The new Hinsdale Central natatorium, built as part of the $140 million Future Ready Facilities referendum, will be closed May 1 for repairs to the tile deck and dehumidification unit. (Jim Slonoff photo)
The Hinsdale Central pool will close May 1 for repairs to the tile deck and repairs or replacement of the Dectron dehumidification unit, with plans to complete work before the start of school in August.
The deck will be removed down to the concrete structural slab, the trench drain will be modified, the sub-floor replaced and new tiles installed, said Josh Stephenson, chief financial officer for Hinsdale High School District 86.
"In the end, aesthetically, it will look basically the same," he said. "It's basically a warranty issue. There were some designs and installation issues with the original floor at Central."
The remodeled pool at Hinsdale South has flooring issues as well, but they are not as severe as Central's. The tile deck of that pool will be replaced the summer of 2025.
The District 86 Facilities Committee discussed the timeline at a Feb. 9 meeting. Members agreed to start construction May 1 if possible (the Illinois Department of Public Health needs to issue a permit for the work), even though the water polo season will not be completed. The goal is to have the pool ready to open when the girls swim season starts in August.
Both water polo teams at Central are smaller than the girls swim team, which will make it easier to schedule practice time at Hinsdale South's pool while Central's is closed.
"As the athletic director, my biggest concern is that it's not ready for the first day of girls swimming in the fall," Central's Mike Jezioro said at the facilities committee meeting. "While I love all of our student-athletes equally, I think displacing the girls swim team would be a much more difficult task for us than displacing the polo teams."
Central also is scheduled to host the Kendall Pickering Invite the first weekend of competition, Jezioro noted. While there had been discussions of completing work at both pools this summer, the decision was made to proceed with work only at Central.
"I think that the flexibility of staggering them is going to be the easiest operationally," Stephenson said.
All costs related to the deck work, including hiring an engineering firm to investigate the problem and legal fees, will be paid by the architect, construction manager and contractor.
The Dectron dehumidification unit is expected to be rebuilt while the pool is closed. Since its installation two years ago, the unit has experienced multiple warranty issues. The district has pushed for a new unit, but the company would like to rebuild it.
"Most likely it seems like Dectron will end up rebuilding the unit," Stephenson said. "We haven't given final direction on that. Hopefully we'll have a resolution in the next week or two."
The rebuild would be done at no cost. Installation of a new unit could cost the district up to $70,000.
"We wouldn't know the cost until we opened the bids," Stephenson said.
District officials also are looking at an engineer's recommendations to change settings, sensors and air supply registers to make the spectator area of the pool more comfortable.
Finally, the galvanized steel bands that went around the Solatube skylights in the ceiling will be replaced. Some of the clips that hold the bands in place have corroded and one broke, causing the band to be released. The pool had to be closed and one swim meet moved to York High School while other bands with corroded clips were removed.
Why are so many problems occurring at once? Stephenson said the tile deck is a separate issue, but the others might be related.
"When you get into any of the questions on the ventilation, the Dectron unit and the corrosion on the clips from the Solatubes, there is some correlation between all of those," he said.
More information is available on the pool FAQ on the district's website. The document, which will be updated this week or next, is available at http://www.hinsdale86.org/our-district/future-ready-facilities/pool-faq.
