Long term system shutdown

[SteveB]

It's an ETC system, we are closing for at least 10 mos. for a bunch of repairs. Lots of dust as they remove external concrete ramps and replace HVAC system.

I will be calling ETC as well.

My current thinking

- Ion console and peripherals will go to storage elsewhere.
- Units all stay on Electrics, except we are striking FOH where the reno. work is taking place. Units to stay hung, bagged and zipped tied, a bag of that moisture absorbers stuff added per bag.
- Rack with network switch and UPS ( both to be replaced), Unison and a Net 2 port to be powered down and wrapped in plastic and sealed against dust.
- Dimmers, all Sensor, CEM+, powered down. They are in rooms with doors so no plastic. Maybe remove the CEM's ?
- Removing all softgoods into hampers and storage in basement.

- So no house lights to be provided, contractor can provide temporary if needed.

- We would lower the fire curtain if we had a motor that functioned, so at this point the stage is exposed to renovation dust. Nothing to do about that.

-If they require the loading dock, stage and pit elevator to get stuff out of basement HVAC room, and new stuff into basement, we will require a layer of 1/2 ply be taped down to protect the T&G floor.

- Have no answers as to our facilities office thoughts about protecting the auditorium seats, side wall decorative curtain, main house curtain, etc... we are in the dark with no input on a project we were told starts 7/1.

What am I missing, never done this before.

 

[Dover]

It usually is the responsibility of the contractor to repair any damage caused by their activities, so they would be responsible for protecting the seats and drapes and floor.
I would not tell them how to do it just that it needs to be protected. That way if the protection doesn't work you are not the one responsible.

 

[MNicolai]

Masonry dust is very fine and you have to assume it will get everywhere. I would get the key items like the console stored somewhere safe but otherwise provide directive to contractor that they need to protect the facility. It's not much different than when large theaters go under remodel. Seating areas get covered in plastic, work areas get partitioned off from non-work areas and a filtration system is used to constantly keep pulling the dust out of circulation, equipment racks get covered in poly sheeting to keep dust off of the faces of equipment but so long as the fans aren't running you shouldn't have much issue with dust getting inside of the electronics. Before the system comes back online, surfaces get scrubbed high and low, vacuumed, air gets filtered, and filtration units run constantly for several days before you start stripping back the plastic and turning electronics back on.

The most effective means of protection is compartmentalization. Once the dust is in your theater, it's very difficult to do anything about it once it parks itself up on your house lights, on your speakers and coating your ceiling, and on the tops of your electrics and such. Plastic over all the entryways with filtration units running in the work areas and zippered plastic partitions where people need to be able to come and go.

Runners along walkways to keep the dust from getting pounded into carpet. Sticker sheets and boot rinsing stations at the entryways to avoid leaving trails of footprints all over the building.

If someone's doing a lot of messy drilling, a vacuum should be pointed at the drill from a second set of hands to suck up the dust before it enters the general environment. I've also been told by asbestos abatement contractors that if you're drilling to a wall and need to keep the particulate dust down, spray some shaving cream into a dixie cup, put the rim of the cup against the wall and drill through the bottom of the cup into the wall. The shaving cream really picks up a lot of the extraneous dust and you can wipe the wall off and drop the cup and the cloth into a bag for disposal. (This is not to encourage you to do your own asbestos abatement, but rather that it's another practice available for dust control)

It's all more the contractor's responsibility than it is yours, but you'll have to set the ground rules and be the enforcer. If it's not written into the contractor's scope of work what is expected of them you could end up with a messy project closeout going back and forth on whether they've fulfilled their cleanup or not.

Once the dust starts rockin' having air scrubbers strategically located and regularly cleaning the filters will go a long way to knocking the dust levels down.

 

[SteveB]

Mike wrote: "It's all more the contractor's responsibility than it is yours, but you'll have to set the ground rules and be the enforcer. If it's not written into the contractor's scope of work what is expected of them you could end up with a messy project closeout going back and forth on whether they've fulfilled their cleanup or not."

At this point, out facilities office has not seen fit to have any communications with us (staff responsible for the theater technical systems) as to when the project is starting (back in March we were told 7/1), actual scope of work, and what we think the contractor should be doing. It's all wishful thinking that the contractor will be required to protect the audience chamber. Hopefully this is stuff that facilities wrote into the spec's. Thus the audience chamber is kind of out of our scope of responsibility. It's really unfortunate our fire curtain is in the up position with no motor thus we cannot lower it to isolate the stage. We are certainly worried about the lubrication on the chain assemblies to the Clancy Power Assist winches and may cover them as best we can.

