Northfield, Minn.––Carleton College is re-roofing a portion of the planned Arts Union facility, located at the site of the former Northfield Middle School.

According to Steve Spehn, director of facilities at Carleton, the roof of the 1910 portion of the building is in poor condition and is leaking. The repair work is needed immediately to protect the structure and the wonderful building, he said.

Spehn said plans include having scaffolding placed around the entire building, with that phase having started on Monday, Aug. 10.  Crews will start tearing off of the existing roof on Wednesday, Aug. 12. A dumpster will be placed on the southeast corner of the site. The contractor will use a chute to remove materials from the roof and to place into the dumpster. This will minimize the amount of dust at the site.  The dumpster will have a tarp placed over it each night to prevent materials from blowing out. A crane will visit the site for a few days early in the project to place materials on top of the scaffolding. Gutters are being replaced as part of this project as well.  Work is scheduled to be complete prior to Defeat of Jesse James Days, which starts on Sept. 9.

The contractor is Berwald Roofing out of St. Paul.  They expect to have 5-8 people on site performing the work.  They have been instructed to park at the middle school lot on the east side of the site adjacent to Central Park.

According to Spehn, the College is also in the process of scheduling a limited amount of masonry repairs that it believes is becoming critical to prevent additional decay to the building. Most of this work is located at the northwest corner of the site associated with the 1934 auditorium entrance. McGough Construction will perform the work and the College will provide updates once the schedule is developed.

Any questions regarding the projects should be directed to Spehn at (507)222-4271 or at sspehn@carleton.edu.