Roof construction on the Holmes Student Center is nearly complete.

The project, which cost approximately $420,000 for new insulation and $25,000 for new exhaust fans, was expected to be completed by Nov. 1. Because of interferences by Mother Nature, minor setbacks have caused the project’s completion to be pushed back a few weeks.

“The project was expected to be completed by Nov. 1, 2001, however, the wet weather in October has delayed the work almost four weeks,” said Tom Wroblewski, staff architect for NIU and designer for the HSC project. “Currently, the project is expected to be done Nov. 30, 2001, weather permitting.”

Roof construction, which began in mid-July, was initiated because of leaks that were causing tiles to fall from the HSC ceilings.

“The existing roof was in very poor condition,” Wroblewski said. “It had been repaired on several occasions, but continued to leak and cause damage to the interior of HSC.”

Wroblewski said that special asphalt was used to avoid major disruption to the building.

“The fact that there are several restaurants in HSC made the roof replacement project a challenge,” Wroblewski said. “If we used the standard hot asphalt, the unpleasant smell created would have had a very negative impact on the center and everyone that uses the building.”

The construction company used asphalt that has very minimal odor and is installed at temperatures between 60 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Hot asphalt, which normally would have been used, would have required a hot kettle to heat the asphalt to a temperature of about 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

Wroblewski said the construction company repairing the roof has had an excellent performance and has done all they can to keep the project on schedule.

“They are doing a great job, it is a shame that they have had so many delays due to weather,” Wroblewski said. “To try and catch up, they have worked a few Saturdays.”

HSC director Judd Baker said that the replacement of the roof has fixed the leaks they were having.

“I think it solved the problem of our leaking,” Baker said. “We’ve had a couple of downpours and we experienced no leaking at all in any of those areas that they have worked in.”

Wroblewski said typical roofs in the Midwest need to be replaced every 20 to 40 years. The old roof on the student center was installed in the 1970s.

“Without the leaking, you don’t have the damage to the building,” Baker said. “People were walking sometimes in areas where ceiling tiles might fall.”

Baker said that now people don’t have to worry about the distraction.

“The leaks were in public areas,” Baker said. “It just detracted from having a good meeting and now that’s not the case.”