Upon entering the building early this morning, faculty and students noticed a swelling in the brick tiles by the vending machines near the south entrance of RBHS. After further examination, faculty and administrators feared this was due to water under the tiles as a result of piping issues, but Athletics Director and Head of Building Services, Jennifer Mast, said this was dismissed after several tiles were pulled up and appeared dry.
“We had a buckling of the tiles for an unknown reason.” Mast said. “We busted some tiles loose this morning and found it was dry underneath, which was very concerning to us because we assumed it was a water issue.”
Although the tiles were dry, Mast worries water damage could have been a cause of the buckling. Since the brick tiles were laid in 1973 at the time of the building structuring, mopping with a soluble solution for nearly 40 years may have penetrated the grout and caused some deterioration of the mastic that keeps the tiles attached to the underlying base floor, Mast said.
“It’s a possible explanation but building services has been out and they are puzzled by it, but they do understand it needs to be fixed as soon as possible, so they are trying to do that. They had a few people out this morning,” Mast said. “The district engineer is coming out to look at it to make sure we don’t have structural issues, but it’s a perplexing issue.”
Junior Hannah Krogman, who arrived at 7:10 a.m. this morning, said the tiles looked suspicious before faculty roped off the area and pulled up the tiles, but she had no idea what could be causing the swelling.
“This morning [faculty members] started putting one of the benches out on top of the floor in the middle of the hallway, and I didn’t know what it was,” Krogman said. “I didn’t really know what they were talking about until I walked past, and I walked over it, and there was a giant bump in the hallway.”
As well as overall confusion on the topic, the quarantined hallway segment caused difficulties for students during passing periods and this morning, as the south doors were locked, and those racing to first hour had to take a detour through the Performing Arts Center to end up back in the main commons.
“I was late to first hour,” Krogman said. “We were [in the band hallway] before school and then once [the] bell rang we had to detour around [the tile] to get to class, and I ended up being a little bit late.”
As far as how long the area will be roped off, Mast said the building services are working as fast as they can to identify and repair whatever is causing the buckling.
By Kaitlyn Marsh
Did detouring or locked doors affect your routine this morning?