Renovations on West Laville Hall have been completed, but there are still several kinks that need to be fixed.
Several pieces of furniture have been ordered but have yet to show up, according to Brent Cockrell, Residential Life coordinator of Acadian, East Laville and West Laville halls.
Marcus Lewis, a plumber who was working in West Laville, said sewer stop-ups are occurring because of rust that developed during 50 years of neglect.
West Laville now has central air after decades of window units that caused mildew and mold to form on the windows, Cockrell said.
Cockrell explained there is “a lot of wear and tear when you have that many students” living in the building, which was built in the late 1940s.
Students are inconvenienced by workers constantly going in and out of the building to finish the repairs.
“The building’s a lot nicer now, but it’s pretty obvious they finished in a hurry,” said Simone Guidry, civil engineering freshman.
Guidry’s closet wall was not plastered completely, leaving a hole leading directly to the innards of a wall, and the plaster was not smoothed out on several walls, causing globs of it to stick out more than other areas.
The bathroom lights over the showers sometimes have glitches, Guidry said.
“Sometimes they’re off. Sometimes they’re on,” she said. “You never know.”
Her sister, Melissa Guidry, a political science and business senior, lived in West Laville the semester before it closed down for renovations. She said the bathrooms were in disrepair and in need of a thorough cleaning, and she was shocked if she saw a girl in the retro blue-tiled bathroom without shoes on.
The building had not been renovated since the Guidrys’ 78-year-old grandmother had lived there in 1956.
West Laville has been refurbished with fresh paint and new flooring.
Andy Russell, residential assistant in West Laville, said study rooms have been added, and the previously open lobby has been walled off to allow for an extra room for meetings. Beds that used to be attached to the walls are now easily moved, along with the rest of the new furniture added to West Laville.
“It looks like a totally different building now,” Cockrell said.
Cockrell said a larger kitchen was added, along with study and recreational rooms. These extra rooms did take up living space for students.
Ramps and showers compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act have also been added.
Plans for a connection between East and West Laville by demolishing the patio between them are in the works, Russell said.
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Contact Meredith Will at [email protected]