Fate of CETC building up in air

A crew from Strata Inc., Moscow, last Thursday bored two soil sample holes next to the CETC Building in downtown Colfax in the latest part of an engineer’s study to determine if the building is worth saving. The bore samples will be used to determine the type material under the building, formerly the Elks Club.

Evan Laubach, Pullman consulting engineer, said the aim is to determine whether conditions which caused a corner of the building to settle several years ago might still be present and lead to additional settlement.

The CETC building settled several inches at its northwest corner, the corner closest to the Wall Street bridge. Laubach said the settling actually caused structural damage to the building.

The structural damage was actually part of the problem last winter when the CETC sustained additional damage from the winter’s snow load. The buildup of snow and ice on the top of the building caused the roof structure to sag and the county called in a contractor to block up the structure until the load could be removed.

Laubach said he will incorporate results for the soil samples with his report on the structural status of the building. He has been asked to develop an estimate of the cost range that would be involved in making repairs to the structure. The county’s insurance carrier is expected to weight the cost range estimates against the costs of a new structure.

The engineer noted some of the history of the site of the CETC could expect to be a factor in the type of material which is under the building. Construction of the flood control channel and Wall Street Bridge and the foundation and footing of the former Elks Lodge Building could be factors.

Laubach explained long sides of the 60 X 100 CETC building have five support points. However, the roof support structure rests on the middle beam and end supports. Two other wall support uprights are not part of the roof system. When the building settled the roof dropped, but the two intermediate wall supports remained at the same elevation. The result was the roof sagged around the intermediate upright and that led to runoff problems on the roof.

Repairs to the settling corner of the building were made when it was owned by the Port of Whitman. The port purchased the building from Elks International, official owners of the structure after the Elks were closed down.

Port Commissioner Bob Gronholz said at the time repairs were made to the corner of the building they believed the settling was caused by a drainage problem which sent water under that corner of the building. The runoff grade of the alley in back of the building directed water from the alley, and the runoff from the roof, toward the corner of the building.

Laubach noted the back of the building appears to have settled diagonally as a single unit along its 60-foot width. The back wall loses elevation as it runs toward the northwest corner.

The wall along the 100-foot lengthwise run of the building cracked in two places after the northwest corner dropped.