A heavy rainstorm Thanksgiving Day caused a leak in Fine Arts 4 Room 309, an animation and illustration computer room.
Water entered through cracks and crevices in the roof, which developed in a lot of old buildings, said Josh Cichuniec, interim associate director of Facilities Management. According to Facilities Management, FA-4 was built in 1962.
“The floor in the front of the room was entirely covered in water, and the Labtech station was also covered in water,” according to an email from Trilina Mai, a senior animation student and lab manager.
A number of ceiling tiles also fell as a result of the leak.
“That building had a problem… with 12-by-12 inch ceiling tiles falling off,” said Michael Gardner, capital project manager of Facilities Management. “The building is old and they are becoming detached.”
According to Gardner, the ceiling tiles were screwed in the building to keep them from falling. The screws were unable to secure the tiles in this building.
Facilities Management responded Friday morning after the leak was reported to the University Police Department. They located and sealed the leak, according to Cichuniec, and plan to install new tiles on the ceiling and repair the roof Thursday.
Mai said that no equipment was damaged due to the water. Two computers under the large patch of ceiling with no tiles were put under a clear tarp, provided by Facilities Management, to protect them from the rain expected Wednesday.
According to Mai, a few tiles had fallen during a previous rainstorm, but the storm that happened over fall break took down several more tiles.
“I think this room has always had leaking problems, and frankly this room and … rooms on this side in general tend to have a slight leaking problem, but this rain made it really bad,” Mai said.
Although the leak was fixed, staff in the lab prepared for the rain expected on Thursday morning as a precautionary measure.
“We’re expecting no leaks, but we are cautious anyways,” Mai said.