REPLACING an apparently cracked vent pipe in a wall of the small restroom of the school building (the one on the north side of the corridor between the classrooms, across from the chapel — called the Shemesh Restroom by the pre-school) is one of two non-emergency plumbing projects now being considered. (The other is to add a toilet in the space where the urinal used to be.)
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| Sample cracked vent pipe — is this what’s inside our wall? |
MAKING TEST CUTS into the south wall will be an adventure in discovery. (Best case: we find that the wall’s structural integrity is in good shape. Worst case: we find that there’s significant structural damage due to water damage, dry rot, termites; and maybe there’s mold, as well.) The point of this exercise is to be able to develop reliable cost estimates for structural repair and waterproofing later this year.
There are many issues to consider in advance, in order to ensure that we get useful and reliable answers to our questions. To me, the pending discovery stage feels a bit like sending an unmanned mission to Mars—we’ve got to get it right long before the probe lands on the unexplored surface of interest.
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| An American probe sent to Mars |
Below the jump, this post discusses the various considerations.…