Foul odors and ongoing leaks were causing complaints in the dorms of a 150-year-old university. The school needed a solution that would take care of the problems without displacing over 1000 on-campus students.
Students at a well-known eastern university were complaining about ongoing plumbing issues in their student housing. For years, the facilities team struggled with the aging pipes in their on-campus dormitories. Foul odor and ongoing leaks in buildings that were in constant use forced the repair crew to be reactive. Every time a problem arose, they would quickly patch or replace the pipes, only to see the issues arise again and again. With over 1000 students living in the four buildings, they faced a constant struggle to maintain the plumbing infrastructure while school was in session… but they were losing the battle.
The university had plans to eventually renovate the dorms, but it was not in the master financial plan for at least another ten years. The maintenance staff knew they needed to come up with a long-term solution to get ahead of the problem. They looked into a full pipe replacement, but the quote came in over $2,000,000. And, in order to keep the housing available during the school year, replacement would have to be executed in a multi-phase plan that would take years to complete. They were looking for an alternative option when they met a NuFlow Certified Contractor.
The contractor educated the facilities manager about pipe lining – a non-destructive alternative to pipe replacement that lasts just as long with minimal hassle. The solution proved to be a breakthrough, well beyond what the maintenance teams could have imagined. After a thorough inspection and presentation to the management team, the NuFlow Certified Contractor estimated the job at less than half of the price of pipe replacement.
The team cleaned and lined 32 drain stacks, which included over 5,000 ft of cast iron pipe. The entire project was done in one month over the school’s winter break. When the students returned to campus there were no more complaints. Under half the cost and a fraction of the projected time, you do not have to be a math major to know that they made the right decision.
Today!