By Annette Newcomb/Editor
Trevor-Wilmot Grade School suffered an untold amount of damage Jan. 7 when a heating coil ruptured, sending water through portions of the school two inches high. This has left the school administration looking at a water damage restoration cost guide to see how much this will take to restore.
The break is believed to have occurred about 4 p.m. Jan. 7 and was discovered at 5:45 a.m. Jan. 8.
“Our maintenance people left about 4 p.m. Tuesday and everything was fine. When our director of maintenance came in at 5:45 a.m. the next day, he discovered the water,” said Dr. George Steffen.
Dangerously low wind chills had already forced area schools to close on Jan. 6 and 7 and Trevor-Wilmot Grade Schools students were expecting to return to class Jan. 8 before the damage was discovered, forcing school to be closed yet another day, Jan. 9.
According to Dr. Steffen, the water cascaded down the western hallway, in the gym and flooded five classrooms. Water that reached the north entrance froze. He aid about two inches of water was vacuumed up my maintenance staff.
“Six middle school rooms are impacted, along with a guidance office and the old gym,” he said.
Makeshift classrooms were organized as clean-up began in the water-impacted areas, while the school looked for a service similar to the ones that provide property damage restoration in Oklahoma City area.
There is a concern with long-term damage, especially in areas where drywall got wet. There might be a need to call in Water Damage Restoration professionals to assess the situation.
“We have people in all day. They pulled baseboards out and cut the drywall about halfway up, because the water wicked up. Insulation was pulled out too.
“We have fans going all over, trying to blow dry air into these areas,” Steffen said on Jan. 8.
Some tiles are already starting to pop up from water getting underneath them, Steffen said.
Last week Steffen was still waiting to see what kind of damage the gym floor has. “It’s a poured floor, not concrete, but it’s not wood. We are waiting to see if water goes underneath this as well.”
Since slab leaks can cause significant damage and are often not visible on the surface, there might be a need for plumbers of comparable caliber similar to Hollywood plumbers to take a look at it.
Restoration crews were in the building on Jan. 8 testing the air quality and taking samples.
“We’re monitoring the situation to make sure we can offer the students as safe an environment as we can,” Steffen said.
Make up day
It is not know how many snow days will have to be made up at the end of the school calendar year by area schools.
However, Trevor-Wilmot School recently announced that Friday, Feb. 7, will be used as the make up day for the Nov. 8, 2013, cancellation of school caused by an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness.
Feb. 7 was originally scheduled as a no school day. School Board policy requires cancelled school days to be rescheduled.