Here’s the latest regarding the ongoing renovation project of the Historic Green County Courthouse in downtown Monroe. 

At the last meeting of the Green County Board, project engineers shared details on the challenges of the project, tactics used to overcome challenges, and progress to date.

If you’ve been following this series of articles, you’ll recall that this started out just as a roofing project. There was no indication as to the extent of the damage to the building until the scaffolding went up and workers were able to see things up close. They soon discovered bricks crumbling behind metal cornices, areas with soft wood, and frost in between the layers of bricks in the walls.

As explained by the engineer, the overall challenge with a building of this age is “dissimilar materials with different types of decay going on.” The integrity of the structure has been impacted by moisture, rot, and simply the passage of time — since being built in 1891. Engineers found evidence of isolated repairs done in the past, but this is the first wholescale renovation in more than 130 years.

As the scaffolding rose, workers noted problems at or near the roofline around the entire building. In general, they found fewer problems on the north side, because during winter that side experiences fewer temperature variations. But winter on the east side means more damage caused by a continuous cycle of freeze and thaw, alternating between cold nights and sunny days. In addition, a building of any age is impacted over time based on conditions both outside (weather, sun exposure) and inside (heating, air conditioning).

A giant crane has been on site this week on the east side of the building. Workers are removing some of the large limestone blocks from up high on the gable. The blocks sit temporarily on wooden pallets on the street while masons work up above. They remove bad areas of brick until they reach solid spots, and replace bad bricks as they come across them. The goal is to re-establish the bonds between the bricks and the stones.

When the building was built, the framing of the roof system (wood) was not attached to the walls (brick). Some areas of interior framing needed to be shored up before shingling could even begin. Slate shingles started going on in mid-February. Workers have been making steady progress, and work has continued despite the cold weather. 

At the county board meeting, members voted to approve some “change orders” to proceed with extra costs for some of the work to be done.  More changes and expenses will be coming. The clock tower has not yet been examined, and there are other additional areas that have not yet been looked at.

The original bid for just the roof was $1.79 million. So, what if the county had just decided to put on the new roof and ignore the problems underneath? Without improvements to the walls, project engineers predict that masonry would be falling to the ground in less than five years...

Next month, I’ll be switching to a tourism-related topic, but I’ll be back after that with renovation updates and some information on Renaissance Roofing, the company working on the project.

— Noreen Rueckert is the director for Green County Tourism, director for Green County Cheese Days, and committee co-chair for Concerts on the Square with Main Street. She can be reached at noreen@tds.net.