Hot Springs & Monterey, VA

BCHS renovations well under way Oops, there goes the principal's office and guidance, and the ceiling and the windows ... The first floor of Bath County High School has been gutted as workmen begin installing the new HVAC system, replacing windows, lowering the ceiling and building new walls for the office, principal and guidance areas. The $8.7 million renovation is expected to be completed by early fall 2008. The bathrooms on the first floor of BCHS are being completely renovated right down to the pipes running in the floor. The second floor has been closed off so that classes can continue upstairs until the first floor is finished. Then the process will swap as the second floor is renovated. Classes will also be held in trailers in the parking lot. Contractors found these asbestos insulated pipes in the walls and ceilings on the first floor of the high school building. Since the pipes will be exposed behind the new ceiling, the asbestos must be removed at additional cost of about $25,000. School board member Eddie Ryder snaps some photos of the construction at BCHS during the board's tour of the building. The renovations are significant and include a new HVAC system, new energy efficient windows and lowering the ceilings from the current 11 to 9 feet. "Don't step there" was the warning to school board members touring the old gym last week. As the old floor was removed, contractors discovered the sub-floor was rotten in many places. The entire floor will be replaced. The stage area, long used for weight training, will be closed off and used for the air handlers of the new HVAC system. (Recorder photos by Charles Garratt) All renovations have some surprises, Travis Wolfe told school board members last Wednesday. When the ceiling was removed between the original high school and the addition, the old canopy that was once over the outside door was discovered still in place. Wolfe works for the company hired by the school system to oversee the renovations at the high school.