One day after the Town of Herndon was blanketed with more than 20 inches of snow, the cement floors of the as yet unfinished addition to St. Joseph's school were littered with shards of wood and metal after the large pitched roof collapsed in on itself.
The roof came down at approximately 11:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 17, according to Linda Shovlain, spokesperson for the Arlington Diocese.
Nobody was at the construction site, Shovlain said, at the time of the collapse. The collapse came five days before warmer weather and rain mixed with the two-foot supply of week-old snow to topple roofs, like the one at Floris Elementary, across the region.
The still-under construction 15,000- to 18,000-square-foot structure was estimated to cost $7.5 million once completed. Ground was broken on the addition one year ago February. According to Scott Houston, the project's contractor, the meeting room was 95 percent complete. Contractors are currently working with insurance investigators and the architect to determine what went wrong, Shovlain said.
"The way we look at it is that it was a blessing in disguise, any other scenario would have been horrific," said Danny Rucker, the St. Joseph's facilities supervisor. "We were extremely lucky."
Initially, the town building inspector, John Orrison, and structural engineers had condemned the entire structure. But, by Friday, Feb. 21, Orrison had lifted all restrictions to the church, other than where the roof had crashed.
The restrictions were lifted after the church successfully re-established heating, electricity and its fire system to the entire complex.
<b>BEFORE THE COLLAPSE</b>, the new addition was set to be dedicated on March 19, or the feast of St. Joseph's. Because construction was not expected to be complete by mid to late March, the grand opening of the hall was scheduled for April 10, Rucker said.
Rucker stressed that it didn't matter how long the investigation was going to take. "Our number one priority is safety, if we had to be
closed for months, we would," Rucker said. "Throughout this process, our first priority is to make our new parish hall 100 percent safe for the children."
The new structure was to have housed a new wing for the St. Joseph's kindergarten class, a multi-purpose meeting room and offices for both the church and the school, according to Shovlain.
Houston, the vice president of the Falls Church-based Chamberlain Construction Company, said that his client, the Arlington Diocese, did not want him to talk about St. Joseph's fallen roof. Houston did, however, say that the meeting room was just one of a three wing addition to the facility and that he "fully intends on going forth with finishing the other two."
As the investigation continues, Rucker said he is anticipating some difficult moments. "These upcoming months are going to be challenging," he said. "We absolutely have to make sure we don't repeat history here."