Supervisors hear estimate for courthouse tuckpointing

The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors is considering a quote for tuck pointing to the Montgomery County courthouse.
The supervisors recently met with Ben South, owner of Andrew Tuckpointing, LLC. South said plans were to do portions of the courthouse, but after examination, a more extensive project was needed.
“It’s my professional opinion, after examining the brick, that tuckpointing is needed on all of the brick on the courthouse, save for the west side. Most of the mortar joints on the brick, if not all, are starting to separate from the brick, which is causing the mortar to fall out. Whoever tuckpointed the building before didn’t put it in quite deeply enough,” South said. “This will cause water issues with the building over time, and if we just do miscellaneous tuckpointing, the old mortar will continue to deteriorate and be a problem down the road.”
If the supervisors approved the project, South said the tuckpointing would last for roughly 30 years before needing work again.
County Auditor Jill Ozuna asked if the west side of the courthouse needed a full tuckpointing. South said he examined the tuckpointing closely and it still was in good condition, requiring only miscellaneous tuckpointing.
Work also included the northwest chimney. While it did not need a full tuckpointing, joints did need some repair.
“We can negotiate a multi-year contract if that’s what the county wants. We’ve don that with churches and other courthouses, so we could do the west elevation and north elevation one year, and then the east and the south and the bell tower. We know the work is time consuming,” advised South.
The current quote was for the entire project. If it was split into phases, the supervisors were told it may increase slightly due to materials costs. South estimated the total time frame of the project would take around four months, as every single mortar joint needed to be ground out and flushed by hand, and replaced.
The north elevation repair was estimated at $73,319. The cost was $43,219 for the east elevation repair, $61,310 for the south elevation repair, and $28,925 for the west elevation. Cost of the clock tower repair was $175,496. The total estimated cost was $382,29.
Supervisors Chair Mike Olson said the county would need to be taken under advisement.
“I see we have 30 days to decide whether we want to do the project in phases when we have more money, or bond for the project to do the whole thing. It’s something we’re going to have to talk about,” Olson said.
No action was taken.