Dead bugs lay visible in the light fixtures, the water-stained ceiling tiles are unmoved and fire alarm cables protrude from the walls along the halls of the College of Education building, all due to asbestos.
The building was constructed in 1968 — at the peak of asbestos use, said Raymond Pankopf, director of architectural and engineering services at the University of Idaho. He said asbestos was a popular, high-performing, fire-resistant insulator with no known dangers.
“There are a lot of materials in that building that contain asbestos for one reason or another,” Pankopf said. “The general public was not aware that asbestos was a potential issue, and it had not yet been dealt with by any federal agency.”
Pankopf said asbestos fibers only become hazardous when the dust is disturbed and becomes airborne. In the years since builders sprayed asbestos on metal beaming and concrete support structures between floors, Pankopf said the compound has deteriorated into hazardous dust and settled on top of ceiling tiles on all five floors.
If disturbed, Pankopf said the fibers would be sucked into the air handling system, and distributed throughout the building. The ventilation system is no longer compliant with current building codes, he said.
“We don’t want to release any of the fibers, and because it’s so hard to create a containment, we don’t do renovation work above the ceiling,” Pankopf said.
So facilities workers installed fire alarms and Internet cables along the walls in order to avoid upsetting dangerous dust above.
Dawn Sundman, a custodian at the College of Education building, said she and her colleagues are not allowed to remove dead bugs from light fixtures because it might disturb asbestos fibers above the ceiling tiles.
Pankopf said asbestos can also be found inside many building materials, including vertical white rock sheet panels around the outside of the building. He said panels bend inward under their own weight, causing holes in the building.
“There’s areas where you can stick your finger through the wall to the outside, and there is ivy growing in,” Pankopf said.
UI Facilities would have replaced the failing rocks sheets, but the improvement would expose a large amount of asbestos to the rest of the building and the surrounding environment.
James Gregson, associate dean of the College of Education at UI, said more than a third of the cost of classroom renovations goes toward asbestos abatement, which has limited the college’s ability to educate future teachers with modern technology.
“It really has inhibited our ability to update the building and the classrooms, because of the huge cost of asbestos abetment,” Gregson said. “When this building was built, they did not anticipate all the radical changes in technology.”
Pankopf said even installing a basic ceiling projector would be difficult and costly, because of asbestos-laden dust above the ceiling tiles.
“They want to create teaching environments that allow future teachers to work with this technology in their collegiate careers,” Pankopf said.
Gregson said the lack of access to modern technology in the classroom has had a tremendous impact on students. He said school districts across the state rely on the College of Education to produce teachers who can operate modern educational technology.
“We have tried to make the best out of a challenging situation,” Gregson said. “It’s been OK, but OK is not good enough. We want to do a stellar job.”
Despite the large amount of asbestos present, UI Environmental Health and Safety has not recorded any asbestos fiber disturbances within the building, said Megan Grennille, an industrial hygiene specialist. She said she takes air samples of the building to test for asbestos every two years to ensure the safety of the building.
Pankopf said the growing number of asbestos-related problems prompted one of the largest asbestos abatement projects in UI history, set to commence this summer.
“All of that has combined to force the issue to where we’re having to look at it on a whole building basis rather than on a room or case-by-case basis,” Pankopf said.
The process will take six to eight months, and will likely include 30 asbestos removal workers about two years.
Kenneth Hites, hazardous material coordinator for UI Facilities, said asbestos abatement is a labor-intensive process that often involves multiple teams for larger projects.
Pankopf said the entire remodel will cost $17.2 million, and will be funded through a combination of university and state funds. He said UI will fund the project through bond activity and gift donations.
Gregson said state funding will help cover the cost of the asbestos abatement and other structural problems, while UI funding will allow the new building to be innovative and modern.
“The state dollars allowed us to solve the problem, it didn’t allow us to really be innovative in our spaces,” Gregson said.
Pankopf said the renovation will keep intact the “skeleton” of the building, while removing the majority of its infrastructure, including the Kiva Theater.
Pankopf said the state will begin accepting bids from contractors July 1, and will start the abatement process Aug. 1.
“We’re going to not only clean out all of the asbestos,” Pankopf said. “We’re going to demolish everything, down to the steel framing and the concrete footing, and then we’re going to rebuild.”
Pankopf said the only other asbestos abatement project of similar size in UI history was the renovation of the Teaching Learning Center in 2003. He said the TLC, like the College of Education building, was built during a period when use of the fire resistant insulator was common.
Gregson said he is ecstatic about the renovation, because it will provide students and faculty with proper facilities. He said the building will also feature sustainable elements to reduce the college’s environmental footprint.
Gregson said he hopes to see the new building attract students from across campus, and create a stronger sense of community within the college.
“We’re using this as an opportunity to make the building just feel even differently, so that when you walk in, it feels good — it feels like a strong sense of community,” Gregson said.
Written by Ryan Tarinelli