We are finally able to open up the bathrooms on the 4th floor.  We expect those on the 3rd floor to be ready by the end of the day.

That means that they will start on the 2nd Floor bathrooms today, so those will not be available for the near future.  The men’s room on the 1st floor is also not available.

What do you think?

Before

After

While there has been progress made, the timeline for completion of all of the public flooring changes will no longer be by the end of the summer.  With that said, let’s tell you where we have made progress.

The 4^th floor lobby is open.  There are a few small details left, but if you have been up there I think you will agree it looks great! The addition of ceramic as a boarder around the room makes the space look larger, and the wear and tear on those high traffic areas will be much less as we move forward.

3^rd & 4^th floor bathrooms – The new tile work is almost completed and once the partitions are installed they will be ready for use again.  We hope to have that ready by mid-week next week.

3^rd floor carpeting – The North side is open.  Much of the furniture that can be, has been put back including the serpentine tables (which also received some maintenance improvements as a plus!)  They will be electrified shortly.  They are working on the South side and things are moving along now that they have a good system. They anticipate being done by mid to end of next week.

Bookworms – There is a small section of Bookworms that is missing tile due to some water damaged wood.  It has obviously not affected services but if you noticed it, we hope to have that all set soon.

Plaza Level – Once the crews finish up on the third floor, they will come down to the Plaza Level and work in the space behind the iDesk.  There will be minimal service interruptions during that time, however staff that work back there will be relocated temporarily.  If you need to contact the staff, including the reserve staff, we suggest e-mailing them as the most direction option.  You can also stop at the iDesk and they can give you their temporary locations.

During this time, the Auriemma Reading Room will be closed to patrons. We know this is a popular spot but it will temporarily hold furniture and staff that needed to be moved from the office areas.  We expect it will be closed through August 7th.

Level 1 – The next area they will begin work on is the area around the main staircase on level 1.  This will be orchestrated to allow as much access to the floor during this time.

We thank you so much for your patience through this project!

Wow! A lot has happened since our last post.  We would like to tell you it has been all been good, but when someone likens it to an episode of “This Old House”, you know you are in a bit of trouble.

There are currently three main areas in which work is being done.

Bookworms Cafe. Furniture is being moved in today and the Bookworms staff are working to get things in order.  They have found a need to upgrade their electrical  and re-install some plumbing which they anticipate will be done for a Tuesday opening. WooHoo!  Check out the new floor….

3rd floor carpeting. There has been some delays in getting to the floor, and the same glue that is used to make sure the carpeting sticks, is the same glue that is very difficult to get up.  For both of those reasons we are behind schedule on the floor, and will need to extend the closure of the floor through Monday, June 24^th.  On that Monday it is likely that we will be able open the North section of the floor while they continue to carpet on the South side.  There will still be furniture all around and the serpentine seating will need to be reconnected, but we should be able to allow access to the areas, including the study carrels on the North side.  If you are a carrel user on the South side and need to get to your carrel, please let us know.

3rd & 4th floor bathrooms. Unfortunately the tile project in both bathrooms has been stalled for two unanticipated issues.  One is a discrepancy in the specifications of the tiles selected and a new tile needed to be chosen.  That was done on Thursday so the new tile is now on order.  The second issue that will take some time to resolve is the drainage in the floor. I won’t go into detail but what they have uncovered is that the older drains in the floor will not allow for the waterproofing to be done correctly and as a result they need to do something to mitigate that.  It will likely take some time to figure out how to proceed so there is currently no estimation of when these might be completed.

Thank you for your patience!

The flooring company made great progress last week.

3rd & 4th floor bathrooms – Both have been successfully demo’d and it is expected that they will begin installing the new flooring later this week.

Bookworms – Demolition has taken longer than they expected, due to an incredibly stubborn glue from the last installation.  As a result, they are behind schedule on this piece of the project.  They will need to finish getting the tiles off the floor early this week and we are crossing our fingers that they can stay on track.  However, realistically Bookworms will likely not be open on Monday June 10th.  We will keep you posted on the progress of this.

3rd Floor – The next part of the project is the carpeting on the 3rd floor.  As with much of the work needing to be done, this floor will be tricky.  The intent is to do half of the floor at a time, with the remaining half for storage of the furniture that is currently on the floor. There will be an orchestrated effort to move the furniture as the flooring removal and installation moves along.  Due to the inability for us to know exactly how this will all work, we are closing the 3rd floor to the public starting this Wednesday, June 5th through Friday, June 14th.  If you have materials that need to come from the third floor stacks, please go to the iDesk on the Plaza level and they will assist.

The Roper Center on the 3rd floor will still remain open during this time.

Thanks for your patience!

Day 2 … Starting today, Wednesday May 22, after the staff of Bookworms closes their counters and put away their coffee urns (3 PM), work will begin on dismantling the Bookworms space. Bookworms, the 24 hr. study space, the TV room and the restrooms will not be available until around June 12. The flooring company will be ripping up the old vinyl tile and installing a new tile with a new, more vibrant color scheme. Access to the Class of 1947 Room will be through the South Entrance only.

Meanwhile, work continues on the bathrooms on level 4. In a couple days they will be dropping down to level 3 to start the demolition of those bathrooms. The work in the bathrooms is a wee bit loud, but the on the brighter side, it doesn’t take them very long to rip up a bathroom floor.

Summer time is upon us and you know what that means; construction projects. Summer is the time when we work on the Babbidge Library bringing back to “pristine” condition. I know that’s a stretch considering the Homer Babbidge is 35 years old. But this summer we are doing something special. We are replacing much of the flooring in the library.

The first thing you may notice is that we are replacing the brown tile floors in the upper bathrooms. Currently, they are working on the level 4 Men’s and Women’s restrooms and they will soon be dropping down to levels 3, 2, 1 and eventually level B. That is the banging that you hear in the building as the chisel and jackhammer the old tile off the floor.