Legat Architects’ building envelope specialists find and fix chronic water intrusion at 25-year-old municipal building.
The Rock Island County Justice Center had a problem: for more than 15 years, the building leaked. Evidence showed everywhere from the first-floor lobby to the upper-level courtrooms and detention areas.
“Every major rainstorm was a catastrophe,” said Sheriff Darren Hart, who has been at the facility since it was built as an annex to the Rock Island County Jail in 2001.
Water would infiltrate the building envelope, resulting in dripping and puddling. It stained and cracked drywall. It damaged carpet. Over time, the problems worsened. Steel studwork, for instance, rusted and needed replacement.
The county contacted consultants. Areas were patched and recaulked, but the problems persisted. Several years ago, the county even had the roof replaced. The leaks returned.
Hart and coworkers, concerned that the building might have been designed incorrectly, contacted Legat Architects’ Special Projects Division to pinpoint and correct the problem.
Getting Back to Dry
The Legat team and a masonry contractor determined that the source of Rock Island’s troubles was not the design of the building but rather the construction. They identified flaws within the building envelope on every floor.
“There were huge voids in the flashing due to poor installation,” said Legat’s Mark Siwik. “The water would pour into gaps and go into the window frame. This caused all kinds of problems.”
Legat created a full set of drawings, which the contractor used to redo all flashings. The work covered every window, every area where the roof level ties into the building, and every shelf angle.
One unexpected challenge surfaced: replacement stone blocks would not match the color of blocks that had been removed for repairs. The design responds by specifying replacement blocks of a slightly different but complementary color. The new blocks create horizontal bands across the front facade and accents over windows around the building.
Since the repairs were completed in summer of 2025, the Rock Island Justice Center has remained dry.
“We’ve had several significant weather episodes, and things continue to look positive,” said Hart.
Learn more about our Special Projects Division or contact us with your building envelope needs.
