Urbandale Library Has Leaky Roof

Urbandale's 11-year-old library has a leaky roof, which could cost $30,000 to $40,000 to repair, city officials said.

Julie Wells, Urbandale's new library director, will be discussing repair costs with the Urbandale Library Board of Trustees at its 6:15 p.m. meeting Sept. 26 at the library.

Julie Kroll, president of the board of trustees, said the library experienced leaks a couple of winters ago from ice dams building up on the roof. The leaks were confined to two isolated spots in the children area and in an adult area. None of the library's collection was damaged. Those leaks were repaired out of the existing budget.

But Urbandale City Engineer Dave McKay said the current leaks will be more expensive to fix.

McKay said he and an architect looked at the most recent leak at the entrance to the children’s story time area.

“That leak has more to do with the way that area of the roof was constructed, and could run between $30,000 and $40,000 to repair,” he said.

The roof is no longer under warranty, he said.

Urbandale City Manager A.J. Johnson said it's not uncommon for problems to surface in new buildings after about 10 years and construction warranties usually are only good for a year.

The city has $100,000 set aside for carpeting replacement, said Kroll. Part of that money could be used to repair the roof.

“We believe the carpet will not have to be replaced for a few more years,” she said.

Wells said the board has asked her to make repair recommendations. “It’s not anything that has immediate urgency, and we don’t know as yet what we will be doing,” she said.

McKay said officials are updating building maintenance plans on all city buildings.