The Rumford Public Library, built with a funding grant from Andrew Carnegie in 1903, will temporarily close soon to replace floor tiles that contain asbestos. The work is expected to take five to six weeks. Bruce Farrin/Rumford Falls Times
RUMFORD — The Rumford Public Library will temporarily close soon replace asbestos floor tiles on the main floor and the basement.
Town Manager Stacy Carter said the closure is expected to last five to six weeks. Books and furniture will be moved to the basement while the tiles on the mail floor are replaced, and then the reverse for the basement work. Town workers have boxed up items in the children’s reading room.
He said they decided to replace the tiles now, even though there is no danger because the 5,600 square feet of tiles are whole and covered by carpeting.
On April 3, the Select Board approved the lone flooring bid of $47,566 from Floor Systems of Lisbon to install of luxury vinyl plank tile.
This was the second time the town had sought bids; there were none the first time.
At the March 21 meeting, the board approved the $23,000 bid from Environmental Contractors of Lewiston for asbestos abatement.
Carter said the project will likely deplete the $85,000 in the library’s capital account. Any overage will come from the demolition account.
As for when that project will get underway, Carter said he is working with both companies to find a common timeline.
He added that they also need to wait for the flooring tile order to arrive.
The library was built with a grant from Andrew Carnegie in 1903. The architecturally distinguished building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
Carter said the library, at 56 Rumford Ave., has developed a summer program and doesn’t know how much this work will affect it. There is a possibility some of the programming will need to take place elsewhere, perhaps outside or at the near American Legion Post Hall.
One of those events will be at 7 p.m. May 8 when Friends of the Rumford Public Library host novelist, memoirist and playwright Monica Wood at the American Legion Hall. The author of “One-in-a-Million Boy” and “When We Were the Kennedys” born raised in Mexico and lives in Portland.
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