A crew works in April 2020 on the new roof for the “clear story” portion of the Whitfield County Courthouse. Renovations inside the old part of the courthouse that dates back to 1961 will begin early next year.
photo by Mitch Talley
The part of the Whitfield County Courthouse that was built in 1961 is shown in this undated photo taken before the 2006 expansion.
When the Whitfield County Courthouse was expanded in 2006, a screen was built to hide the “clear story” portion of the 1961 building. In this 2018 photo, note at left some of the support legs that were bolted onto the roof to support the screen, a procedure that eventually caused numerous roof leaks in the ensuing years. During renovations over the past several months, the screen was removed and a new roof membrane installed.
The Whitfield County Courthouse is shown in a recent photo, with the exterior renovations to the roof now completed and the screen around the “clear story” portion removed.
photo by Mitch Talley
The old saying that “you can’t always judge a book by its cover” will definitely apply to the Whitfield County Courthouse after extensive renovations inside the original 60-year-old portion of the structure are finished late next year.
“Every wall of the building will be coming out, down to the concrete frame,” County Engineer Kent Benson said, “and then it’ll be rebuilt to a different floor plan. Basically it’ll be a whole new building; we’re just reusing the frame.”
Sandwiched between the special U.S. Senate election in January and the city election in November, with full funding provided by the four-year, special purpose local option sales tax that voters approved in June, Whitfield County plans to start and finish all the work inside that part of the courthouse built in 1961.
That original building is a three-story, 48,000-square-foot concrete framed structure, Mr. Benson said, “meaning it’s got concrete columns and concrete beams set in place with concrete floor decks and a concrete roof deck” that all serve as the structural part of the building. “None of the interior walls carry any load,” he said, “so we can totally demolish or remove all of the interior walls without affecting any structural integrity of the building.”
When the new portion of the courthouse was added in 2006, the exterior walls of the 1961 portion were left in place, but hidden behind a brick façade to match the new construction.
“If you go into that old part of the building and look at the exterior windows, you’ll see the window sills are very deep,” Mr. Benson said. “That shows how big the cavity between these two walls is, about three feet. It’s uninsulated space so you get condensation in there and with the roof leaks and other moisture that also get into that space, there’s never any air change-over so it just promotes mold growth.”
Usable space will grow
The project, which is being designed by Carter Watkins Associates, will include the removal of those original exterior walls, and the floors will then be extended out three feet, actually increasing the amount of usable interior square footage.
“That space was previously uninsulated and not part of the HVAC system and will be converted to heated interior space,” Mr. Benson said, “so you’ll end up with the current exterior brick wall, new insulation, and new interior wall – but no three-foot cavity in there. That will eliminate the mold problem.”
The HVAC system, along with all the wiring and plumbing, will be replaced. “It’s 60 years old and still has the original wiring and plumbing,” Mr. Benson said. “The AC main unit has been replaced over the years, but that type of system is conducive to mold growth inside the ductwork, especially for a building that has one floor underground.”
The new HVAC system – which will be more energy efficient and will cost less to operate – is a multi-split system with zones that uses smaller equipment and does not have interior supply ductwork. Instead, a square cartridge in the center of the ceiling of each room will supply the heating and cooling, and another separate fresh air duct that doesn’t promote the growth of mold will be employed. A drain line for condensation removes water created by the system, and if a line does stop up, it shuts off automatically and sends a notice that service is required “so you don’t have leaks from a condensate pan overflowing like you would with a conventional system,” Mr. Benson said.
Getting ready for those interior renovations to the 1961 building, the county used capital funds of $1.25 million earlier this year to replace its roof and install new, more efficient windows on the original “clear story” portion that rises above the flat roof.
‘Clearly’ an improvement
In 2006, when the courthouse was expanded to the north, the architect had suggested using a screen wall around the clear story in an attempt to hide it and better match the look of the new part. Unfortunately, that screen required the use of a steel frame that had to be secured to the roof with dozens of bolts.
“Everywhere they put a bolt in, it was a penetration through the roof,” Mr. Benson said. “They have tried many, many things over the years to try to seal those holes up, but over time, whatever you use to seal it, it eventually gets dry and cracks and water winds up getting into the building. There was a problem with leaks from the beginning, and it’s gotten worse over time.”
Crews finally were able to eliminate that problem for good earlier this year, however, by totally removing the screen, then installing a thicker-than-standard rubber polymer membrane roof system with a 30-year warranty.
