Frozen pipes created havoc over winter break for one university building.
On Dec. 25, Breiseth Hall flooded, causing damage to various parts of the building.
The flooding was caused by a frozen pipe above the third floor psychology computer lab. During that time, water flowed from the third floor down to the basement, impacting offices and other rooms on the southern part of the building.
Breiseth Hall is open to and utilized by the majority of departments in the university, most notably the majors in the arts and sciences.
“The arts and sciences dean’s office is located two floors below the leak. We had water flowing down the walls. Our copier was ruined along with some furniture. Otherwise, the main impact was wet carpet throughout the suite. Other parts of the building certainly took more damage,” said Dr. Paul Riggs, dean of Arts and Sciences.
University facilities responded quickly to get the water shut off and to start the process of removing as much water as possible. They also set up dehumidifiers and fans to further combat the humidity.
Everything was fixed and back in place by the time classes resumed; however, the damages had lasting effects. Professors’ offices and books were damaged during the flood.
“I was told that the sprinkler system in Breiseth froze during the deep freeze and then the pipes burst on the fourth floor, running down the stairs and down into the walls,” says Dr. Gina Morrison, global cultures professor and Fulbright advisor.
Morrison’s office was flooded, but, no books or artifacts were destroyed.
“My office was flooded up to two inches, I believe, based on the change of the color of the wall caused by the contact with water,”said Dr. Akira Shimizu, global cultures history associate professor.
After the flooding, faculty and staff had to rearrange the books and other belongings out of their rooms so facilities could repair the damages.
“We came in the day after Christmas and a few times afterward, over the break, to take boxes of books out of the wet rooms and then bring them back in and put them on the bookshelves,” Morrison explains.
Shimizu was out of the country at that time and returned to campus before the beginning of the Spring semester. He found stacks of books, documents and other things, explaining that there have been no odors related to fungus and residues from leaked water detected.
In addition to removing the water, facilities also repaired and repainted the walls.
“My thanks and the thanks of everyone who was impacted go out to Charlie Cary and his colleagues in facilities,” said Riggs. “They gave up much of their holiday for our benefit and made sure we were ready to resume our work in time for the start of the spring semester.”