[CAUT] Tornado Damage at Union University

[Kenneth Eschete]

Dear Bob,
Here are two suggestions, based on my experience with water damaged 
pianos.  (A broken steam radiator on the 5th floor of our old music 
building, flooded pianos on the 4 floors directly below.)

1.  Risk Management - Get in touch with the Risk Management Office at the 
college and ask them what they want you to do in the way of a damage report 
for the insurance claim.  They will be glad to hear from you.  Next, make 
sure that they are agreeing to pay you for this examination and damage 
report.  (Your exam fee plus time for research.)

The report should state that you have examined the pianos 
yourself.  Itemize the pianos by serial number and College inventory 
number.  State the damage to each one and an estimated expense for 
repair.  (This estimate should include repairing things that are likely to 
go wrong in the next few years due to this exposure to high humidity - wet 
conditions.....not just the actual water damage.  Premature rusting of 
strings, shrinkage of wool cloth, tight moving parts, rusting screws, etc. 
is something that needs to be covered by this claim.)

You will also need to provide some idea of what the pianos are worth, how 
much it would cost to replace them, and how much for restoration.  I can 
help you ball park some figures if you need help.

2.  Recovery -  Action should be taken to prevent any further damage, but 
museum conservators advise
against rapid drying of water-damaged objects.  Ideally, they should be 
moved into a humidity controllable area, and the humidity should be 
gradually reduced.  This might involve adding humidifiers to this room, and 
holding the RH at 60%, then down to 50%, then down to 40%, over a period of 
a few weeks.  Hide glue will reset, wool cloth will not shrink.  Rust may 
appear, but this will likely happen anyway, and metal parts are more 
treatable.  I've seen the results of attempts to dry pianos out with hair 
dryers, and it really causes all those glue joints to fail, especially the 
glue that is trying to hold shrinking wool.

Best of luck,

Ken Eschete
Northwestern University
Evanston, Illinois



>On Tuesday night, Jackson, TN was hit hard by a
>tornado(s) with some of the most severe damage
>occurring at the school I service, Union University.
>Most of the dorms are destroyed.  No students lost
>their lives and most injuries were minor.  Perhaps as
>much as $20 million worth of damage was sustained
>according to the Univ. president.
>You may have seen some of the footage on national
>television.
>
>Part of the roof of the three-story music building was
>torn off and water flooded down to the first floor
>where the pianos were.  During the ordeal, I was away
>in Oklahoma taking care of a parent who has suffered a
>broken hip. As I came back into town today, I went by
>the school to see if I could help with any thing.  One
>of the profs gave me a tour of the dark and wet
>building.  Our two Hamburg D's were in the recital
>hall which flooded (not deeply).  They had rolled them
>out into the hallway which was not as "wet". - I think
>just the carpet is wet in the hall.   Both were
>covered at the time of the tornado and water flooding.
>  One cover was wet when they came to look at it this
>morning. The humidity in the bldg. was extremely high
>and they were going to have someone tomorrow working
>on that because they are afraid mold will begin to
>form.  Tonight the temp. will drop to 30 F and there
>is no heat of course in the building.  I'll have to
>look around more tomorrow.   I couldn't see anything
>without a flashlight.
>I had just begun my round of tunings for the new
>semester.
>
>Any suggestions will be appreciated for evaluating and
>advising the music department.  I don't think that any
>were directly rained on - they may have just gotten
>very damp.  I'll find out more later. The main thing
>is that these students and their families were blessed
>that no one was killed by the storm as severe as it
>was.
>
>Hundreds of student and faculty cars were destroyed.
>
>Gratefully,
>Bob Hull
>
>P.S. My family, home and shop which are about 5 miles
>away were untouched.  In the shop are three nice
>family heirloom grands of customers - two just about
>to be restrung and one to be refinished.  But as long
>as my family was protected, the other things don't
>really matter.
>
>
>
> 
>____________________________________________________________________________________
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Kenneth Eschete
Director, Keyboard Maintenance Office
Northwestern University School of Music
Evanston, Illinois 60208
847.467.6970
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