Ruined Floor

[SteveB]

Our road house stage floor, a 10 yr. old oak T&G, that was in otherwise terrific condition, seemingly got "leaked on" last month at some point. The stage is occupied by the contractor doing HVAC work, thus the technical staff is not allowed on the "construction site", thus we didn't notice and the GC neglected to inform anyone for a bit.

A roughly 20ft x 20ft section, with a large "bubble" about 5ft x 5ft.

I've no clue what the college is going to do and have no idea if they can do a partial tear out and replace.

The expectation that the stage will re-open for May is not going to be realized.

 

[Van]

A good flooring company should be able to do a tear out of just that area then reinstall new. It will have to be sanded and stained to match then re-finished. That is going to be a pain as it's dusty, smelly and takes a goodly amount of time. Who ever your facilities person is needs to be informed and they need to put the GC on notice that the school is holding them liable for the damage. The GC will then work it out with the HVAC sub;which is where the typical disconnect happens. The Construction world is not the Theatre/Production world. "Repairs will be performed In a Timely manner" does not equate to "I've got a show May 1st and I need my stage Mid April for rehearsals". Things like that have to be relayed to the GC ASAP and the schools PM/Rep needs to stay on the GC's PM until the work is scheduled and done. Document the crap out of everything. Do not sign off on any work until it is completed to your satisfaction, not 'Yeah, ok it'll do' make sure it's done right.

Oh, and P.S. That sucks and somebodies head should roll.

 

[SteveB]

A good flooring company should be able to do a tear out of just that area then reinstall new. It will have to be sanded and stained to match then re-finished. That is going to be a pain as it's dusty, smelly and takes a goodly amount of time. Who ever your facilities person is needs to be informed and they need to put the GC on notice that the school is holding them liable for the damage. The GC will then work it out with the HVAC sub;which is where the typical disconnect happens. The Construction world is not the Theatre/Production world. "Repairs will be performed In a Timely manner" does not equate to "I've got a show May 1st and I need my stage Mid April for rehearsals". Things like that have to be relayed to the GC ASAP and the schools PM/Rep needs to stay on the GC's PM until the work is scheduled and done. Document the crap out of everything. Do not sign off on any work until it is completed to your satisfaction, not 'Yeah, ok it'll do' make sure it's done right.

Oh, and P.S. That sucks and somebodies head should roll.

The leak had nothing to do with the contractor in the space. It started as a radiator steam leak in the fly tower roof door area, though it's possible THAT leak was a result of a separate contractor knocking 60 year old pipes when they replaced the roof doors 18 mos ago. We (tech. staff) spotted the initial leak (10 mos. ago) and dealt with it with only minor curling of a few boards. We might have gotten away with an edge sanding and refinish.

The college than did an abatement of the asbestos around the radiators. We *think* they (college facilities) than either fixed what they thought was leaking, or didn't fix the initial lak and subsequently re-activated the steam, with a resulting 2nd major leak. We are not certain of the circumstances One would have hoped that having been aware of initial leaks in the system, that when they re-activated the steam, they might have done some spot checking of the system to ascertain if any subsequent leaks had developed. They didn't do that apparently.

It's very unfortunate as the floor was maintained in a very good condition, iron clad rules, no screwing/nailing, no painting, no water, etc.... but yes, I think they can likely do a spot area replacement. If somebody finds the funding and time.

 

[seanandkate]

Oh, and P.S. That sucks

That x 1000. How does somebody not spot this occurring / say something to somebody as opposed to letting it be a fun discovery for you and your staff?

 

[SteveB]

That x 1000. How does somebody not spot this occurring / say something to somebody as opposed to letting it be a fun discovery for you and your staff?

Well, it's complicated. The HVAC contractor is the only group near/on the stage and is not actually using the main stage area, so only noticed when they saw a pool of water on top of the tunnel they built from the loading door to the pit. Thus they didn't know about the leak and there's nobody else in the space. Why a tunnel you ask ?. To keep the contractors from "damaging" the stage area for the periods they need to move equipment from the loading dock and door to the pit, where the then use a winch on a scaffold to get materials to the basement (pit is lowered to basement and turned off). The tunnel is an 8x8 by 40 ft long thing, 2x4 structure on a deck, enclosed in plastic. Thus nobody noticed and when they finally did they called facilities, who was less than timely in their response it seems.

 

[MNicolai]

You'll have a hard time holding anyone accountable for that. There's no clear line of blame and from you've presented it doesn't seem likely one will be established. This is what contingency funds and sometimes insurance are for, though this probably doesn't rise to the occasion of an insurance claim. Whatever you try to hold against them will probably be rebutted with an Unforeseen Conditions clause that additional costs for remedying issues arising from unknowable circumstances are outside of the GC's contract and are costs that will have to be passed onto the owner pending owner's approval to proceed with the remedy.

If you're lucky enough to get the contractor to split the cost 50/50 with the campus as a shared blame, that sometimes happens as well but is a great way to piss of your contractors, destroys any good will, and isn't worth it. The next time you need extra work out of them they'll mark it up to cover the costs of the flooring plus a PITA factor.

 

[lwinters630]

Our road house stage floor, a 10 yr. old oak T&G, that was in otherwise terrific condition, seemingly got "leaked on" last month at some point. The stage is occupied by the contractor doing HVAC work, thus the technical staff is not allowed on the "construction site", thus we didn't notice and the GC neglected to inform anyone for a bit.

A roughly 20ft x 20ft section, with a large "bubble" about 5ft x 5ft.

I've no clue what the college is going to do and have no idea if they can do a partial tear out and replace.

The expectation that the stage will re-open for May is not going to be realized.

When oak absorbs moisture it expands pushing agents each other pushing up. The whole floor has shifted and may have loosened causing squeaking or popping. If it is still solid then a section can be replaced by lacing it in. A qualified flooring contractor can use a HEPA filter or a dustless system. After repair the entire floor will need to be refinished. Allow 1 week. About $700 to repair wood and about $1,500to refinish.
Basic Coatings STREETSHOE® Waterbased Wood Floor Finish Satin Is the hardest and fastest drying. Low odor as well.

Not a fun situation.

 

[SteveB]

If you're lucky enough to get the contractor to split the cost 50/50 with the campus as a shared blame,

Only contractor that might blamed is the folks who installed the roof doors and likely knocked around the steam pipes. But nobody was watching and they didn't get blamed for the 1st leak, so not going to happen on the 2nd. The GC using the space was nowhere near the roof and maybe they were not diligent in reporting the 2nd major leak, but again, nobody from the college is watching, so that's not going to happen. So no contractor is paying for this, the college will just have to find the funds if they want the space to open.