Water damages in the Jacobson Faculty Tower (JFT) took four days to repair after a blizzard on Sunday, Dec. 2.
Flooding on floors four through nine of the northwest and west side of the 10-story building caused ceiling damages and soaked carpets in a number of faculty offices said Director of Facilities and Operations Brian Pine.
Funded by the campus reserve funds, the total cost of the repairs was $56,000 said Jackie DiStefano, vice president of Finance and Administration.
Ceiling and floor tiles were replaced, fan coils were replaced and repaired, water was extracted from carpets and damaged areas were dehumidified, said Pine.
“In addition, staff from our utility, custodial, environmental health and safety and computing help desk offices devoted 175 hours of their time to the effort,” said DiStefano.
According to Pine, damaged heat coils created the flooding after high wind blew snow into the high-voltage switch gear enclosure at the Old Library.
“This High Voltage transformer failure at the Old Library, create[d] a disruption in electrical service for “High Voltage Feeder No.3” which provides electricity to several college buildings including JFT,” said Pine. “Without service and the severe, freezing high winds that night, several heating coils on the eighth and ninth floors froze and split.”
Although Pine considers school being out for break a contributing factor to the rapid cleanup, he also said there is a “dedicated staff willing to pitch in and get the operations back in shape for occupancy.”
All damages caused by the blizzard were repaired by the time JFT was scheduled to open in January 2011.