Water damage to the façade of Lehighton Area High School has changed the scope of a renovation project underway at the school.

The school board Monday night voted to replace the existing exterior sheathing to an upgraded material and install a waterproofing membrane and foundation drain.According to Karl Kauffman of Quandel Construction Group, the combined work totals $191,000, but the district is altering other parts of the project that will bring the net cost for Lehighton to between $50,000 and $60,000."It's no surprise given the history of the façade at the high school that we ran into some water damage," Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver said at Monday's meeting."The brown board sheathing that was perfectly code efficient in 1993 when the building was built is not recommended today."Cleaver said district officials are finding a lot of waterproofing was never completed on that building."You really don't know how bad it is though until you remove that sheathing. There are pieces of plywood saturated with water."Though the exterior of the school had water issues, Cleaver said there is no problem inside the building.Air filter tests revealed no particles or anything out of the ordinary.Board member Gloria Bowman asked Kauffman if the site where the high school is located had anything to do with the problems?"No, it was the construction materials used and how things were done," he answered. "For example, the water membrane barrier was not installed the way it was supposed to be."To help offset the cost of the sheathing replacement, the district staff will do the final cleaning after each phase of the renovation instead of the contractor.Kauffman said that would save around $95,000.Changing the veneer will also save the district between $26,000 and $40,000 depending on the color and texture selection.Cleaver said the alternate block the district is considering is the same as what Parkland Area School District used when it constructed its high school."We were really impressed with how their block has held up over 17 years," he said.