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Business & Tech

Roof Collapses at Concord Lumber

No one hurt. Company open for business as it moves quickly to repair damage.

At least 40 feet of roof collapsed under snow weight at Company on Wednesday, Feb. 2. The center of the 120 ft. long shed, which houses lumber at the rear of the Lowell Road business, buckled at around 9 a.m. Concord Lumber was closed due to a snowstorm.  No one was injured. 

Archie Trainor of Concord Lumber discovered the damage at around 10 a.m. when he came to plow.

“I didn’t see it at first, because the overhang was still up. Then my boss called. The alarm had been going off for about an hour, but he figured I’d just nicked the door or something with the plow. Then I saw it,” he said.

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The roof of center span of the building had fully collapsed.

“The saws are right under there,” said Trainor, referring to a cutting service provided by the company. “Good thing we were closed.”

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Total damage has not yet been estimated. An adjuster is expected Friday or Saturday, said Rick McCrobie, president of the 100 percent employee-owned firm.  “We sometimes keep trucks in the building, but they were not there.” Several forklifts were sited at the other end of the building and were not affected. Pennsylvania Lumberman’s Mutual Insurance Company insures Concord Lumber.

 

Concord’s building inspector, John Minty has been to the site already, and the company has initiated the permitting process.  Workers are removing the snow from the rest of the building, which will allow the adjuster and building inspector into the building to assess the damage. 

 

“Our plan is to remove all the snow by tomorrow, get the debris out by Friday or Saturday. Start reengineering the trusses and start building.  I hope, weather permitting, to allow our customers access in less than a week,” said McCrobie. 

 

“We’re still open for business,” he stressed. Lumber is available at the sister-store, Littleton Lumber, 55 Winter Street, Littleton, and the Lowell Road flagship is open to provide paint and a range of non-lumber products. “We serve many homeowners and remodelers and we want to get them up and running right away.”

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