Residents of College Park Apartments Tolerate Construction During Semester

by kgarafano | September 26, 2012 7:32 pm

By KRISTEN GARAFANO

Students in the College Park Apartments are living amongst drilling, hammering and knocking as workers revamp the buildings.

The Phase II College Park Apartments[1] are undergoing renovation throughout the Fall 2012 semester at Ramapo College with students living there. The construction began during June and July of 2012, with re-roofing and mechanical system replacements during the summer and exterior transformations which are taking place now.

Students who are currently living in the housing units have to deal with construction daily.

“It’s hard to sleep sometimes,” said junior Martin Vu, who resides in Cypress in the CPAs. The outside walls of the building he lives in are now a bright green after the wooden paneling that once existed there was removed.

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Residents of Sycamore, Cypress, Mulberry, Tamarack, and Butternut buildings in the CPAs deal with outside contractors working Monday through Friday. The workers are there from approximately 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. during the week.“It’s not that bad, but they do start too early in the morning,” Vu said. “Also, it’s creepy when you’re changing in your room and there’s a worker watching from the window.”

The Phase II College Park Apartments were constructed in 1976, according to the Ramapo website. Consisting of five two-story structures, the buildings were originally designed to house a total of 300 residents. There are 18 one-bedroom units, and 66 two-bedroom units, housing two students per bedroom.

In 2002 and 2009, facility examinations by the college revealed that the buildings were in poor condition. Replacement of the roofs, siding, glazing, and new and improved air-conditioning and heating systems were recommended.

Ramapo introduced design professionals to propose different renovation concepts. The deteriorating and leaky roofs are being replaced with a new system that is not only energy efficient, but minimizes heat loss in the winter and heat gain in the summer.

The old cedar siding is now long gone due to it being weathered and rotted, and will be replaced with vinyl. The new insulation siding system will be more impact and weather resistant.

Window systems are also in the process of being replaced. Previously single-pane and providing poor insulation, the new windows will have fiberglass, multi-channel foam filled frames and clear insulating glass. This new glazing system will avoid warping, cracking, or rotting, reduce air leakage, and produce minimal condensation. Durability and sound insulation will be vastly improved.

The heating and air conditioning units, which were over 30 years old, were also restored during the summer.

Students have learned to cope with the distracting noises in different ways. “I’ll just put headphones in and listen to music so I don’t hear it,” Vu said.

Brick and other exterior façade components are now being installed, and college officials expect to be completely finished by the end of the calendar year. “I kind of can’t wait until it’s over,” said junior Miles Murphy, who also lives in Cypress. “It gets annoying hearing them working in the morning sometimes, but I just have to deal with it.”

Source URL: https://class1.ramaporecord.org/?p=8199

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