Photo by Jade Johnson | The Signal
Georgia State’s six resident halls on the Atlanta campus are home to nearly 5,400 students, who are worried there aren’t enough laundry machines to keep up with residents.
The University Lofts houses 550 residents. The laundry room in the resident hall provides 12 washers and 12 dryers. Courtney Miller, a resident at the University Lofts said she believes there aren’t enough washers and dryers for students living in the building.
“There’s always a long wait,” Miller said. She added that she only does laundry twice a month due to the inconvenient wait times. “When there is only 12 washers and dryers, and then some of the machines break, it becomes very difficult to do laundry,” Miller said.
Piedmont North resident Jade Hodo said she has also ran into issues this year with the washers and dryers.
“At times you can find water all over the floor and you can find dirt in the washer machines,” said Hodo.
Within the past weeks, Hodo had her clothes stuck in a washing machine while water was flooding out of her washer.
“Some of the machines, if you put your clothes in there and you turn the machine on, won’t work, and so it won’t allow you to take your clothes out and the machine will start washing your clothes for like three to four hours; just draining your clothes,” said Hodo.
Since the start of the fall semester at Georgia State, there have been nine maintenance reports for broken laundry machines at the Lofts and one in Piedmont North, according to their response of an Open Records Request submitted by The Signal.
Jayde Spooner, a resident at the University Lofts, claims it takes two to three cycles for her clothes to to dry, but she said there’s even more to worry about.
”The washers get full pretty quickly, flooding is an issue in the laundry room, and I feel like there should be more washers and dryers for students here in the Lofts,” said Spooner.
According to the Georgia State records, laundry machines for the six different halls were installed at different times. Patton Hall, Greek Housing, Piedmont Central, and the Commons washers & dryers were installed in the summer of 2016.
Only Commons building A, had their washer and dryer installments in 2014 and have not been upgraded since then. The Lofts’ installments came in 2013, and Piedmont North got their machines in 2011.
The manufacturer for Georgia State’s laundry room equipment is Speed Queen for all residence halls, however, maintenance of the machines differs.
The Lofts and Piedmont North all have their maintenance done by employees of university housing at Georgia State.
Caldwell & Gregory is an independent company hired by Georgia State to deal with maintenance of the washers and dryers in Patton Hall, Piedmont Central, and the Commons, according to Chris Blair, a hired employee at Georgia State working under the company of Corvias, a maintenance company.
“If there is an issue with the dryers or washers in either Patton Hall, Piedmont Central, or the Commons, Corvias contacts Caldwell & Gregory to come out and they take it from there,” Blair said.
Corvias spokesperson Bruce Henry said the company is required to do very little when it pertains to the laundry machines. He said their only duty is to make sure the laundry room area is clean.
