FIXING THE CHRONIC LEAKING, A PEEK AT THE CRITICAL RENOVATION SITES OF THE STARR EAST ASIAN LIBRARY IN KENT HALL

Jim Cheng, 5/14/2024

During a sunny morning on May 14, 2024, we, including Richard Heaps, Associate Director of Library Facilities, David Maddox and Alex Ray from CPM, walked through the renovation sites of the 100 level of our library space in Kent Hall, which has been closed since May 2023.  

The most important purpose of our tour for me was to view the chronic leaking sites in the 100 level, which have seen the water leaking from the walls and underneath the tile floor after almost every heavy rainfall in the last few years.   After the completion of the fire suppression system at the end of 2023, Facilities started to work on our chronic leaking spots.  Today we saw the completely opened walls on two side of room 108 as the photos show below:

Opened 108 West Wall links to the Skylight Room:

 

 

 

 

 

Opened 108 North Wall: 

 

 

 

 

 

Contractors removed two walls in room 108. They have started to clean out the drainage between the outside foundation wall and inside drywall. They will be excavating and trenching around the perimeter of the room to accommodate French Drains. Then they will apply waterproofing around the exterior walls and install perforated drainage piping and supports.  All piping will be pitched to the existing sump pump. They will also install a vapor barrier to protect against moisture and to provide better insulation in the walls.

Fixed drainage outlets of the Fan Coil and Dehumidifier units in the old stacks area in the 100 level:

 

 

 

 

 

Every fan coil unit and dehumidifier in the old stacks of the 100 level as well as other levels has been reconnected with copper pipes leading the drainage water to outside the window.  

These renovations inside a building facility with more than 110 years history (Kent Hall was built in 1911) will fundamentally assist us to keep our collection safe in the next 100 years.