Colonnades residents concerned over plumbing
By Brian Mezerski
Students in the Colonnades residence halls have been concerned about inconsistent water temperature, the water pressure when toilets are flushed and odd pulsing of shower-heads.
Freshman Taylor Davis said she noticed at the beginning of the year that there was something unusual about the wall next to her bed.
“There was a banging sound anytime someone flushed the toiled,” Davis said. “It kind of sounded like a canon going off next to my head. It rattled my bed and it woke me up when I slept with earplugs. It was really loud and it echoed through my room.”
Davis and other residents of the Harper building in Colonnades filed out multiple work requests to Physical Plant throughout the year, prompting Physical Plant to perform water tests which meant shutting off the water supply to the building for short periods of time.
“There are, and were, no health risks involved with the new Colonnade’s facilities in regards to the water testing that the physical plant recently performed on Colonnade’s C, D & E [sic],” Curiazza said.
According to Physical Plant Plumbing Supervisor Jimmy Curiazza, Physical Plant performed two water tests, and after the second test, Curiazza said that there were erratic pressure fluctuations during times of multiple toilet flushes within the building.
Curiazza said that because of these fluctuations, the hot water valve would not stay locked, which explained the inconsistent hot water temperature and
pressure problems with shower heads. Because of this, Physical Plant installed a new water pressure tank, which solved the problems.
However, the banging pipes continued to be a problem for Davis.
“As the months went by, it got so aggravating,” Davis said. “I started hitting the wall back. This was affecting how stressed that I was when I was doing work and how much sleep I was getting. It was affecting my academic performance.”
But since the problem has been fixed, Davis does not have to hear any more banging pipes.
“It feels so good,” Davis said, “I’m so happy that it’s gone.”
Since Physical Plant did have to look into the issue, Curiazza said the water testing and research in Colonnades has proven invaluable for the consideration and design of future buildings.
And Director of Residence Life, Elaine Turner, said that Residence Life does not want any problems to be an annoyance. She said that students should submit work requests no matter what the problem is in their residence building in order to increase the quality of all current buildings on campus.
“Residence life would rather have multiple requests of the same thing than nothing at all,” Turner said.
Turner said if students feel like they have a real issue with something in their residence building, they should fill out the online FixIt work request form atwww.elon.edu/fixit.
Freshman Taylor Davis said she noticed at the beginning of the year that there was something unusual about the wall next to her bed.
“There was a banging sound anytime someone flushed the toiled,” Davis said. “It kind of sounded like a canon going off next to my head. It rattled my bed and it woke me up when I slept with earplugs. It was really loud and it echoed through my room.”
Davis and other residents of the Harper building in Colonnades filed out multiple work requests to Physical Plant throughout the year, prompting Physical Plant to perform water tests which meant shutting off the water supply to the building for short periods of time.
“There are, and were, no health risks involved with the new Colonnade’s facilities in regards to the water testing that the physical plant recently performed on Colonnade’s C, D & E [sic],” Curiazza said.
According to Physical Plant Plumbing Supervisor Jimmy Curiazza, Physical Plant performed two water tests, and after the second test, Curiazza said that there were erratic pressure fluctuations during times of multiple toilet flushes within the building.
Curiazza said that because of these fluctuations, the hot water valve would not stay locked, which explained the inconsistent hot water temperature and
Students were warned by signs Tuesday and an email saying that water would be cut off in Colonnades Harber building.
However, the banging pipes continued to be a problem for Davis.
“As the months went by, it got so aggravating,” Davis said. “I started hitting the wall back. This was affecting how stressed that I was when I was doing work and how much sleep I was getting. It was affecting my academic performance.”
But since the problem has been fixed, Davis does not have to hear any more banging pipes.
“It feels so good,” Davis said, “I’m so happy that it’s gone.”
Since Physical Plant did have to look into the issue, Curiazza said the water testing and research in Colonnades has proven invaluable for the consideration and design of future buildings.
And Director of Residence Life, Elaine Turner, said that Residence Life does not want any problems to be an annoyance. She said that students should submit work requests no matter what the problem is in their residence building in order to increase the quality of all current buildings on campus.
“Residence life would rather have multiple requests of the same thing than nothing at all,” Turner said.
Turner said if students feel like they have a real issue with something in their residence building, they should fill out the online FixIt work request form atwww.elon.edu/fixit.
