Work on the $420,000 re-roofing of a section of the Holmes Student Center is expected to be completed in three weeks.

Students without plumbing will no longer be able to satisfy their showering needs by heading into the Holmes Student Center with a washcloth every time it rains.

The leaks that previously plagued the building on its lower level, east of the tower, are nearly repaired with the addition of a new roof.

Construction is set to be completed in the next three weeks.

“It leaked badly,” said Norm Jenkins, assistant director of the HSC. Jenkins added that any time it stormed, meetings held in the building would get unwanted surprises.

Because of the weather in the Midwest, roofs usually need to be replaced every 20 to 40 years.

The last time the roof on the HSC was repaired was in the 1970s, said Tom Wroblewski, staff architect for NIU and designer for the current HSC project.

W.R. Kelso Roofing, of Alsip, was brought in by NIU to complete the project. The cost, according to Wroblewski, is $15 per square foot. At 28,000 square feet, the cost for the current section comes out to $420,000.

Prices roofing companies will charge per square foot varies according to the type of roof and the height of the building.

Because the risk factor increases and special equipment is needed, the prices become more expensive as construction heights get higher, Wroblewski said.

“If they were doing work on top of the tower it would probably run about $30 a square foot,” Wroblewski said. “This is a pretty good average for a three-story building.”

After the completion of the current section of the roof, the HSC will be repaired in other ways as well. The next step is to repair the area over the Duke Ellington Ballroom. In the future, roofs above the Regency Room and Carl Sandburg Auditorium will see work.

Despite the ample amount of focus the HSC roof is currently receiving, it isn’t the only roof on campus with problems.

“There are roofing problems all over campus,” Jenkins said.

He added that the current timing just happened to work out so it can be fixed.

Over the summer, construction crews repaired the roofs over all four wings of Douglas Hall and the roof above Neptune East.

Future construction plans for the HSC include renovating the bathrooms to make them handicap accessible.