The Hammonton Gazette 08/17/16 Edition | Page 4

Work continues on several HHS, HMS projects Wednesday, August 17, 2016 • The Hammonton Gazette • Page 3 by Kevin Troilo Gazette StaFF Writer HaMMONtON—there are a number of maintenance and restoration projects taking place this summer at Hammonton’s public schools. according to Superintendent Dr. Dan blachford, the list of work scheduled to be done is as follows: the repairing of an ongoing electrical issue at the high school; a PaC lighting project at the high school; a $350,000 drainage project at the high school; bathroom, teacher room and science lab remodeling and renovations at the middle school. the drainage project at Hammonton High School is something that blachford cited has needed complete remediation for a number of years. “the final finish grading around Hammonton High School is either level or actually slopes back to the building,” blachford said. Whenever ground slopes inward towards a building, it allows rain water, snow melt or any sort of excess runoff to form puddles at the base of the walls, blachford said. there are a few areas at the school that have been affected more than others. these include a number of offices and classrooms, the auxiliary gym (where wrestling takes place) and the main gymnasium entrance. “When they build the school, the base floor should have been located minimally 12 [inches] higher than it is and the finish exterior grades set minimally 6 [inches] lower than the floor … the other area of concern is at the gymnasium entrance area. Numerous downspouts dump rain water in large amounts right on top of the concrete walkway. Over the years, this concrete has settled and some of which are sloping back toward the entrance doors causing ponding, further settlement and dangerous ice conditions in freezing DiMeglio Septic, Est. 1975 ~ DEP 03261 ~ Paul DiMeglio weather,” blachford said. there are a number of ways to fix this ongoing problem. the company who was contracted for the job will be building a stone trench outside the exterior of the building in the areas where the problem exists. they will be installing a perforated drainage pipe into the trench that will collect all of the water that is dumped back into the trenches, blachford said. Since the auxiliary and main gymnasium entrances both receive a lot of foot traffic during sports seasons, there are also plans to fix these areas. “they are also going to remove portions of concrete slab in courtyard, excavate down to the top of the concrete footing under auxiliary gym wall and apply water proofing membrane the entire length of courtyard to fill and pour new concrete slab … at the gym entrance, [they] are removing all damaged and settled concrete slabs, installing a new drainage line and attaching all existing downspouts in the area of the entrance of the new drainage line,” blachford said. at Hammonton Middle School, the largest projects are the renova- Inc. 491 S. White Horse Pike • Ancora, NJ Save at our annual SUMMER CLEARANCE SALE 60% off Shop Now Everything in the store up to Now though August 23 In-store stock only. Prior Sales Excluded. CUSTOM ENGAGEMENT RINGS & WEDDING BANDS REPAIRS COMPLETED ON PREMISES 121 S. White Horse Pike across from the McDonald’s Hammonton • 561-6222 Looking for the perfect gown? Stop in our shop to see what’s new! 1 (800) 427-4617 ~ 561-1007 ~ 561-3597 • Grease Trap Cleaning • Portable Toilets • Septic Certifications • Jetting Service tion of bathrooms and science labs and the fixing of a sinking floor. Demolition of the bathrooms has already taken place and the remodeling will continue throughout the summer. Like the bathrooms, the teachers’ room has already been completely demolished and will be red