Hello John and welcome to the list. By the number of challenges to John's claim of most extreme humidity fluctuations, It is obvious that many, or most, of us have to deal with this. Currently, after decades of complaining, the powers that be here at OU hired a consultant to assess our building and HVAC system. They produced a very in depth report that says: - Our building was built in the sixties and the current HVAC cannot provide the humidity control needed in the winter. - If we install the proper equipment, the building walls have no vapor barrier and therefor any increased humidity would simply go through the walls and outside. This would cause steel girders to rust and the mortar in the brick to breakdown and actually stain. (called efflorescence, for vocabulary buffs) - Ditto for the roof. - We also need to replace all the windows since they are single glazed and have the insulating qualities of wet newspaper. They recommend that we replace the windows, and install vapor barriers in all outside walls and the roof, and then replace the HVAC. This totals roughly two million bucks. In anticipation of the inevitable denial of this kind of money (or outright laughter), I am preparing a case to lay out just how crucial this work is. I listed the current replacement cost total of all 115 pianos in my building and by the most amazing coincidence, it comes to about $2,110,000. I am also documenting damage being done to pianos and including copies of temp. and humidity records I have been keeping for the past two years. Can anyone recommend anything else that may help my case? Has anyone been through this fight successfully and can suggest anything? Do any of you have a newer building with state of the art HVAC? What are the results? Is it worth the work? Will it actually help or am I howling in vain? Thank you and happy pitch raising! Chris -- Christopher D. Purdy R.P.T. School of Music, Ohio University Athens, Ohio 45701 (740) 593-1656 fax (740) 593-1429 purdy@ohiou.edu
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