Gasconade County R-2 Board of Education on Jan. 20 discussed the need to replace the Owensville High School gym floor due to an incident in June, where a company that was contracted to replace the bleachers accidentally hit a waterline.

“It was the perfect storm,” Superintendent Dr. Jeri Kay Hardy told board members. “When they were constructing the gym, they drilled through the wall and perfectly hit the waterline.”

Maintenance Director Gary Pohlmann further explained the situation.

“Back in June, when they hit the waterline, there was a considerable amount of water,” Pohlmann said. “It got on the floor, but worse, went under the floor.”

The wooden floor in the gym was installed circa 1987 when the gym was built. Pohlmann explained that the floor is sunken, and they can’t dry out the water that has collected beneath the floorboards.

“We were hoping over time that where it had warped would work its way out, but it’s actually getting worse as we go, because there is water trapped under the floor with no way to get it out,” Pohlmann said.

They have found a low spot in the same area where the water is trapped.

“At first, it was under the bleachers, but now it’s under the playing surface, by about seven feet,” Pohlmann said. “So I had the representative from Missouri Hardwood Floor, who is the contractor doing the middle school gym floor, come and we checked out the moisture level on the floor.”

He said a maple wood floor should have about eight or nine percent moisture.

“Those areas where it’s warped are 17 percent,” Pohlmann said.

The district contacted its insurance provider, MUSIC, and started the claim process.

“I’ve got a quote for the repair of the floor, which the insurance has approved that amount,” Pohlmann said. “To repair the floor, you are going to have to go about one-third of the floor that all has to come out and be redone.”

The floor was installed in 1987, and according to the installer, its life expectancy is about 40 years, and the OHS floor is about 39 years old.

“The discussion would be, do we go ahead and replace the whole floor? We are already doing about two-thirds of the floor and the whole thing has to be resurfaced, even if we patch it,” Pohlmann continued. “It all has to be sanded down, all has to be sealed, even if we patch it.”

Hardy said the district is looking at $92,000 to patch one-third to two-thirds of the floor, which the insurance agency has approved.

“To replace it all is around $240,000 to $242,000,” Hardy said. “We will have to get bids. This is just asking you all if you want to replace just one-third of the floor or do you want to put in the budget?”

Board Member Jenni Crosby asked about the company that damaged the waterline.

“Why aren’t they paying for it?” Crosby asked.

Pohlmann said he called the contractor, Heartland Seating, located in Shawnee, Kan., and was told it was an “unforeseen” problem.

“In their defense, they don’t know where the waterlines were and we didn’t know where the waterlines were,” Pohlmann said.

Board Member Debbie Landolt asked if they had insurance to cover mistakes like this.

“They do, but the argument will be that ‘the school never provided us with the location of those water lines,” Pohlmann said.

Hardy said the school doesn’t have anything detailing the location of the waterlines.

Pohlmann said they know where one is now. The waterline they hit was between the girls’ restroom and the wall. They were drilling into the wall to install the bleachers.

“Just by dumb luck, they drilled right into it,” Pohlmann said.

Hardy said they had air on the floor immediately and all water cleaned off the surface, but it had already sunk beneath the surface, along the wall.

The water went under the floor, and there is no way to get it out. There is probably water still under the floor, which explains the warp levels.

As the Owensville Middle School (OMS) gym floor is currently being replaced, and the Gerald Elementary School gym floor was also recently replaced, board member Kari Nolting asked if the district is concerned about having to reinstall three new gym floors at the end of their life expectancies.

“There’s only so many times you can sand down a gym floor,” Nolting said. “About the last time we did it was either the last time or the next time was the last time.”

Pohlmann added that there are spots in the floor that are becoming concerning as well, which are considered minor dead spots. He added that he was attending school when the gym was built, and the technology used to install it is obsolete and not used today.

“We are getting to the end of the life of that floor,” Pohlmann said. “Eventually, we will have to do something with it. Do you just want to do the one-third, and then, in time, we put that in and go from that point, because you don’t want to replace the whole floor at that point. In a way, it is kind of forcing our hand.”

Board President Glenn Ely opened the floor for discussion, agreeing with other board members that the floor was going to have to go.

“We’ve introduced a life cycle of what the replacement is,” Glenn agreed with Nolting.

Pohlmann said he doesn’t know what the life cycle of the floors is now, but he thinks it is longer. He added that if they want to replace the floor, they will have to send out a request for bids, and they will already have about $92,700 to go toward the overall price.

“He gave us a budget of $240,000 to $260,000 to do that whole thing,” Pohlmann said.

Hardy said they may want to start that process.

“The tricky part will be the schedule,” Pohlmann said. “We are going to have two gym floors down at one time.”

With the OMS gym floor already moving toward a spring replacement, and the OHS gym floor scheduled for repairs, they will have to be creative about gym space. The board agreed it was a good thing that the Owensville Elementary School (OES) and GES gym floors are ready to go.

The board agreed to begin the RFP process to go out for bid.