According to the engineering firm hired in October by the owner of the Schuylkill Trust Co. building in Pottsville, repairs to cracks on the building’s exterior have been completed.
That firm, Yourshaw Engineering Inc., Pottsville, notified the only tenant at the building at 101 N. Centre St., Wells Fargo Bank, of this on Tuesday, according to a copy of the letter.
In May 2015, chunks of rock fell from the facade of the eight-story building. At the time, David J. Petravich, city building code officer, said it was a section of the roof, part of the east side of the building where a plant was growing out of the side.
To protect its customers, in September 2015, Wells Fargo hired Beth-Allen Scaffold & Equipment, Allentown, to build a covered walkway on the North Centre Street and West Market Street sides of the building.
“Wells Fargo will remove the scaffolding once we get final approvals from the city of Pottsville, final approval from city officials that the work was completed,” Kevin Friedlander, corporate communications manager of Wells Fargo & Co., said Wednesday.
In October at a judicial sale, Mike Hassen, Queens, New York, acquired the building with a bid of $90,000.
Since then, Hassen “has had the exterior structural deficiencies corrected by Caretti Restoration, 218 B. Knob Mountain Road, Berwick, Pa., under the project supervision of Charles J. Yourshaw, P.E.,” Yourshaw said in a Dec. 20 letter to Wells Fargo.
The main deficiencies that were corrected are as follows, according to the letter:
• “East side of the building had the top facade joints cut and re-caulked, the brick masonry joints were cut-out and re-pointed. The lower facade joints were also cut and re-caulked.”
• “West side of the building had the chimney repaired by cutting the masonry joints, clamping the masonry units together, placing a stainless steel helical in the joint, and re-pointing of the joint. The masonry crack in the main wall was repaired in the same fashion.”
• “North side of the building had the cracked section removed and re-mason of the mortar joints. All the stone cap joints were cut-out and caulked.”
• “South side of the building had the top facade joints cut and re-caulked and the brick joints were cut-out and re-pointed. The lower facade joints were also cut and re-caulked.”
• “South side sills were replaced and patched as necessary.”
Yourshaw, a professional engineer, closed the letter by stating: “The outside structure is repaired properly and is structurally sound.”