By Izaiah Cerratos

Riverside City College was forced to close a classroom and the Quadrangle’s lower floor due to water damage.

The storm that passed over RCC May 1- May 2 caused severe water damage to the flooring in Room #16 and the hallway to the lower floor of the Quad. Both areas are contained by a tent to protect staff, students and classified professionals against any harmful chemicals being released by the mastic beneath the tile flooring.

The college contacted American Technologies, Inc. Restoration (ATI), a family-owned company that works across the country. ATI has been contracted to remove and replace all the damaged floor tiles.

“Everything is on schedule so far, we’ve cleared the water out and started the reflooring process,” ATI representative Sean Wright said. “Now it’s about the workers taking the right precautions and getting the job done right instead of fast.”

With the job projected to last a couple of weeks, RCC has made it known that the contractor will be taking the right steps to ensure that every person on campus is safe.

“ATI is following all required steps during remediation and this project has been registered with the California Air Quality Management District (AQMD),” Director of Facilities, Maintenance and Operations Robert Beebe said.

The water damage has forced students and staff to relocate to a new classroom late in the school year.

“The move to a different classroom hasn’t been that big of an issue for me,” student Leslie Romero said. “I got used to walking down those stairs to get to my class. I have to remind myself at times the class has been moved.”

The door entrances to the lower floor of the Quad have been closed off to the public with “danger and caution” signs across multiple doorways. The floor tiles in the hallway of the basement contained asbestos. Beebe has confirmed that no student, faculty, or classified professional has been exposed to any harmful chemicals.

“It’s not just laying down some tiles and calling it day,” ATI employee Dario Gomez said. “This job is kinda like putting a puzzle together, we have to take our time. One mistake and you can mess up the whole project.”

Early remediation work has been completed. However, reconstruction of the whole project is expected to continue for several weeks moving forward.