The rooms start to take shape. Taken from the southeast corner of 4South.
The rooms on the old side start to take shape as walls are being framed – 4th floor walls are up and 3rd floor is underway. Metal studs are being used on the old side – a great fire safety improvement. The new floor plan will be two or three smaller sleeping rooms off a central study room.
The boiler room saw some action with the removal of asbestos. Thankfully, asbestos was only used on the joints and fittings of the 1964 heating system. The existing heating system is a combination of steam (for the old side) and hot water (for the new side). It will be converted to all hot water – which will allow for air condition to be installed throughout the entire house. It will be a more efficient heating solution since we will no longer have to heat the water to the boiling point and will hopefully save on repairs (ask me about the $2,500 butterfly valve we had to replace a few years ago).
A little mechanical work happened early this fall when the bottom of the 1964 300-gallon hot water storage tank failed. The house manager reported that a loud ‘hissing’ sound was coming from the boiler room and when they opened the door it was spraying water everywhere. At the same time, our 1997 hot water heater went on the fritz (not surprising – it was nearing the end of its life). Thankfully, we were able to work with Tom Colvin, 1970, President of Colvin Engineering Associates in Salt Lake City to find a fantastic solution. We now have a 100 gallon, 399,999 BTU hot water heater that can produce 514 gallons of hot water an hour – plus, it is 93% efficient! Thank you Brother Colvin!
Oh, and 91 windows were ordered this week.
Standing in 4north, looking to 4south.
3rd floor — standing by the south wall (room 302) looking to the north (room 300 – grey wall, 301 – red wall). The new metal base plate shows the new layout.
Taken in the boiler room — the blue pipes used to be covered in asbestos.
OLD hot water heater and storage tank
The old hot water heater and storage tank — RIP (hot water heater 1997-2010; storage tank 1964-2010)
New hot water heater — no more storage tank! (Thank you again Brother Colvin)
This Old FIJI House 
I think GOM is in there somewhere.
Things are looking great! Thanks for putting this website together D, I check it almost daily for updates.
Thanks Ryan — It is fun to watch the progress — and I’m glad this day is finally here. I try to update it once a week — on Thursday or Friday. Let me know if there is something you specifically want to see…
D
Eric,
Wow! What a job! Thanks for posting these pics. Makes me happy to see the house finally updated so completely. U sure we shouldn’t have put back open air dorms?……….
Cannot wait to see the final product.
Pat Duey ’86
Billings, MT