The Haines High School gym floor may be stripped to the hardwood, repainted and refinished this summer after two recent attempts to recoat it resulted in cosmetic defects.

The district has received one professional quote and is looking for more to assess and fix imperfections on the floor, spots where the top layer and successive layers of clear finish appears to be missing. The paint also is faded in some spots.

school board President Anne Marie Palmieri said a representative of Alaskan Industries, Inc. of Wasilla looked at the floor this week and said it needs to be sanded down to the bare wood, repainted and refinished. Alaskan Industries provided a quote to the district for less than $25,000, Palmieri said. Work above that amount must go to sealed bids.

At last week’s school board workshop, superintendent Tony Habra proposed two options: buffing down the floor and recoating it like the district has done previously, or the more extensive work recommended this week by the contractor.

Maintenance director Gary Stigen said a mechanical error caused a routine clear-coat in August to go on too thick. The gel-like substance did not fully dry after weeks of waiting. The sticky layer was peeled off in September and refinishing product was applied again, but that process revealed the faint depressions in the coating.

The blemishes don’t appear to affect use of the floor or play by basketball teams or other users. “I think the playing surface is just fine,” said middle school basketball coach Kyle Fossman.

Habra said at the workshop that the school board will discuss how to fund the project at a later date.

“We appreciate the borough’s involvement thus far, but this is a school district project and we’re going to address it,” Palmieri said.

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