CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The construction at the state Capitol dome is literally under wraps.
In the current stage of repairs, the dome has been covered for weather protection as construction crews take out large limestone blocks that are in need of repair due to water intrusion.
Secretary of Administration Allen McVey said the wrapping was completed a few weeks ago and the first of several limestone cornices located directly under the dome, weighing an estimated 2,300 pounds each, was removed Thursday.
A very important milestone was reached today at the #WVCapitol. The first piece of limestone was removed as a part of the #WVCapitol Restoration Project. Watch the video from this moment here: https://t.co/VeY12eJWSC #WVLegis
— WV Legislature (@wvlegislature) May 30, 2019
Eventually each block will be removed and lowered to the ground for repair.
“That was where some of the water intrusion was coming in,” McVey said. “They knew they were going to have to repair those.
“You have to have some weather protection up there once you get up there and put them back in.”
That’s where the wrap comes in.
He added that there are places on the dome that need to be regilded, in which McVey called “minor.”
As for the interior, scaffolding is completed and work has begun.
“We need to make sure we maintain them to protect the assets of the citizenry of the state,” McVey said about preventative maintenance plans all the buildings.
“We already have all that in place, we just need to make sure that everybody that comes after us is going to maintain that preventative schedule.”
McVey previously told MetroNews they hoped to complete the dome work by late 2020. The project is now estimated to cost about $13 million.
The first contractor the state hired couldn’t guarantee it could meet the requirements of the elaborate scaffolding needed on the exterior of the project. The state cancelled the contract and hired Pullman Power, which has erected scaffolding that doesn’t touch the dome.
The inside of the Capitol Rotunda remained sealed off to visitors with scaffolding in place starting in the basement.
Along with the structural work, replacements were needed for clay tiles that had been crumbling in the walls of the Capitol Dome and nearby stairwells. That problem was not discovered until after the start of the work.
McVey said the repairs should shore up the structural integrity of the dome for the next 50 years.
“We’re just trying to do the best job we can at the most effective cost,” McVey previously told MetroNews.
MetroNews reporter Shauna Johnson contributed to this story.