Work repairing storm damage to the roof of the West Baden Hotel is expected to last until at least May.
Chuck Franz, CEO of the French Lick Resort, said construction on the dome, which suffered significant hail damage during a June storm, began last month.
There are four different types of roofs that are being replaced: shingles, clay tiles, glass and thermoplastic polyolefin membrane. Workers started replacing glass last week. The clay tiles are not expected to arrive until January, and workers will be replacing the membrane parts of the roof last.
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“It's a tedious process with the glass,” Franz said. “In each one of those sections, you have 77 panes, so you take 77 times 12, and you have 924 panes of glass you have to remove. We believe that each one of those 12 sections will take one to two weeks.”
Repairs for the dome is expected to cost between $2 million and $10 million. It is still unknown how much the total cost of all construction, including other roofs, the golf course and carpets, will add up to.
“Our insurance is paying for it,” Franz said. “They sent their engineers down here on day one, they understood the size of the claim, and they've been working with us.”
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Franz said the construction has not impacted any holiday events.
“If you have nails going into shingles, it echoes. If you're taking glass off using miter saws, there is noise in the dome, but we've been able to work around it,” Franz said. “Our tree lighting was perfect last week. Thanksgiving, we'll have our brunch in there just like we always do. We just don't have any noise or construction going on at those times.”