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from the issue of January 25, 2007
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Water leaks flood Oldfather Hall, Hewit Place
BY TROY FEDDERSON, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
The first floor and basement of Oldfather Hall were flooded after frigid temperatures caused a sprinkler pipe and sprinkler head to detach around 5 p.m. Jan. 16.
| | CHIPPING AWAY - Ice covers the interior of the northwest door to Oldfather Hall as Facilities, Management and Planning employees Rich Wahl, Tyler Volkmer and Will Koch use a tractor to chip away at an ice sheet caused by the Jan. 16 sprinkler system break. Wahl, construction manager for Landscape Services, said it took three hours to remove the ice, which measured up to three inches thick. Photo by Troy Fedderson/University Communications.
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"It looked like a waterfall coming out of the northwest corner of the building," said Anne Kopera, director of the College of Arts and Sciences Advising Center, located on the first floor of Oldfather. "We responded immediately by contacting the campus operator then moving our office files and equipment out of the way before the water started seeping in."
The sprinkler line break dumped an estimated 10,000 gallons of water into Oldfather Hall, primarily effecting the advising center, The Academic Grind (a first floor coffee shop) and the Oldfather elevators.
Ted Weidner, assistant vice chancellor for Facilities Management and Planning, said freezing temperatures outside caused the pipe to freeze inside the northwest doorway to Oldfather.
"It was so darn cold that the pipe froze up," Weidner said. "There are old, single-paned windows in that area and they are not energy efficient. There is a lot of traffic going in and out of those doors and that introduces a lot of cold air.
"It's all completely understandable. We've made some adjustments by turning up the heat a little bit to prevent further freeze ups in the area."
With the fire alarm sounding, staff members and a group of student good Samaritans continued to move office goods out of the path of the water in the advising center.
"Everybody remained calm and we were able to stay ahead of the water," Kopera said. "We had a group of about 10 students come in and help us. We didn't ask them, they just volunteered to help."
Weidner said most of the water flowed down stairwells and elevator shafts to drains in the basement.
By 8:30 p.m. all standing water was removed from first floor and facilities maintenance personnel started drying carpets. The elevators, which were shutdown as four feet of water filled the shaft pits in the basement, were functioning again by 10 p.m.
As facilities employees chipped away the final bits of ice outside the northwest door, Oldfather opened to regular faculty, staff and student use the morning of Jan. 17.
GO TO: ISSUE OF JANUARY 25
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732701S36610X
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