Unattended shower causes water damage in Berry Hall

University Police Officers were dispatched to unit 5-C in Berry Hall on Nov. 4 in response to a fire alarm. What they found, however, was far from incendiary.

"Upon arrival, I contacted Resident Assistant Oday Al-Shakhshir, who walked with me to unit 5-C, which is an unoccupied unit," UPD Public Information Officer Jason Bone said. "We gained entry into the vacant unit to discover that one of the showers had been left on, running very hot water. It appeared that the hot water had been running for days, causing the entire open area and halls of the unit to perspire with condensation to the extent that the carpet was saturated, the paint was bubbling from the walls and doors, the ceiling tiles were sagging, water was dripping from the light fixtures, and mildew was growing on several doors."

Unit 5-C wasn't the only unit damaged by the water.

"We then checked unit 5-A, which is the unit just below 5-C," Bone said. "There we found that the water had soaked through and saturated the ceiling, causing damage to the ceiling tiles and carpet as well."

How the shower managed to be turned on remains a subject of controversy.

"After a discussion with Mark Giossi, we concluded that the shower had a constant drip that eventually caused the handle to loosen enough to cause a constant flow," Assistant Director of Facilities Kathy McGrath said.

Executive Director of Facilities & Support Services David McKenna disagreed.

"There is no indication that was the cause of the problem," he said. "The nozzle was left open."

When asked whether the nozzle was left open by a person, or opened due to faulty facilities, McKenna said it could have been either.

While Bone stated that rough estimates of damage were $15,000, McKenna had a much smaller figure.

"It could easily have been $15,000, but, due to some quick action and the use of some good materials, the actual cost – not including labor hours – will be less than $1,000," he said.

While the actual amount of time the shower was on is not known, McGrath estimates it was on for a day and a half.

"RA's check all empty buildings once a week during rounds," she said. "Risk Management estimated that the water had been running for approximately 36 hours before the alarm sounded."

According to McKenna, unit 5-C should be repaired quickly.

"The repairs should be complete by this weekend," he said.

A&M-Commerce custodial crews have already done a lot of repair work.

"Our maintenance assistants and custodial crew were able to remove the carpet, wet vac the floor and carpet, replace a few of the carpet blocks and replace the ceiling tiles that had water damage," McGrath said. "They also washed the walls and doors. Fortunately, building five is empty and maintenance assistants are in the process of remodeling each section. They had not remodeled section C. Though there was a minimum amount of damage, we had the carpet sections and ceiling tile in stock."

McGrath was already in discussions with Assistant Director of Facilities Management Mark Giossi about Berry Hall's plumbing issues.

"We had a discussion earlier this month regarding sewer and plumbing issues at Berry Hall," she said. "Mark had plans to replace the sewer system and the plumbing fixtures at Berry over the Christmas break, but Berry was already scheduled to be open during this time for break housing. We are waiting to see how many students sign up for break housing to determine a strategy to accomplish both."

McKenna said he was appreciative of the university's response to the incident.

"UPD and the Safety Department should be commended for finding this issue and then turning off the shower valve and the electricity so that no more damage was done," he said.