Leak risks damaging grand piano

A leak in the ceiling of the Douglas County Library could have cost about $60,000, and not to taxpayers.

The library’s Ford Room houses a 7-foot Baldwin grand piano owned by the Roseburg chapter of the Oregon Music Teachers Association.

The group had a piano recital Sunday, but when the teachers arrived, the vinyl cover protecting the piano was soaking wet.

Faye Rounds, president of the association, said one of the teachers had a towel in her car, and the teachers cleaned up the mess.

“If we had not had the recital, who knows when we would have noticed it?” she said. “It’s just pretty shocking for us.”

Piano technician John Granholm checked out the piano.

“When I looked at the piano, I couldn’t find any obvious damage from water at all,” he said. “That was because they bought a very high quality cover. Had it not had the cover on it, it could have easily been a total loss.”

Arlette Irving said the group bought the piano in 1995. It was worth $60,000 then.

Fundraisers and grants helped pay for the instrument, and Ricketts Music provided it at the store’s cost.

Granholm will check in a couple of weeks to make sure the piano’s wood and cloth hasn’t absorbed any moisture and that its metal parts haven’t rusted.

If there is damage, the piano is insured.

In the meantime, the library has reported the leak to the building facilities department, Library Director Max Leek said. The piano has also been moved away from the leak.

But the size of the instrument limits where it can be kept in the meeting room. It was first near an emergency exit, to the disapproval of the fire marshal. A kitchen also makes the logistics a bit challenging.

Jim Dowd, the building services director, wasn’t in his position when the roof first started leaking.

“As I understand it,” he said, “this leak has occurred since the building was built.”

But it only leaks when it snows, he said, perhaps once every other year.

He said the building’s metal roofing wasn’t installed according to the original plans.

“Once it was caught, the rest of the building was done the right way,” he said.

But the roof is made in such a way that to fix the leak would mean taking off all of the roofing material.

Dowd has a simpler, cheaper solution to the problem. He plans to put a collection system in the attic and monitor it to make there isn’t any rot.

“We actually think that this fix will last the life of the roof,” he said.

Dowd also said it was unfortunate the roof had leaked in exactly the spot the piano was sitting.



• You can reach reporter Teresa Williams at 957-4230 or via e-mail at twilliams@newsreview.info.