7 Responses to “Leak and water damage to Antioch Hall (Main Bldg)”

1. 

   Horace said on February 8th, 2009 at 2:08 am

   Hi Folks,

   I just got back from a trip to main building with a 6′ step ladder and a powerful flashlight. The University can certainly be “proud” of it’s stewardship of the college buildings!

   Thanks to Tim Noble and Brian Springer for bringing this to our attention.

   Tonight when I visited Main Building I felt large areas on the first floor where the bricks on the outside of the building are saturated with water. Main Building was built in the 1850′s and the bricks hold the structure up. On the ground level there are 4 thicknesses of bricks. For the outside bricks to be slick with water coming from inside the building means all four layers of bricks and all of the mortar in the walls of the saturated areas is filled with water.

   When it gets below freezing again, the bricks and mortar in main building will freeze, which will not be good for the building. Ice damaged bricks in the bottom floor of a building that is supported by its brick exterior, does not bode well for the structural integrity of the building.

   Shame on Antioch University!

   I have been told that on December 25 a sprinkler head was pushed out of the sprinkler system by ice in the pipes on the northeast 4th floor of South Hall. The sprinkler system was charged with water in the unheated and beautifully renovated South Hall, and likely ran for days. I understand that the University removed all rugs from the 4th, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st floors of South Hall, because they were saturated with water. That means all 4 floors of the building flooded! South has wooden floors. The wood floors would have been saturated, also. After the flood the building was not dried out, it was left sealed and freezing by the University. What damage is STILL being done to the hardwood floors, the gypsum board walls, the electric system, and the Internet system in South Hall????

   Antioch University should be ashamed of its treatment of the buildings of the historic Antioch College Campus.

   Peter Townsend

2. 

   Horace said on February 8th, 2009 at 8:12 pm

   PRESS RELEASE – MEDIA ALERT
   Yellow Springs Citizens Group Representative
   Yellow Springs, Ohio: 2-8-09

   Time: – 12:00pm (Noon) Monday, February 9, 2009
   Place: Antioch College Main Building – 795 Livermore St. Yellow Springs, Ohio
   Contact: Peter Townsend -937-215-0578 – (Yellow Springs Citizens Group Representative)

   YELLOW SPRINGS VILLAGERS TO GATHER AT ANTIOCH COLLEGE’S HISTORIC MAIN BUILDING TO VOICE CONCERN OVER RECENT WATER DAMAGE.

   On Saturday, February 7, a resident of Yellow Springs, while walking his dog through the Antioch College campus, noticed water seeping through the bricks of the exterior wall of Main Building. When he looked through a window into what had been the president’s office, he saw water raining down from the ceiling into inches of water below (1). He called the Miami Township Fire and Rescue squad. The main feed to the sprinkler system in the attic had frozen and burst.

   With the shuttering of the College, all campus buildings, with the exception of the Library, have been left unheated, despite repeated calls from alumni, villagers and Glenn Harper, the manager of preservation for the Ohio Historical Society, that minimal heat is necessary to safeguard the buildings in the winter.

   In June, Harper wrote University officials: “Our office is concerned that without at least minimal measures to mothball and stabilize the historic campus buildings during the period in which they will be closed, significant damage may occur…We strongly suggest that forced air ventilation be provided in the summer and at least minimal heat (45 to 50 degrees) be provided during the winter months.”

   The University did not heat the buildings. This is the fourth Antioch building known to have experienced sprinkler system failure this winter. The Union, Theater and South Hall have all suffered serious water damage in recent weeks.

   According to Joyce Morrissey, former Health Advocate and Associate Dean of Students at Antioch College, “when there is water infiltration in buildings there is a timeline in which action has to be taken to prevent mold contamination…There is a 48 to 72 hour window to get things cleaned up and dried before mold activity begins.”

   After viewing the online video of the water leak at Main Building, Ms. Morrissey contacted William Treasure, CPG, CMRS, and President of Turn Key Environmental Consultants. Mr. Treasure, a Certified Microbial Remediation Supervisor with over thirty years of experience in environmental services, had done all the environmental testing and oversaw the mold remediation work at the college in 2002. After listening to Ms. Morrissey’s description of the damage, Mr. Treasure said that drying the building out immediately is critical. Every hour of delay will cause more damage, he said, and cost more money. There are companies in the area that have equipment to deal with problems of this nature, he said, such as industrial dehumidifiers, dryers, and industrial desiccants. The cheapest and best solution for this type of large scale drying, said Treasure, is an industrial desiccant. The closet company with such equipment is in Indianapolis.

   When Ms. Morrissey informed Mr. Treasure that heat was turned off in the building, he gasped, “Oh my god! They have to turn the heat on.”

   Sunday afternoon, 24 hours after the water leak was discovered, standing water is visible through the windows. There is still no evidence of a cleanup effort.

   The rally will take place at noon, Monday, February 9, 2009, at Antioch College’s Main Building, 795 Livermore Street, in Yellow Springs.

   Yellow Springs Citizens Group
   Available for Comment:
   Joyce Morrissey – 937-545-3292
   William Treasure -937-335-8807

   (1) Video footage of this event can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjjUNF7Dx7E

3. 

   Chris Kinter said on February 9th, 2009 at 11:17 am

   I still struggle with the power of the child to abort the parent. But here we have the incompetence of this absentee adminstration run things like they are truly concerned with the true long term health of the college. These cats are no different then the liars we just voted out from DC. The responsibilities these trustees swore to uphold have been a joke and they should be held accountable.

