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FARMINGTON – The local public library found itself engaging in an unexpected renovation of its furnace room, after water was found leaking into the children’s room.
Farmington Public Library’s Head Librarian Melanie Taylor Coombs said that the staff remains uncertain as to how the building sustained damage. They do believe that sometime in August or September, part of the foundation collapsed in the small room that houses the furnace and oil tanks. Water seeped into the building, entering the adjacent children’s section.
While working to treat that problem, on Dec. 27, a powerful system of rainstorms swept through the county. Coombs said she realized the library’s problem had become more serious almost immediately.
“I came in on the 27th,” she said, “and I walked into [the children’s room] to check the water. Once I got halfway across the room I started hearing the squish squish from my feet on the carpet.”
The staff found inches of standing water in the furnace room, with more water rolling off of the twin oil tanks. Coombs alerted the Board of Trustees, who she said had been “exceptional” in their response.
The library is spending between $8,000 and $10,000 to reseal the damaged portion of the foundation, install a sump pump and to replace the two aging tanks with a single, new tank. Removing one of the two tanks, Coombs noted, had been necessary to gain access to the damaged area. The new configuration will require a small remodeling of the interior walls of the children’s room.
The library was forced to close twice; both times on Tuesdays in order to allow crews multiple days to work on the building. Coombs said that the staff decided to close due to the strong smell caused by the sealant. She believes and hopes future closures won’t be necessary.
“I hope we won’t have to,” Coombs said. “We’re doing our best to ensure that doesn’t happen.”
Coombs credited both the board, as well as the employees of Standard Waterproofing and Anytime Heating for going above and beyond to help keep the library running. She also singled out Sten Jesperson, a professional builder and longtime library volunteer, for having been constantly on call for the library’s rapidly-developing problems.
“He’s just been great,” Coombs said, saying that she considered the outpouring of support the staff had received to be the silver lining of the incident.
Currently, the children’s room is on track to be back in full operation in a week or two. Plastic wrap currently covers much of the room, designed to protect the books from dust released throughout the project.
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