Construction on a wall in Jenkins began in February. Photo by Josiah McKinley.
Beginning of repairs on elevators and maintenance updates
Construction projects have been ongoing around campus including repairing a stairwell in the Jenkins Building, a lift being redone in the library, and elevator maintenance happening in the White Administration Building.
A Jenkins stairwell located near the entrance facing the quad has been under construction since February and is ongoing. Students walking through Jenkins may have noticed black splotches on a strip of the wall and may have noticed the construction that is underway to tear down and replaster the area. Larry Hatton, the director of Facilities and Construction, explained the situation and repair process for the stairwell.
A wall near a Jenkins stairwell was damaged, causing the need for new drywall. Photo by Baleigh Davis.
“We have some history of painting over and plastering over, instead of taking it down to where, you know, if there’s an issue, taking it down to the stud and fixing it,” Hatton said. “There’s a lot of paint on the walls and on top of wallpaper, and it’s on plaster, so that connection between the wallpaper and the plaster just gave up and the wallpaper fell down.”
Hatton said he brought in a company to tear down the drywall to the stud and install new drywall.
Hatton, who has been at TJC since 2023, grew up around the construction industry where he would go to trade school, learn HVAC, and eventually work his way up to doing building maintenance.
Hatton and his team, which consist of 36 people if fully staffed, also have been working on the elevators on campus, including the lift in the library, which is used for people with disabilities.
Hatton said there will be a new ADA lift installed in the library during spring break, as the old lift stopped working last year.
“It’s a specialty [lift], so it’s not like something they can pull off the shelf. They have to make it. So it’s been taking a minute to get and we’re still waiting for a few components of that lift,” Hatton said.
Hatton also mentioned other projects being worked on around campus.
“We did install an ADA door access in the library, second floor to the honor student center for one of our students. Right now we also have in White Administration Building, we have a full elevator modification going on,” Hatton said. “There’s three elevators, and we’re just rebuilding those elevators again. Those are end of life.”
The lift in the library stopped working last year. Facilities and Construction is working to replace it during spring break. Photo by Imogen Brown.
Hatton explained it takes about six or seven weeks for each elevator to be renovated. He noted the cabs, which are the space that carries people up and down in the elevator, are staying the same, while items like motors and the pumps are being replaced.
With these new modifications, Hatton’s team is updating the campus to make it accessible for everyone to use.
Students can report any problems on campus is by sending in maintenance requests by signing into Apache Access, going to the “menu tab” and going to the “campus life tab.” After that, students will find the “Residential Life and Housing tab” on the right side of the page. Pressing the “Maintenance Request Form” will lead students to multiple options including the “Maintenance repair tab.” After this, students will press “the building repair tab” sending users to the form to fill out for any issues. Hatton also stated students can call 903-510-2254 to report any issues.