St. Helens School District sues over leaky roof

District says contractor owes $275,000 for shoddy work on Columbia City School

By Cecelia Haack

The South County Spotlight, Mar 4, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

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The St. Helens School District is suing Lease Crutcher Lewis, LLC for $275,000 for the removal, replacement and repair of a leaking roof on Columbia City School.

The district alleges that the roof installed by Fischer Contracting, Inc. a subcontractor to Lease Crutcher, was faulty and resulted in a leaking roof at the school.

Terri Burns, operations manager for St. Helens School District said the roof was installed in 1999 and began leaking two to three years later. By then, Fischer Contracting was out of business.

Fischer Contracting’s Construction Contractor Board (CCB) license expired on May 25, 2001. On June 6, 2002, the CCB filed a dispute resolution final order for $502.96. The amount has not been paid by the company.

The lawsuit contends that Fischer Contracting did not install a weather tight roof and that there are at least 13 areas that are insufficient, some that are building code violations. The 13 areas include: inadequate nails or fastens used to attach plywood decking that was installed in violation of the manufacturer’s specifications and building code; sheet metal valleys were not secured to the roof by industry standards; fasteners in the valley areas were installed in improper locations; underlayment protection in the valleys did not meet building code; waterproof sheeting over the edge of the valley flashing was improperly installed; fascia boards were left exposed; ridge and soffit vents were not installed; there are gaps between shingles; and the new roof was installed over the existing roof and flashing sections were improperly lapped in violation of code.

The lawsuit alleges Lease Crutcher failed to properly supervise and control roofing sub-contractor Fischer Contracting. The district also alleges Lease Crutcher failed to fix or respond to the roof problems after timely notice of the problems was given.

Bart Ricketts general manager of Lease Crutcher said Lease Crutcher contacted a neutral third party that inspected the roof two times. He said the company contacted the District with an offer to meet with them and to correct some of the work. The next thing he knew the district filed a lawsuit.

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