Library Spelunking


I’m typing this with hands that feel like they have very small splinters in them. A few days ago, during the coldest spell this area has had in a number of years, some fire sprinkler heads burst at the library where I work. The worst of the damage seems to have occurred above the building’s boiler room, which is located above ground (we have no basement) in the southwest corner of the building. Part of the ceiling there has now fallen through. Fortunately the concrete floors and big pipes beneath the affected area weren’t damaged. And it’s not like any of our patrons will see the mess.

The other damaged section was right above the Periodical Room, above a public seating area. The carpet and seats got wet (we’ve dried them now), but not a single magazine, book, computer, or anything else fragile got wet. We are very thankful for that. These two sections were just about the only parts of the building where such a disaster could have occurred without doing much more damage to furniture, equipment, and materials.

Of course we’ve had sprinkler technicians all over the attic looking at the damage, seeing what sections need to be fixed to prevent a future freeze, and getting the sprinkler system working again so that we will still have fire protection. But our Vice President of the Board of Trustees, who knows a good deal about engineering and construction, is concerned—properly so—that the water might have damaged the upper side of the ceiling in the Periodical Room. We don’t want to fix the sprinklers and submit an insurance claim only to discover the hard way a couple of years down the line that there was water damage above the ceiling that would cause a future, and highly visible, ceiling collapse. I promised him I would take a look.

This meant climbing up into the attic. Yes, libraries have attics like other buildings. Ours is accessed through a crawlspace with a folding ladder like you would see in most houses today. It is located in a wide hallway in back of the circulation desk area. To get it down I first closed the door on the public end of the corridor to make sure patrons couldn’t get a look back in there. Among other things, you don’t want young boys spotting that ladder back there and getting ideas. Then I moved several book trucks and audiovisual carts out of the way.

Then I climbed up the ladder, flashlight in hand, to a little unfinished room above the ceiling. This is the lower antechamber to the attic. On the wall is a light switch to turn on the attic lights. I didn’t have to do this because the sprinkler techs had thoughtfully left the lights turned on the last time they were up there. I could see this because they had also thoughtfully left the trap door above the antechamber open, letting thousands of BTUs per hour escape into the attic’s great open spaces.

The attic proper looks like an ordinary residential attic, with bare wooden roofing trusses and rafters, loads of insulation, and pipes and conduits running here and there. The main difference is that our attic is much, much bigger than you’d see in a house. In recent years the trend toward libraries had been toward sprawling, single-story buildings with huge, steep roofs above them. The space up under our big roof reminds you of a barn loft, or perhaps an odd, unfinished church sanctuary. A system of walkways provides access around the area. The sprinkler techs had made enough noise during their trips up there to track their progress from down below. I made an effort to tread more lightly, so as not to disturb the patrons.

Unfortunately the sprinkler pipes that created the problem are up under the outer edge of the steep roof, far away from the walkway. A couple of days earlier the head sprinkler tech took me on a tour of the attic to show me where the areas of concern were. He had showed me a tiny crawl space I had never noticed before that led out over the Periodical Room. This was where I had to go now.

Finding the crawl space with the beam of my flashlight was easy enough. Getting to it involved walking on rafter beams. You have to walk on the beams because the upper ceiling material isn’t strong enough to support one’s weight. I really didn’t want to take a chance on crashing down into the double ceiling, with its tangle of conduits and lines and light fixture supports, and possibly even riding a light fixture down into the main part of the building. So I took great care in placing my feet!

Walking the rafters wasn’t too hard at the start, even though it meant working my way around truss members running at various angles. The problem was that the head room rapidly declined as I neared the roof’s edge. Then there was the big pipe that I had to step over while partially doubled over, and holding a flashlight, and watching carefully where I was putting my feet.

Then it got difficult.

To get through the crawl space I had to squat, still staying on the rafter beams. As luck would have it, the ceiling right above me was also studded with points of nails that had been driven down through the roof during the building’s construction. A comic book supervillain could hardly have designed a more fiendish setup.

Inside the crawl space I found a solid place to sit. It was slanted and dirty, but solid. Right in front of it, at right angles to the normal roofing trusses, ran another truss. Somehow I had to get through one or another of the triangles formed by the truss’ members and crawl over several feet of insulation and ceiling joists to reach the area above the Periodical Room that I needed to check.

After a couple of false starts I finally worked out a way to contort myself through the truss work and onto the ceiling joists. I had to set my flashlight down next to the truss in a position that would provide light while I got through the truss. Then I had to figure out a way to reach back and get the light. Then I moved ahead over the joists, like a grade-schooler climbing over a set of monkey bars. All the time my hands kept coming into contact with insulation. I had heard that this was not good for you.

Directly ahead was a great mass of insulation rising up through the roof. This was the outside of the skylight that everybody thinks makes the Periodical Room’s seating area look so lovely. From this side nobody would ever have recognized it. To the left of the skylight was a deep hole. This was the double ceiling area beside the skylight.

I could probably have figured out a way to climb into it, but I don’t know that I could have made it back out again. Instead I aimed my light down into it—taking care not to drop it, lest I be left to grope my way back out—and took the best look I could. There were no puddles of water standing. As nearly as I could tell the surface below looked dry and free of damage. But what did I know? Somebody who knew more about spotting water damage would have to check it out. The fact that I could not see anything that looked obviously bad to my untrained eyes was encouraging, at least.

Now I had to get out. Somehow or other I turned around and crawled back toward the truss. I contorted myself through it again. Then I crawled back out through the crawl space—always being mindful of the nails sticking through just above my head and stooped shoulders. Finally I walked back across the rafters to the walkway. It felt good to be back on solid lumber.

When I exited the attic I eased the trap door back into place and turned off the attic lights. Then I climbed down the folding ladder, stowed it back up in the ceiling, moved the book trucks and AV carts back into place, and opened the door on the end of the corridor. The staff at the circ desk said that they had not heard me making any undue noise.

As soon as I could I looked myself over. Not too bad. There was a little dirt to brush off of my legs. My hands needed a washing. As I rubbed them clean I started noticing the splintery-feeling spots. Hopefully the contact with the insulation won’t cause the skin to break out or something. If I have another bout of eczema soon I’ll know what to blame!

That’s all I can do for now. Sometime soon, when the materials they have on order arrive, the sprinkler techs will get back up there to finish their work. While they’re at it, I will probably have to go up there with them to see what they think about the damage. I can hardly wait….