By Sam Normand
Building A of New Residence. Jessica Haeni, a second year nursing student at Loyalist who lives in the building, says that her carpet has nails sticking out of it.
Students living in Loyalist College’s newly constructed residence buildings are facing a number of unexpected problems.
The first of four new buildings was made available for occupancy in September of 2010. The remaining three were completed and made available to students this September.
When second year electrical engineering student Kyle Vesh moved in, however, he soon found himself dealing with some unexpected problems.
“My washer and dryer leaked the first time we used it,” he says. “My basement flooded with sewage, and when they replaced the carpets after that they never put the baseboards back on.”
“There’s been some deficiencies that we’ve had to work through,” says Residence Manager Chris Carson. “As they occur, we work on correcting them.”
Carson says that there were some mistakes made during the construction process, however residence management is working to correct any oversights.
“For example, there were some washing machines that ended up leaking,” he says.
“During the installation process, whoever installed them didn’t fasten the hoses tight enough.”
Building A, which was completed and available to students in September 2010 doesn’t have as many issues as the newest buildings. However, some problems still persist.
“The front building does not have as many problems as the 3 back buildings,” says Jessica Haeni, a second year nursing student at Loyalist.
“Although one thing I will say is in regards to the carpeting. Oftentimes I have stepped on a nail either coming up the stairs or near my front entrance, where the tips of the nails come through the carpet, so I have to be careful where I step.”
When third year T.V. New Media student Danielle Gauthier moved into one of the newest buildings, she found a nasty surprise.
“I came in the house and the kitchen was flooded,” she says. “The dishwasher exploded and the kitchen was absolutely flooded. There was no-one else there so I didn’t know what to do. I had to clean it up.”
She also says that the lack of parking spaces at the new residence is a major inconvenience, especially to those who live in the rear buildings.
But that’s not all that’s wrong, she says.
“My roommate’s bed broke and our door is broken. Nobody seems interested in fixing it.” She says. “Plus the fact that we have to pay way more money than the old res buildings and we get less stuff than old rez. We have to pay for cable and internet, so we pay more for it.”
“I’ve seen a couple things that can go wrong,” says 91x program director Devin Bellinger, who lives in one of the new buildings.
“It’s the first year that these buildings are around. There’s always going to be problems the first few years new buildings come into play. A lot of its big things that come out of nowhere. Buildings have being flooded, pipes have been clogged, and we actually had a sewage back up once in a couple of the buildings.”
Bellinger also says that weak walls are a problem.
“The infrasctucture of the building is really weak. It’s really easy to damage the walls, mark them up, or put a hole in them. You should be able to lean against a wall without having to worry about marking it up or putting a hole in it. That’s the cost of cutting corners.”
“In terms of marking up the walls I agree with that. I think the paint that’s been used is flat paint. It’s something that’s going to show marks easily. If you do anything like scrape something against the wall it’s going to leave a mark on it,” says Carson. “Our cleaning and painting crews, who come in and do the painting during the summer, have increased the sheen of the paint in an effort to reduce the problems with marking. The plan is to do this with the other buildings for next year.”
Carson says that students won’t be held accountable for any marks left on the walls, however they will be charged for any damage such as holes.
The buildings, which were constructed by London Properties, an affiliate of Campus Living Centers, are copies of residences built at St. Clair College.