 

[Tom Andrews]

I agree with the above: remove and/or wrap in plastic everything you can that you care about, including the winches you mention. Removal and storage is best for items that can be removed. I wouldn't worry about the seats and carpet too much. Contractors deal with fixed furniture and floors all the time and provide basic protection and clean up. The electronics and electrics are of more concern, though. If facilities isn't being responsive, you could send a note saying 'please confirm the contractor is providing floor protection for the stage' and whatever else you want. Lowering the fire curtain sounds like it might be a work obstruction. Be there on the first day of work and touch base with the contractor or supervisor. Remember that he's like you, and wants to do the best and most efficient job possible. But also remember that you probably have no 'official' standing in his eyes, so you can ask him for things but he's probably not obligated to do what you want. On the other hand, floor protection on stage is a pretty simple ask.

 

[MNicolai]

I don't know that I would lower the fire curtain anyway. It's likely to create more headache having it down. What you could do is get a bunch of poly sheeting, hop on a ladder or in a lift and close up your proscenium portal top to bottom, leaving some zippered flaps down that people can open up and walk through as-needed.

It's also entirely possible that your contractor is responsible and knows what they're getting into. Not to say it'll be laboratory-grade clean in there but most contractors understand its easier to clean as they go than it is to let a mess pile up for a few weeks or months and then try to clean up.

 

[RickR]

Regardless of all preparations and cleanup done, all electronics should get a good vacuum/ blow out after the contractor has left. And will likely need another one far earlier than usually scheduled.

 

[John Palmer]

Hi Steve,
Tape over any raceway outlets and unused electrical outlets.
They should be able to secure plastic sheeting in the proscenium. We have been resurfacing floor surfaces here (including concrete). The contractors have used rolls of clear(ish) plastic and spray adhesive on the seams. It has worked well.
Negative air pressure in the work zone will help minimize dust transmission to the rest of the facility.
Good luck,
John

 

[SteveB]

Hi Steve,
Tape over any raceway outlets and unused electrical outlets.
They should be able to secure plastic sheeting in the proscenium. We have been resurfacing floor surfaces here (including concrete). The contractors have used rolls of clear(ish) plastic and spray adhesive on the seams. It has worked well.
Negative air pressure in the work zone will help minimize dust transmission to the rest of the facility.
Good luck,
John

Yes, I was thinking about my flush mounted receptacles.

Currently we have no real idea as to what, if any, work will involve the inside of the actual theater (other than the basement area's) . 6 sets of exterior side doors are being replaced, as well as the outside concrete egress ramps just outside the doors, that run the length of the building. So can't see how we won't get interior dust from the concrete removal. I am hoping to get a meeting and dialog to make sure the contractor 1) Covers all seats, 2) Bags side wall velour curtains (6 total, 8ft x 20ft), 3) Bags mezzanine curtains (curtains are used to close off mezzanine - 15ft x 70ft), seals the proscenium arch with a plastic wall, so as to reduce dust penetration on the stage.

The college facilities office has been, even for them, remarkably non-communicative to repeated e-mails on the subject.

I talked to Sasha at ETC yesterday, she gave me some system shutdown suggestions, such as backup, remove and store CEM's, label CEM's as to rack, plastic cover racks even if in sealed rooms, etc...

We bagged all stage lights, photo's of units and side ramps.

 

[derekleffew]

We bagged all stage lights,

That looks funny, like a bunch of cocoons.

 

[Footer]

Glad to see I'm not the only one doing a major reno over this season... for us it is our freight elevator. 3 million dollar job. Said goodbye to it before 7/1... hope to have it back by April. Unitl then all shows load in through a 8' diameter elevator. (yes, its a round elevator)

With that though, I have been through this type of thing several times. You are probably going above and beyond what I would do. The bagging of fixture is great, I've always opted for striking them completely and storing them somewhere else. Getting softgoods the hell out is very important. If you are using standard NYS/NYC contracts cleanliness in a "workman like manner" is always there and you can fall back on it. Anymore with the amount of dust related health issues most things have dust collection on it so its not as bad as it used to be. Most drilling in concrete is done wet for this reason. Even if they are jackhammering odds are they will keep it wet.