Greenwich High Performing Arts Center pipe part breaks, flooding gym – The Advocate

Boys high school basketball game between Wilton High School and Greenwich High School at Greenwich, Conn., Friday, Feb. 9, 2018.

Boys high school basketball game between Wilton High School and Greenwich High School at Greenwich, Conn., Friday, Feb. 9, 2018.

Photo: Bob Luckey Jr. / Hearst Connecticut Media

Boys high school basketball game between Wilton High School and Greenwich High School at Greenwich, Conn., Friday, Feb. 9, 2018.

Boys high school basketball game between Wilton High School and Greenwich High School at Greenwich, Conn., Friday, Feb. 9, 2018.

Greenwich High Performing Arts Center pipe part breaks, flooding gym

GREENWICH An expansion joint burst in the hallway of the Greenwich High School Performing Arts Center this week, affecting the main gym next door.

The facilities team took up part of the gym floor, removed drywall and ceiling tiles in and around the PAC and gym area, and continues to focus on any necessary clean up, district spokesperson Sasha Houlihan said Tuesday.

This is the third time an expansion joint has broken in the auditorium building. One broke a year ago, flooding the $47 million building and shuttering it for nearly two months. That also affected the gym and forced the basketball teams to play on the road. A joint also broke in April of 2016.

The part holds together two pipes and muffles vibration on the hot water line. The district estimates there are 17 of these parts throughout the auditorium building. When the issue first arose, officials said maintenance on these parts is impossible because they are inaccessible, installed behind walls and the ceiling.

We know there are several expansion joints, so for this very reason it is in the budget to get them replaced, Houlihan said.

The operating budget for 2020-21, which the Board of Estimate and Taxation will hold a public hearing for this Thursday at Town Hall at 7 p.m., includes $250,000 to replace the flexible connectors at the Performing Arts Center.

Contractors will be onsite to evaluate and give school administrators an estimate for restoration and a project timeline, Houlihan said.

While this will not impact the GHS exam schedule, we will have to reschedule or postpone all competitive athletic events that were to be held in Gym A and B, the main gym, she said. This will mainly impact the basketball teams.

Athletic Director Gus Lindine said Tuesday nights home basketball game was to be moved.

We are going to Brien McMahon for a basketball game tonight (that was originally scheduled to be at GHS) and we are looking to find alternative sites and times for practices and games, he said.

The temperature of the PAC is controlled by a fan that blows hot or cold air, from cold water and hot water pipes. The expansion joints, also known as flex connectors, keep vibrations from the fan from being transferred to the structure of the building, which would disrupt the acoustics of the hall.

The gym floor was just recently re-lettered, over the weekend of Jan. 11 and 12. That was to correct an error that occurred when the floor was resurfaced over winter break, and the name Greenwich at one end was spelled with an extra n, as Greennwich.

jo.kroeker@hearstmediact.com

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Greenwich High Performing Arts Center pipe part breaks, flooding gym - The Advocate