County maintenance workers estimate that repairs will take a minimum of three weeks before the floors in both gyms will be ready for P.E. classes to use. Sports teams will have to wait even longer.
In an e-mail to Whitnet, principal Alan Goodwin explained that a mechanical failure in the heating system caused the Feb. 1 flood in both gyms.
In an effort to salvage the floors, covered in water Monday, rows of air dryers that are powered by generators lined both gyms. To replace the floors, the county will have to remove the bleachers from the large gym.
Unlike newer gym floors which can be blown dry from below, these floors are lined with foam that principal Alan Goodwin said are drenched and seemingly impossible to dry.
While the exact cause of the burst pipe in the health room is still unclear, county maintenance workers discovered one of the causes of the flood.
“Bethesda Maintenance now knows that a device, which usually slows down the water flow, froze,” Goodwin said. “We still don’t know why.”
Until the snow melts on the track and the floors are repaired, P.E. will meet in the auditorium and all home games will be rescheduled to play at other county schools. Teams that require the indoor facilities are conducting practice at Pyle from 4 to 7 p.m. every day.
“I encourage you and the students to attend their respective contests wherever they are to support them,” Goodwin wrote in the Feb. 3 e-mail. “Unfortunately, the loss of the gyms for any period of time requires patience, flexibility, and creativity.”
