There are a host of different shower problems that can arise in jailhouse showers, and the Guilford County Detention Center in Downtown Greensboro has an interesting, expensive and recalcitrant one on its hands.
Even though the roughly $100-million jail just opened in 2012, the coatings on the shower floors, walls and adjacent areas are deteriorating to the point where the problem now has to be addressed.
This week, county facilities staff took a key step in fixing the problem by seeking out firms that can do what various other attempted shower floor and wall fixes haven’t been able to accomplish.
Guilford County has put out a call for competitive bids from companies wishing to tackle the problem. Those bids must be received by the Guilford County Purchasing Department at the Greene Street Building at 201 S. Greene St. in Greensboro by Friday, Sept. 15.
The company that is awarded the winning bid will be expected to install new shower coatings at the jail in Greensboro.
In the past the jail has seen mold, faulty flooring and badly cracking walls – things you shouldn’t see a relatively new jail.
According to sheriff’s department officials, the main problem with the shower area coatings has been the failure of the epoxy coating to stick to the underlying block walls. This has led to cracking and chipping in the shower walls and the shower floors. They postulate that the cause is a combination of wear and tear due to the substantial amount of inmate use combined with a potential defect in either the product or the application of the product.
A non-mandatory Pre-Proposal ZoomGov Meeting will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 29, at 2 p.m. for those interested in bidding, and a non-mandatory site walkthrough will be held on Wednesday, Aug. 30 at 2 p.m. at the Greensboro Detention Center at 201 S. Edgeworth St. in Greensboro.
The bidding documents, drawings and specifications are available for viewing on Guilford County’s Vendor Self Service automated bidding system, which can be found at https://guilfordcountync.munisselfservice.com
An estimate earlier in the year was that it would cost about $400,000 to fix the problem the way it should be fixed.
Guilford County Sheriff’s Department Sergeant Aline Almonor told the Rhino Times earlier this year that, in the opinion of the department, the shower coatings should have lasted longer than they did. She said the main problem has been the failure of the epoxy coating to stick to the underlying block walls – which led to cracking and chipping in the shower walls and eventually in the shower floors, mostly near the drains.
It’s called maintenance, you dopes. Any plumbers or sheet rockers on the Board?
What’s wrong with inmate labor to do the job?
Skip can fix it if not entertaining the kings.
This is the result of lowest bidder wins contracting. Although more expensive average bid and qualification based contracts typically have much higher success rates, as long as municipalities in the area settle for lowest bid, lowest quality is what they will repeatedly get
turn the rooms upside down, reverse pipes & give ceilings a chance to strut their stuff ! first analyse bathing habits of the ‘installers’ then compare to habits of ‘installed’. consider waterless bathing methods such as ‘roll on’, animal fats & thick mud.