   Chris Kinter
   a fed up ex 20 year springer

4. 

   Horace said on February 9th, 2009 at 1:13 pm

   From Travis Belfer-Sanford’s Notes (only viewable by those with a facebook account: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=51319083370 )

   First, Toni Murdock sent a memo to the trustees alerting them to the damage done to Antioch Hall. Of course as everyone already knows the AU administration is incompetent. Leaving the buildings that way they did was just plain stupid, even from their own marketing position re: using Antioch Hall in their marketing when through their own negligence that damn thing may be rotting from the inside out.

   Second, The board pro tem has hired the Stanley group to come back to campus next week to review the status of the buildings and project needs and costs for repair.

5. 

   Robin said on February 9th, 2009 at 11:21 pm

   next week is TOO LATE. Idiots.

6. 

   Horace said on February 10th, 2009 at 6:09 am

   Forwarded as requested by Judith Hempfling, YS Village Council President

   From: Judith Hempfling
   Date: February 9, 2009 11:36:41 PM EST

   Subject: Antioch College Main Building Clean Up Plan

   Villagers and friends of Antioch College,

   I am writing to share information gathered this afternoon at a meeting between Village leaders and Antioch University officials regarding the flooding of Antioch College Main Building. Chancellor Toni Murdoch and Public Relations Director Linda Sirk agreed to meet with Village Council members Karen Wintrow and myself, Village Manager Mark Cundiff and Fire Chief Collin Altman to provide information about this event and their plans for clean up. The information we received was very helpful and we are hopeful that the work done in the next days will go a long way to minimize damage of this beloved building. Please share this information.

   Clearly, much of the distress in regards to these recent events, has been a lack of information which had left many of us trying to piece together what had occurred and the impact of the water on the building. The images caught on video of many inches of water in Main Building with more water raining down was very shocking and frightening.

   Below are the highlights of the information we received today regarding Main Building.
   • A walk through of all of the buildings on campus takes place 3 times a week and had occured late in the week
   • The cause of the water pipe break in the attic is believed to be corrosion of a supply pipe to the sprinkler system
   • The sprinkler system in the building is a dry system, but with the pipe breakage, compressed air was released and the water began to flow
   • At the source of water in the basement there is space heating to prevent freezing pipes
   • There is no alarm on this system which is why the Fire Department was not alerted to the problem
   • The University has hired a highly recommended company Servpro, to do the cleanup.

   Servpro has recommended the following, and the University has hired Servpro to do the work of drying out the building. They will begin there work tomorrow, Tuesday:
   • Excess water will be extracted from each floor of the building
   • 150 fans will be placed on each floor of the building
   • During the cleanup, the building will be heated via auxillary sources provided by Servpro
   • Soaked Carpeting and ceiling tiles will be removed
   • A high priority is to protect the wood panelling
   • The wet area on the outside brick wall shown in the video is believed to be unrelated to the incident
   • Insurance coverage will pay for repairs beyond clean up to be done in the future
   • The cleanup will take approximately 10 days
   • The fire protection system will be put back in place in the next few days

   We also discussed the situation at South Hall. When the sprinkler system went off there in late December, the alarm went off, and the Fire Department responded. The water was shut off within a few minutes of the incident. Some water damage occurred to drywall and ceiling. Wet carpeting and drywall was removed and the area was cleaned up by the College/University crew. Insurance coverage will repair this damage in the future but it is being described as fixable and not structural. All wet materials were removed.

7. 

   Ryon Gebhart said on February 11th, 2009 at 11:31 am

   I just found out about this water nightmare last night(Tuesday, Feb.10). I join the many sickened by this disgrace. I have a bit of info. which although too late now to help the building itself, may assist in the work to figure out when this began. I was driving back home on Corry Street from a doctor’s appt. on Friday, January 30(which is why I know the date) and the towers of the main building caught my attention. They seemed weathered and worn compared with what I had remembered when I last saw them. I noticed the brick under the windows on the top floor looked dark and there seemed to be more variance in color to the overall brick than I thought there should be. I even commented to my oldest son as we slowed down to look that the place appeared to be really run down. As I was not feeling well, it was cold, and I had a sleeping toddler in the car, I regretfully did not go up to the campus to look more closely at the building… I so wish I had. I know this may not be of any use to anyone, but then again, maybe it is.
   I have been following the closure of the college since day one of the announcement. I am disgusted with how this has all gone on so many levels. The only hope for the campus was that those buildings would be winterized properly. It is times like these when one must take a good look at whether the University Board or the upper ranks ever intended on leaving the option of opening the college back up under any circumstances. Upon the first announcement that the facilities would have no cooling or heat I got the distinct impression that no one planned for these buildings to pass inspection after 4 years of utter neglect. Do they really expect highly educated people to fall for the notion that these most recent events were unavoidable accidents and there is no one to blame for them?
   Regardless of how much can be salvaged after all of this, I firmly believe the people responsible for this tragedy should be punished under the full extent of the law for severely damaging and compromising the integrity of such important pieces of Ohio history and relieved of their duties in whatever office they hold without further delay.
   Here’s to the tireless efforts of everyone who is still fighting for the survival of Antioch College and what it stands for!!! May all your efforts be justly rewarded.

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