Date: Fri 06-Mar-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

NHS-Water-Damage-construction

Full Text:

NHS Water Damage Repairs Underway

School officials estimate that water damage caused at Newtown High School

February 15 when a heating coil broke in a third-floor science room should be

repaired either by the end of the month or the first week of April.

School board members discussed the matter at a Board of Education meeting

Tuesday. No dollar-value damage estimate was available. The total extent of

the damage will not be known until affected areas are disassembled.

Mid-afternoon on Sunday, February 15, firefighters responded to Newtown High

School after four copper heating pipes burst open in a third-floor science lab

in the school's new addition, causing considerable water damage to that room,

to the new lecture hall on the floor below, and to the foyer adjacent to the

school's new cafeteria.

The water-filled heating coil in Room A-205 froze and burst, causing "a

substantial amount of damage...to three floors," according to Sandy Hook

Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company Chief Bill Halstead.

Some cold air apparently found its way into the heating system mounted above

the ceiling of Room A-205, resulting in the hot water in the heating coil

freezing and causing the coil to break away from a radiator in four places.

Among items damaged by the leaking water were cabinetry in the science lab,

carpeting and seating in the lecture hall, wallboard, ceiling tiles and

insulation.

Costs to repair the water damage will be covered by the insurance policy of

the general contractor on the high school expansion project.