Allen County Commission meeting, when commissioners met with Josh Heller and Zack Morrison of the Independence-based H&H Roofing and Restoration LLC, to discuss possible solutions for leaky roofs at the courthouse and jail.
After H&H’s thorough presentation and a proposal of $550,000 in total roof repairs, commissioners learned the roofs were under warranty with Boren’s Roofing of Iola.
The 15-year warranty for the jail has five years remaining and the 20-year warranty for the courthouse has two years remaining, Cory Boren told commissioners.
Neither commissioners nor Ron Holman, county maintenance director, were aware of the existing contract with Boren Roofing.
“I’m a little confused,” said Commissioner Jerry Daniels. If the roofs are under warranty, “how come we’re not up there working on them right now?”
H&H Roofing’s Morrison explained how they were drawn into the equation.
“Ron had reached out due to a leak in the district court offices,” noted Morrison. “I’ve been on the roof a couple times and did a quick little patch repair, as well as some inspections.” Based on these inspections, Morrison said the courthouse roof “has about three to five years left. It shows some storm damage.” He explained, however, that there doesn’t appear to be enough damage to file an insurance claim.
Morrison advised commissioners to replace the jail’s roof, because of what appears to be trapped moisture.
Morrison said the district court roof could be repaired for $8,500; both roofs for $550,000.
The commissioners took no action, telling the company representatives, “We’ll think about it and maybe figure out something next week, on an emergency basis, for the district court,” said Daniels.
COMMISSIONERS then learned of the existing contract with Boren’s Roofing.
“We did these roofs and we have been made aware of a couple leaks that have been going on for a while,” Boren said. Between last year and this year, Boren said he had only received two calls concerning the roofs.
The most recent was from former Sheriff Bryan Murphy, concerning the jail. “We were down there within 10 minutes,” he said. “They had an ice dam. It had got in behind a drain and started backing up inside. We got that fixed and I have not heard from Ron since.”
Boren noted that when he gets a call from Holman, they are typically on the roof within a day or two.
According to Boren, the jail’s original roof had leaks from the very beginning. “They couldn’t get the original company back to honor their warranty,” he said. “In 2015, we did a modified cap overlay to give it some more years.” He explained that when a layer is placed on top of another like this, it can trap some moisture. This moisture leads to blisters, or gas pockets.
“Those are fixable,” said Boren. “Those are able to be cut and a new piece of modified cap placed over those areas.”
