Rosie Guzman
Special to Mustang News
Starting at 5 a.m., students, faculty and staff at Cal Poly were able to hear drilling, hammering and nailing coming from building 10, Erhart Agriculture — construction began this week on the rooftop of the agriculture building.
The construction is estimated to be completed at the end of the month.
Due to the rain a couple of months ago, there was a water leakage on the second floor of building 10, which caused the agriculture department to remove its equipment from some of the classrooms.
Agribusiness professor Sean Hurley said the leakage primarily affected two labs, an advising center and two other standard classrooms.
“Everything was saved but a printer,” Hurley said. “All the computers that had water on them made it through.”
All the classrooms that were damaged by the water were closed for repairs and all offices were moved to another location.
Joel Neel, the director of facilities planning and capital projects, calls the new roof a “cool roof,” which is more energy-efficient and will do a better job at preventing water damage to the building and equipment.
Local outside contractors were hired to work on the new roof since it is specialized work and because it is such an intensive project. The construction begins early in the morning and goes late into the evening.
Neel understands that it is not the best time for construction, but campus facilities have sent out a message to the faculty and staff in the agriculture building to inform them about the repairs and a timeline for them to know where and when the construction will be happening.
“It would definitely be our preference to not be doing this during the day, but we felt it was necessary to minimize any potential damage,” he said.
Nutrition senior Erika Hashimoto has noticed the drilling and admits that once the noise starts, it is hard to focus in the classroom.
The noise is a problem to many professors, and in Erika’s case, her professor cut class early one day because the construction sounds became too loud.
“I think they can find a better time to do it, like maybe later in the day,” Hashimoto said. “But if it’s going to save money in the future, then I think it should be done.”