Maintenance Operations

Facilities Maintenance

Instructional Resources and Facilities Management’s (IRFM) Facilities Services and Facilities Engineering teams provide a wide range of services including maintenance of campus facilities, project management assistance, and facilities planning. Services may be requested by entering an online work request in Facilities 360. 

Available services include:

  • Carpentry—The carpentry shop at SAIC maintains and repairs structures and furnishings and finishes doors, windows, handrails, floors, walls, ceilings, cabinets, and shelving.
  • Lighting and electrical—The electrical shop at SAIC keeps your lights on and your outlets powered. IRFM’s electrician covers emergency and safety issues, changes ballasts, resets circuits, checks outlet problems and works with SAIC contingents to provide electrical services for new projects or new equipment.
  • Painting—The paint shop at SAIC does all interior and exterior painting of SAIC’s facilities from classrooms to critique spaces to offices. Paint schedules are coordinated around class schedules, semester activities, office availability, and project schedules.
  • Paint selection—The type of paint and colors are chosen according to campus standards in order to make maintenance as efficient as possible. In some cases, special colors may be requested at an additional cost to the requesting department. Special colors must still be compatible with standard colors used throughout the building.
  • Heating, cooling, and ventilation—Too hot? Too cold? While heating and cooling large or antique buildings like those on the SAIC campus is never an exact science, the HVAC shop will do its best get it right. The HVAC department is responsible for the maintenance of mechanical equipment related to heating and cooling, boilers, air compressors, and ventilation systems. Staff perform periodic safety checks on equipment and repair and install new machinery for more efficient temperature control.
  • Plumbing—Sink clogged? Water fountain not working? Spot a leak? Our plumbing crew is there to help. From general maintenance services to installing bottle fill-up stations, the plumbers keep the campus flowing. General services include updating fixtures, repairing water pipes and cracked or broken drain lines, and fixing clogged toilets, sinks, showers, and tubs.
  • Locks—Stuck outside a room? Or better yet, stuck INSIDE a room (it’s happened)? Our lock shop is there to help. General lock services include emergency response, lock and doorknob installation and repair, key request and replacements (with the exception of ARTICards which are handled by the ARTICard office.
  • Water Cooler-There are several types of water coolers on campus. IRFM is working to phase out the Vertex plumbed line units, which campus engineering maintains, and replace with leased Nestle units maintained by Ready Refresh. Both of these cooler models are connected directly to a water line. Nestle also provides SAIC the Ice Mountain 5 gallon water bottle coolers. All units provided by Nestle also come with a department account to manage billing and request services. If for any reason your Nestle unit isn't working properly or you are concerned about filter replacement, you can contact via the following information: 800.950.9907, RREnterpriseSupport@waters.nestle.com

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Housekeeping Services

IRFM contracts ABM Janitorial Services to provide housekeeping services on the SAIC Campus and works closely with them to ensure a clean and attractive campus. Services include daily and periodic cleaning in the following areas: 

  • Dusting
  • Floor care
  • Waste removal and recycling
  • Restroom supply and sanitation
  • Snow removal
  • Special event cleaning and setup
  • Emergency response
  • Interior window cleaning
  • Upholstery cleaning
  • Porter services
  • Special requests

 Services may be requested by entering an online work request in Facilities 360.

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Waste Management Services

Waste management at SAIC is an important part of maintaining a clean and sustainable campus. Facilities Services oversees the removal of trash, recycling, compost, and surplus programs.

Recycling—SAIC has a single-stream recycling program for paper, plastic, and aluminum. Single-stream recycling means that material can be collected in a combined or mixed fashion. Paper and metal or plastic can is collected without the need of keeping the materials separated. Lakeshore Recycling  picks up all of our recycling materials together and they are then separated at their recycling facilities.

Recycling at SAIC is easy, just look for the plastic bins with the green SAIC Recycles! sticker and the clear bag. Plastic bins with no sticker and a black bag are for trash. Your participation is key to making this program successful. Learn more about recycling at SAIC.

Compost—IRFM rolled out a compost program at SAIC. It started in the 280 Building Café and expanded to the LeRoy Neiman Center kitchen in fall of 2014. Future plans included expanding the program to all cafés on campus and potentially the dorms as well.

eCycling at SAIC—Used computers, monitors and other electronic equipment that are disposed of improperly have the potential to contaminate our environment, and prematurely fill our landfills. Processing electronic waste, also known as e-waste, to extract the minerals inside and reusing the rest of the components is a practical solution.

SAIC has taken the necessary steps to ensure proper disposal of e-waste. Listed below are several features of SAIC’s eCycling program

Small electronic equipment can be dropped off at any of the eCycling bin locations, listed below.  Larger items, such as desktop computers, monitors, and printers, can only be accepted at the CRIT Help Desk at MacLean 905.  Additionally, they will only accept SAIC assets (indicated by a barcode asset tag somewhere on the device). For the donation of larger items, you can either take them to the MC Help Desk or schedule an on-campus pickup. To schedule a pickup, contact the Help Desk at crithelpdesk@saic.edu or 312.345.3535.

Examples of small equipment accepted:

Small consumer electronics (cell phones, home phones, chargers/power supplies, Bluetooth headsets, fax machines, digital cameras, PDAs, remote controls, shavers, hair dryers, curling irons, etc.) PLEASE ONLY DEPOSIT WHAT CAN FIT IN THE BIN. DO NOT LEAVE ANYTHING LAYING NEXT TO THE BIN.

  • Small computer components (cables, wires, chargers/power supplies, modems, routers, keyboards, computer mice, etc.)
  • Batteries of all types, lithiums excepted in CRIT locations ONLY
  • Printers, toner and inkjet cartridges
  • Incandescent light bulbs, no CFLs
  • More!  If you have something that is not listed, just ask CRIT about it.

The following items are NOT accepted by SAIC for e-cycling:

  • Microwaves
  • Refrigerators
  • Toasters
  • Paper shredders
  • Vacuums 

We recommend using Abt Electronics when replacing broken appliances. You can purchase a new appliance through Abt Electronics with a preferred vendor discount and have the broken appliance hauled away for a nominal fee: $29 refrigerator haul-away (will be recycled) vs. $100 with our electronic recycler. Always use the preferred vendor. 

AIC/SAIC Art Mart Abt Vendor Page           http://www.abt.com/

eCycling Drop-off Locations

280 Building (280 S Columbus)

  • Hallway outside CO 201, Media Center - eCycling bin for small equipment
  • Hallway outside CO 104 - eCycling bin for small equipment

MacLean Center (112 S. Michigan Ave)

  • Hallway outside MC 801, Media Center - eCycling bin for small equipment
  • Hallway outside of CRIT Help Desk MC 905 – eCycling bins for small equipment; large equipment drop-off and pickup.  CRIT Help Desk

Sharp Building (37 S. