Structural repairs on college campus, including asbestos abatement, could total close to $1 million

October 22, 2009

At Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri, the Sverdrup building’s roof is leaking, and the repair costs are astronomical. The building is relatively new, having been constructed in 1987. At the time it was built, it was claimed that the roof would need no repairs until it had stood for 50 years. But now, the repairs needed on the roof, including asbestos work, total at least $1 million.

"The roof has been a problem for a lot of years," said David Stone, the director of facilities planning and management. "There’s a lot of water damage, and a lot of the materials have failed prematurely…The material is so brittle that if you go on the roof to find a leak you break six to eight more shingles."

Because some asbestos-containing material is present in the roof, special precautions must be taken in order to meet Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards. Exposure to asbestos has been linked to mesothelioma, a rare cancer that affects only a few thousand people each year in the United States. There is no known cure. The disease typically lies dormant for up to fifty years before symptoms emerge, and the majority of patients lose their battle with this cancer less than two years following diagnosis.

"There is no risk to anybody," said Tim O’Connell, president of RMT Roofing and Waterproofing Consultants, the company hired to oversee the construction. "The personal exposure limit threshold is not even near being met," O’Connell added.

"We had air monitors on the roof collecting air samples to ascertain the amount of asbestos in the air," explained Ryan O’Connell, a consultant from RMT. "The tiles are not to be broken," O’Connell said. "The dumpster is lined with plastic and wetted to keep the dust down."

The roof project will be completed by the end of the year.