Here’s how deteriorating beams are being repaired at Taft, Harding

CEDAR RAPIDS — Repairs are being made to deteriorating wood beams at Taft and Harding middle schools in Cedar Rapids after some of the columns were determined last month to be structurally unstable — forcing students out of those areas.

Two domes — one at Taft and one at Harding — are expected to be repaired by the end of December. The domes were closed as a safety precaution, and students were moved to other parts of the buildings.

“We’re doing all we can as quickly as we can,” said Chris Gates, Cedar Rapids schools’ buildings and grounds manager. “We understand the hardship we’re putting on the school, the staff and students, and our main priority is to hurry up and get this done to get back to normal as quickly as possible.”

Crews from McComas-Lacina Construction of Iowa City are working to install metal plates to the wood beam structures, and weld them to metal anchors attached to the concrete footings around the domes.

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There are two domes at each of the middle schools with 16 beams supporting each dome.

“We won’t have a problem with this part of the columns ever again. I can comfortably say the base of the columns will outlast the rest of the building,” Gates said.

Gates called the metal plates — made of red iron steel — “flyswatters” because that’s what they resemble. Each metal plate has 25 screws that are then welded. A C-channel — basically a metal rectangle — attaches the metal plate to the metal anchors attached to the concrete footings.

Combined, these weigh 500 pounds each, said Brandon Hove with McComas-Lacina Construction. Two metal plates and C-channels will be added to each beam on either side.

From there, the wood that makes up the column, which Gates said has become “really soft” and “compressed,” will be taken out and replaced with a steel tube.

On Oct. 11, school officials announced the evacuation and closure of Taft’s east dome after an inspection found it was unstable. Two weeks later, the Cedar Rapids Community School District announced it was closing the second dome at Taft, 5200 E. Ave NW, and both domes at Harding Middle School, 4801 Golf St NE. The two middle schools were constructed in 1965 using the same design that features two domes.

Gates said the buildings had a great design for “warm, dry climates like Arizona and California.” In Iowa, however, with the wood beams exposed to a range of temperatures and rain and snow, it is starting to “split and crush,” he said.

Creating the metal “flyswatters” to shore up the beams was the solution recommended to the district by engineers, Gates said. It’s detailed to include how thick each metal plate needs to be and how many bolts are needed.

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The closure of the Taft and Harding domes is impacting more than 1,000 sixth through eighth grade students in the Cedar Rapids district. Outside the schools are fences around the domes with signs that read “do not enter.”

Band and orchestra students at Taft are practicing in the school’s front entryway. Lunch is eaten in the hallway and some classrooms. PE classes also are being held in the library or outside, weather permitting.

Later this month, music classes will move to a portable classroom being put up in front of Taft. There will be two portables with a total of four classrooms.

At Harding, renovations were made to create additional classroom space to accommodate students.

The domes will be repaired with funds from the district’s Physical Plant and Equipment Levy, a capital projects fund for the purchase and improvement of grounds, purchase, construction and remodeling of buildings and major equipment purchases, including technology.

The district does not yet have a cost estimate for the repairs, although Gates said it will be “a lot more than what I want it to be.”

Hove, with McComas-Lacina Construction, said the company’s workforce has experience in structural work and understands the urgency.

“The school district’s in a tough spot,” he said. “We like that we’re here to be able to help.”

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