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Winchester officials defer major top‑side repairs after tests show damage is limited
Summary
Town committees reported deterioration confined to limited areas of Winchester High School’s original 1970 structure, installed a surface corrosion inhibitor over the summer, and recommended breaking top‑side repairs into two summer phases; town meeting voted to indefinitely postpone Article 26 and asked for a fall supplemental funding request.
Town officials told Winchester Town Meeting that concrete deterioration at Winchester High School is concentrated in the original 1970 sections and can be repaired in staged work over the summers.
The Educational Facilities Planning & Building Committee reported that crews chemically cleaned the crawl‑space surfaces, installed a surface‑applied corrosion inhibitor (SACI) and protected suspended utilities. The committee said prior town appropriations and pilot testing total nearly $1.4 million and that initial summer work in 2026 — focused on corridors, passageways and assembly areas — is estimated at $200,000–$240,000. Phase two, proposed for summer 2027, could cost “more than 400 to perhaps $450,000” depending on what contractors uncover, the committee said.
“Throughout the summer of 2025 all of the concrete … was chemically cleaned, power washed, and the surface applied corrosion inhibitor was installed,” the committee reported. The presenters said laboratory evidence demonstrates the inhibitor slows carbonation and limits further penetration.
Because of the limited summer window for unoccupied work and remaining uncertainties, the EFPBC moved to indefinitely postpone Article 26 and return with a targeted supplemental request at the fall town meeting after bids and summer discoveries are known. The moderator put the motion and it carried.
The committee pledged to keep Capital Planning informed during the summer and come back to town meeting with a more precise supplemental appropriation in the fall.
Next steps: the committee will proceed with the phased summer work consistent with the funds already appropriated, report bid results to Capital Planning, and present a supplemental funding request at the next fall town meeting if additional top‑side repairs are warranted.
