Madeleine Bock, theater manager of Albert Taylor Hall, speaks about the flood damage caused by a burst pipe Friday afternoon in the basement of Albert Taylor Hall. The water break, which flooded five feet of the basement, was found Dec. 28 by Police and Safety.
Over winter break, the sprinkler system pipe in Albert Taylor Hall broke and caused the basement to flood.
“It was reported around 1:30 in the morning on Dec. 28,” said Gwen Larson, assistant director of marketing and media relations.
The break was caused by a defective coupling near the ceiling, according to Jonathan Vopata, environmental life safety manager. This defective part was responsible for causing the four-inch pipes it was sealing together to come apart.
“It was police and safety (who reported it), because that department does building checks every night, and so it was reported during a normal campus patrol,” Larson said.
The amount of water that filled the basement reached somewhere over five feet before it was spotted by the night time patrol. Larson says it was enough water to be coming out from the back of the building and be spotted that way.
“I haven’t heard any cost estimate yet, and it may be that we need to wait until we get the bills,” Larson said. “Because for instance, we brought in Stover’s restoration to get the water out and help us dry it out.”
Despite the lack of a definite cost at this point, Stover’s restoration, and the part replacement, as well as an inspection on the sprinkler system – to make sure there were no further issues, are a few of the things likely to be included in this incident’s repair costs.
“One thing I’ve been told is going to have to happen is replacing the carpeting in the orchestra pit,” Larson said.
Madeleine Bock, theater manager, stated that they need to replace some drywall in certain areas of the basement once it dries out a bit more, as well as replacing a small set of stairs that were damaged by the leak.
“Basically, it was all old equipment we weren’t using that had been stored down there,” Larson said. “What Albert Taylor Hall uses is already upstairs in the sound booth.”