Water-damaged floor in C.E. Gaines under renovation

Digital Forsyth Forsyth County, North Carolina

The hardwood floors in C. E. Gaines Center were damaged this past summer. The repairs began Oct. 1 and are scheduled to be completed by Nov. 12.

The heat exchanger‘s two gaskets ruptured, causing a flood in the boiler room, said Dianne Walker, director of facilities operations.

The boiler room is beneath the gym’s floor, where the fall men’s and women’s teams practice and play. Since the flooding, the men and women’s basketball practice were still allowed in the gym until the repairs began.

"As maintenance started to detect and sort the damages done to the floor, more damaged areas surfaced," said Donald Pearsall, assistant vice chancellor.

"We were trying to determine whether it was more feasible to have the floor repaired in just a specific area or as a whole. The damages are covering about 3,000 square feet of the gym."

Winston-Salem State filed an insurance claim with Hartford Insurance.

Kevin Manns, assistant athletic director for media relations and communications, was hoping the gym’s floor would be fixed long before this year’s basketball season, which begins on Oct. 15.

"Until the floor is completely fixed, practice time will be held in other buildings on campus such as the Donald J. Reaves Center and Whitaker Gym," Manns said.

Lady Rams forward, Dionna Scott, said the floor isn’t a big problem.

Scott is a senior mass communications major from South Riding, Va.

"Yes, there is a spot that has a hump due to what happened [the flood] over the summer. So, it is risky for us to play on it, but I guess since we practice on it so much we are used to it."

Though the athletics department was allowed to maneuver around the damage, another event was not.

The Red Sea of Sound, Winston-Salem State’s Marching Band, was scheduled to host its first "Band Brawl" against Elizabeth City State Sept. 26 in the C.E. Gaines Center.

The event had to be canceled because of the damaged hardwood floors.

Band member Douglas Riley, was one of the organizers of the event.

He said that the brawl would have brought a very large crowd.

Riley is a junior management information systems major from Durham.

"Dr. Michael Magruder spoke with James Huff and told him the floor was buckled and didn’t know how much time it would take to be completely finished.

"Amongst the band members, the event was an anticipated one and it would have brought a pretty good crowd," Riley said.

The renovations, which includes resurfaced floors and new paint is not complete as of Nov. 13