The clear story itself, located over the main courtroom, also created problems over the years, Mr. Benson said.
For years, its original uninsulated single-pane windows were a heating and cooling nightmare, depending on the season, and if their non-tempered glass panels had ever been broken, they would have fallen in large sheets into the courtroom, possibly resulting in a “very dangerous” situation, according to Mr. Benson. The windows also caused a glare in the courtroom below, and blinds installed to try to block the sun had long ago served their useful life, he said.
The new windows are high performance, double-pane, low energy transfer, Mr. Benson said, “Meaning you get a lot of heat on the window from the sun beating down on it, but it doesn’t transmit that heat to the inside of the room, plus the coating they have on them cuts the glare of the sun without having to have blinds on there.”
Mr. Benson expects better temperature control in the courtroom thanks to installation of the new windows as well as rigid insulation panels underneath the new roof membrane, along with the new more efficient HVAC system, when it’s installed next year.
Strictly a ‘judicial’ courthouse
The renovations will allow the county commissioners to meet their goal of using the courthouse strictly for judicial functions. That means over the next few months, several departments will be relocating.
The Public Defender’s Office, for example, will move from the Wells Fargo building to the ground floor of the 1961 portion of the courthouse. The Board of Elections and Registrar recently moved into renovated space formerly occupied by the Vending Area on the middle floor of the new courthouse, with voting machines to be stored next door in space to be renovated in the old part of the building. That’s one reason why work won’t be able to start on the renovations until after the Jan. 5 special election is certified, and why work has to be completed before the city’s election in November.
The middle floor will also include part of the district attorney’s office, specifically the Victim/Witness Assistance Program, as well as additional space undesignated for now but likely to be used eventually for judicial functions.
The top floor will continue to be the main courtroom, which will see new lighting, wiring, and HVAC installed but will retain its current furnishings. “Behind that, you’ve got judges’ offices and mediation rooms and things like that,” Mr. Benson said, “and all of that will be renovated. The jury assembly room will get a renovation, but it will end up looking exactly like it does – they’re happy with how the room is now. It just needs the same as the others – new electrical, new HVAC and all, but we won’t remodel that room.”
As a result of the renovations, the tax commissioner’s office will move from the courthouse to a new location at 1013 Riverburch Pkwy. just off the North Bypass in mid-January, and the tax assessor’s office is relocating to the Staten Building across from Dalton City Hall.
Project will also increase security
The project will also include construction of a second sallyport aimed at increasing security in the courthouse.
The new part of the courthouse already includes a sallyport, a secure elevator, and a secure hallway to get inmates to each courtroom without coming in contact with a judge or a jury or the public, but that’s not the case in the old part, according to Mr. Benson.
“So if they were to bring somebody and needed a secure way to get them to the main courtroom, there’s not one,” he said. “They would just have to bring them in the sallyport in the new courthouse, and then there would be a distance they would have to transport that person where they could come in contact. Of course, there would always be an escort by law enforcement, but they could still come in contact with somebody.
“So this project will construct another sallyport in the old part of the courthouse where police cars can pull in, have the door close behind the car, enter a secure elevator that will go from the ground floor up to the top floor where the main courtroom is and then a secure hallway to get that inmate into the courtroom without coming in contact with a judge or the jury or the public, so that’s a pretty big upgrade.”
The county will open bids on the project on Dec. 11. “The contractor chosen will then have to get their bonds and we’ve got to get the contracts executed,” Mr. Benson said, “so by the end of the year, we want the contracts executed and everything ready to go so that they can be ordering materials and getting ready to work on Jan. 20. In the meantime, we’ve got to get the tax commissioner and tax assessor moved out. We’re also working on a temporary location for the Victim/Witness program while their office is being renovated.”
Mr. Benson says the entire old portion of the courthouse will have to be empty by the time construction starts late next month, and he believes the work should be completed by mid-October.
“We hope to start on or about Jan. 20, and we’ve got to be done by Oct. 1 because there’s a city election in November next year and they’ll have early voting in October,” he said, “so we’ve got to be done (with the elections storage room) by Oct. 1 to get those machines back over there in time for the election. There could still be some small items to be done on the top floor or the ground floor after that, but we’ve got to have the middle floor where the elections equipment goes totally finished and ready to be occupied by Oct. 1.”