Leak repaired in the Dining Hall

Dylan Pichnarcik / THE GATEPOST

By Bella Grimaldi Asst. News Editor On Thursday, Feb. 27, there was a leak in the McCarthy Dining Commons, according to Daniel Giard, director of facilities. The leak, located in the ceiling over the booth section by the drink station, was caused by a broken heat pipe, according to Michael Newmark, director of dining services. Giard said Dining Services put in a work order about the leak. According to Giard, the repair to the pipe took approximately three to four hours. The repair began on Friday morning and was completed in the early afternoon. “They called me on Friday morning and they said they found it, and it was a heat leak, and they already got it all capped off, and the heat was all back on, and they were just trying to make it safe,” said Giard. He said Facilities put out buckets to catch the falling water before the repair was made. According to Giard, he was first notified of the leak on Thursday. He said facilities initially thought the cause was a leak in the roof. Giard said, “It was a couple of guys that I sent over to check it out. They were pulling up the concrete patio blocks outside, looking for the drains - the roof drains, to see if they were plugged up. That's why it took so long, because right along, we thought it was a roof leak. “Occasionally, we'll get roof leaks, and a lot of times, there's nothing we can do about it because we're not a roofing company - we’re just maintenance.” The break in the heat pipe was found on Friday. The pipe repair was straightforward, according to Giard. “On the repair of the pipe, they just had to find the two shut-offs for the heater because every heater has a couple of shut-offs. So they had to find that, unscrew the valve, and take the valve out and then put a new valve in,” said Giard. According to Giard, the repair to the water damage in the ceiling caused by the leak would take approximately a week. He said two people from Facilities have been working on completing the repair to the ceiling from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. daily. The water damage repair is being completed using joint compound, tape, and paint, Giard said. He said, “Tape is what helps hold all the ceiling back together with the joint compound - it's not tape, like scotch tape. It's actually the same paper that the sheetrock’s made out of. … They put it up and they put joint compound over it. So we didn't have to take the sheetrock down and redo it.” According to Giard, the repair is inexpensive because the University did not need to hire a contractor. “Joint compound is really cheap, and we just have it in stock. … It was a pretty inexpensive fix because we did it in house,” Giard said. According to Giard, there has not been a widespread leak problem on campus. He said, “Sometimes, you get [leaks] on a heavy rain, and then it doesn't leak again anymore. It's just one time, depending on how the rain flows. But no, I don't think we have a widespread problem with roof leaks. “We don't have a widespread [problem], but certainly with a campus the size we are, we do end up having problems that we take care of all the time. They don't create a mess like that. We may have a pipe that leaks somewhere, but it might just be out on the floor. So you just come in, change the valve, and it doesn't cause any damage, but it's certainly not widespread.” Freshman Hailey Ryan said she did not notice the leak in the dining hall. She added she has not noticed leaks anywhere else on campus. Sophomore Trevor Fuller said he had not noticed any other leaks in the dining hall. Junior James Driscoll said he did notice the leak in the dining hall but was not impacted. Driscoll added he hasn’t noticed any other leaks on campus. Freshman Lily Wojciechowski said she noticed a leak in the McCarthy Center and on the third floor of Corinne Hall Towers. She added her old dorm room in Towers also had a leak at the beginning of this semester. Freshman Xander Forward said he noticed the leak in the dining hall. Forward added he was not impacted by the leak because he does not sit in that area of the Dining Commons. Forward said he noticed “this other leak I saw in the yoga room. Like the room the dance team uses. It was a pretty big leak.” Forward said he was impacted by that leak because he could not use the room after his workout.