SAD 25 explores roofing options

By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
    STACYVILLE — A new roof may be in the works for the Katahdin Middle/High School. Members of the SAD 25 school board heard a presentation from Richard Saucier of D&S Engineering of Millinocket Wednesday evening at their regular monthly meeting.
    According to Superintendent John Doe, the district needs to start considering the replacement of the school roof at some point in the near future.
    “We’ve done a preliminary study so the school board would have an idea of what needs to be done should we replace the roof,” Doe said.
    The existing roof is poorly insulated, with an R-factor of four, which allows heat to escape through the ceiling, Doe said. That heat loss does have its benefits, however, as it often melts the snow that collects on the flat roof so that it does not need clearing on a regular basis.
    “But that was back in a time when fuel was 15-20 cents a gallon,” he said.
    Simply adding more insulation to the roof is not feasible, Doe said, since it was unknown if the building could support the additional weight.
    “Also, we’re talking about the original roof that’s about 35 years old,” he said. “If we do put a new roof on, we want to add insulation, but we need to be sure that the structure could handle the increased snow load.”
    Doe said he thought the building underwent structural upgrades in the 1990s, but has yet to uncover that documentation.
    “This is just something that I brought up to the school board,” Doe said. “Maybe we don’t need to do it this year, but they need to start thinking about the project.”
    Since the project is only in the fact-finding stages, Doe said he did not have any price estimates for a roof replacement project, but did add that it would likely need to be a 20-year bond issue.