Wednesday, April 8, 2026
-David Crowder, WRGA News-
Floyd County Government photo
A truck from Virginia-based Quality Plus Services Inc. was outside the Historic Floyd County Courthouse on Tuesday, as stabilization work on the 134-year old structure is beginning in the aftermath of the March 23 fire.
The work will include the removal of metal coping, loose bricks, fire-consumed wood, and gabled brick ends of the Courthouse that no longer have roof support, as well as partially removing the compromised walls of the historic courtroom, located facing Tribune Street and the Etowah River, through a selective dismantling process.
28 window openings will be temporarily reinforced, and a temporary structural band will be installed around the outside of the bell tower, located approximately 45 ft. up.
“We need to stabilize the structure in order to determine what the next steps are,” said Floyd County Manager Jamie McCord. “It has a lot of loose brick, metal coping, and some gabled walls made of brick. Also, some structural walls in the old courthouse section that need to be strategically taken down to make the site safe so that you can actually get contractors in to it.”
The structure needs to be stabilized before the county can determine what the next steps will be.
“I could see the next step being more debris removal,” McCord said. “Then we could take a better look at the structure, and get the engineers to take a look. There are portions of the building that are structurally sound, and there are portions of the building that are not, or we would not be going to these to get this done and get the site secured.”
The courthouse also needs to be stabilized before the surrounding streets can be reopened.
“It should be two or three weeks,” McCord said. “If everything goes perfectly, 14 to 15 days, and then if there are weather events or other things we have to deal with, you’re probably looking at another week. So, three weeks, I’m hoping, is worst case scenario to get Tribune Street and Fifth Avenue back open.”
The cost of the stabilization project is an amount not to exceed $520,000.
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