Water damage behind the walls? Not possible . . .

M.A. Mortenson Cos. executive John Wood announced Friday that the gutter on the $1.1 billion building was leaky and needed about $4 million in repairs.

The leak sprung on the inner wall of the snow gutter on the roof of the building. The work will affect about 30 percent of the roof, most noticeably on the large eastern face where the black panels will come down.

Last fall, workers noticed dampness on the parapet wall and some pooling of water in the gutter, Wood said, adding that the water had yet to seep into the inside of the building.

“We’re happy they found it now; stuff happens on projects,” Wood said.

In coming weeks, the upper portion of the black face on the eastern side of the building will come down so crews can replace the defective vapor barrier. Mortenson will also need to temporarily take down the U.S. Bank logo to fix the barrier, Wood said.

As many homeowners know, determining the source and path of leaks is tricky. Wood said it took months of testing to diagnose the problem and then determine a suitable fix.

The cost doesn’t affect the Minnesota Vikings or the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority; Wood said Mortenson and the design team would pay for the fix.

So what about our consultant’s report that we never got to see? Or how about the models we were going to see? That’s just it, we don’t know IF or WHAT kind of (water) damage the poorly sided Events Center has. On top of that, we got a settlement that we are NOT using to fix it. At this point, I couldn’t agree more with councilor Jamison that it is time to tear a hole in the wall and see if there is any damage.

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