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Asbestos found under gym floor at Fitch
AUSTINTOWN
Austintown schools Superintendent Vince Colaluca said asbestos was found under the water-damaged Fitch High School gym floor, causing the floor to be a total loss.
In June, a pipe burst in a restroom near the gymnasium, waterlogging and warping the floor.
Lewis VanHoose, school district athletic director, said the abatement process has been started, which is the first step on the long road ahead.
“Since asbestos was found, it has to be environmentally taken care of, so we have to remove the floor and all the asbestos before we start putting down a new one,” he said.
Colaluca said the asbestos originated in the tar paper put down before the gym floor was put in, more than 50 years ago, as a moisture barrier between floor and the concrete underneath.
“There was no danger because it was contained under the floor,” Colaluca said. “Now that we’ve pulled the floor up, we have to get it all taken care of.”
From there, Colaluca said the school district is working through its insurance company to put together a time line, order product and then insert insulation.
Neither VanHoose nor Colaluca could provide an estimate on the cost of the damage.
“It’s just all through the insurance,” VanHoose said.
He estimated that a new gym floor would be completed by mid-October.
“The abatement process is four weeks, and we are looking at 10 to 12 weeks after that for a new floor installment,” VanHoose said.
VanHoose said volleyball is the only fall sport affected by the damage, and he is working to reschedule games at Austintown Middle School.