Science building gives sinking feeling

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By David Hurtado

The college brought in mudjackers from KC Master Companies July 30 to repair the north side of the SCI building, which had begun to sink into the ground.

The total cost for repairs was $15,860. Maintenance included drilling cores out of sections of the building where voids were located and pumping in mud to fill underlying voids and float the slab’s base back into position.

David Frey, president, KC Master Companies, said the problem centered on particles in building materials moving closer together while the void spaces began to shrink.

“The interior concrete slab floors were settling along the north side of the building,” Frey said. “The material consolidated over time, and that’s a pretty common situation.”

Rick Monk, director, Campus Services and Energy Management, said the age of the building materials likely played a role in causing it to sink.

“Those buildings were constructed approximately back in the ‘70s, I believe,” Monk said. “There were some materials under there that were used back in that day that over time were depleted. Combined with soil erosion, that’s when we noticed there were areas that were sinking.”

According to Monk, a maintenance worker first noticed the issue last year, but the safety of students and faculty was never at risk.

“It’s more of a maintenance item,” he said. “All areas, even under buildings through contraction and expansion, mostly in the Midwest, have voids. Right now the ground is really hard and so you’re getting a lot of contraction. There was never any safety problems or issues attributed to that.”

Monk said it is possible other buildings on campus may be in danger of sinking into the ground, but ground-penetrating radar (GPR) studies have yet to turn up any problems.

“Some of the buildings were built during the same time, so we anticipate that there may be some other buildings that have the same problems,” he said. “We do not have any current problems in any other buildings.”

Brian Baumgardner, professor, Science, was out of his first floor SCI office for the summer but his office was cleared during the mudjacking. He said to his knowledge this was the first time the college has had a situation like this.

Baumgardner also said he feels completely safe in the SCI building, because the college is “very proactive” in addressing safety issues.

Classes scheduled to be held in SCI this fall will not be affected.

Contact David Hurtado, features editor, at dhurtado@jccc.edu.

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