Building reopens after bricks collapse

By Lee Tugas

A portion of Main Street closed last week because of a deteriorating building was opened to traffic Monday afternoon.

The block of Main Street, between Division Street and Canal Lock 12,  was closed last Wednesday, when a number of bricks fell from a four-foot high parapet adorning the top of a three-story building at 88 Main Street.

Summoned to the scene around 3:30 p.m. were police, Don Williams, superintendent of public works, and Code Enforcement Officer Gary Bennett, police said.

Acting under orders of Williams and Bennett, police closed the street, securing it with the traditional yellow plastic tape.

That section of Main Street remained until Monday. Police said the owner of the building was contacted and he contracted the firm, Bob, the Builder, of Fort Edward, to make repairs.

Workmen for the firm were finishing up the repair work Monday morning. They explained that water from recent melt-down and rains had seeped through the old metal flashing sealed across the top of the foot-wide parapet.

“The water loosened the bricks and they fell to the ground,” the workman reported.

The workmen said they were going to top the roof flashing with concrete to fix the problem.

Both repairmen said several inches of concrete, applied to the top of the forty-foot span of parapet, would prove a much better seal than metal flashing, and it would prevent a recurrence of such frightening accidents.

The closure of Main Street was the second time this year the street was closed because of unsafe buildings. Last March, a portion of the street was closed after bricks fell from a parapet along the old “Chase” building. That building, located only several doors north of 88 Main Street, was ultimately torn down.