Today’s Boston Globe had an article by Ellen Ishkanian about the problems with gaps developing between some of the floorboards in the gym. According to the article, no decision has been made yet about whether the floor will need to be replaced. They’re going to watch it over the winter . If it’s eventually determined that it does need to be replaced they’d do the work next summer. The city’s Chief Financial Officer Maureen Lemieux was quoted as saying “Right now, honestly, we’re still not sure”.
The article said that Commissioner of Public Buildings Joshua Morse put the price tag at $117,000. That’s roughly 1/2 the price mentioned in Julia Malakie’s earlier post here on Village 14. Julia’s number came from a bid solicitation that the city put out on 9/11/14 that showed both the “Est. Low Value”and “Est. High Value”as $225,00.
It still not clear too me what that $225,000 figure represents and why it’s twice the price mentioned by Joshua Morse.
In any case, its sounds like the city believes that there’s still a good possibility that the floor may not need to be replaced after all.
“They’re going to watch it over the winter .”
Will they play “Mind the gap” recordings? A bit of the London Underground right here in Newton.
But seriously, the Globe article makes it sound like it could be an issue with the heating system causing the wood to dry excessively during the winter. Is the heating forced air? Do they need to humidify the air? I’m sure there are readers out there much more knowledgable about this…
I’m wondering if this problem is unique to our new gym floor, or whether other schools have had to deal with this phenomenon. Since I spend a lot of time covering high school volleyball and basketball games, I will have an opportunity to take a closer look at both new and old floors.
I was in Billerica High’s gym a week or so ago. Their 1973 floor had some random gaps similar to NNHS, and one section maybe 4′ x 6′ with lots of wider gaps that appeared to have some sort of black putty filling them. A custodian told me they refinish the floor every year. I think he meant polishing, not re painting the lines. They’re going to be building a new high school, so they’re probably not going to do anything major. He also told me “wood isn’t as good as it used to be.”