Security officer Dustin Mellott found a leak which damaged two classrooms, 10 offices and three floors damaged in the Business and Engineering Center (BEC) while making the usual rounds at 4:46 a.m. Sept. 11, Security Assistant Director Steve Bequette said.
Staff Architect and Construction manager Fred Kalvelage said a leak from a water line to an icemaker in a refrigerator caused the damages.
Facility Operations Assistant Director Miles Mann said the physical plant was notified by 6 a.m.
Mann said the waterline to the icemaker was on the second floor of BEC.
Room 1033, a computer lab on the first floor underneath the leak, had mulitple computers damaged.
Richard Toeniskoetter, executive director of the Information and Technology Department, said 23 desktops and 30 monitors were removed because of water damage, valued at $804 and $150 respectively.
“They are currently in a (storage) closet until we work through an insurance claim,” Toeniskoetter said. “Not every computer was damaged.”
Room 0030 in the lower level also experienced some water damage.
Mann said in the 23 years he has been here, this icemaker water line has done what none have done before.
“Out of the 542 icemakers all over campus and in the apartments not one of them has done damage,” Mann said.
Junior accounting major Tiffany Koewler said it “sucked” to have damage in this building.
“You wouldn’t expect this to happen in such a new building,” Koewler said.
Koewler’s class moved across the hall in the BEC to room 0003, but other classes had to go to other buildings.
Although the final bill has not arrived, Mann said he estimates $70,000 to $100,000 in damages.
USI’s insurance company will pay for the damages with the exception of the $25,000 deductible, Mann said.
Drywall and ceiling tiles were removed and replaced as well as some of the baseboards. Rooms 1033 and 0030 had to be repainted.
Mann said they do not think any flooring will be replaced even though the leak went through two floors.
Painting to finish up on construction started Friday, and they hope to have both classrooms available for classes mid-week, Mann said.
“We are lucky security found it when they did,” he said. “If they found it on Monday, so many more classrooms and offices would have been ruined.”