Subzero temperatures caused a water line in the fire sprinkler system to freeze and burst over the weekend, flooding the Art and Journalism building. The university is now contacting the building's original architects and contractors to make changes to the water pipes.
"Something wasn't right that allowed the pipe to freeze," Tom Smith, director of Facilities Management, said. "The fire sprinkler system protects the building from fire, and that's why it has to be maintained and remain operational at all times."
James Lowe, director of facilities assessment and engineering, said, "We're still determining how those lines froze."
Smith said while he's glad the flood didn't cause significant damage, it should be prevented in the future.
"We've had other flooding before, but this was a large flood," Smith said.
When the sprinkler system alarm went off at 12:01 p.m. Sunday, campus police went to the Art and Journalism building and found the broken water line, he said.
Smith said police then called facilities management and safety specialist Jill DeMuth, who shut the sprinkler system down to stop the water flow.
Lowe said the university responded quickly to the flood.
"Within 20 minutes, someone was there to turn the water off, and that's pretty fast," Lowe said. "But it was not fast enough to stop the flooding."
Smith said Facilities Management spent about three to four hours cleaning up. The custodial crew also worked for about five hours early Sunday night to help clean up the damage, he said.
"The crew spent an enormous shift polishing the floors, shampooing the carpets and doing a lot of extra work," Smith said. "We had a lot of work to do to get it all cleaned up."
The northeast entrance of the Art and Journalism building, which was closed until late Monday afternoon, is now open since the university finished repairing the pipe. The university may close the entrance again in the next few weeks, however, to finish repairs to the ceiling, Smith said.
"Part of the ceiling eroded with the water pressure," he said.
Smith said no other areas in the Art and Journalism building were significantly damaged.
The Fine Arts building, which flooded more than a month ago, and the football stadium locker room, which flooded last week, are still undergoing repairs after their water pipes also burst during the cold weather, he said.
As the university repairs the ceiling in the Art and Journalism building, Smith said Facilities Management will work with students to try to make sure they are safe when they pass through the area.
Students were very cooperative while the pipe repairs were being made this weekend, Smith said.
"The Facilities Management does an outstanding job coming to the aid of the university when something unexpected like this happens," he said.
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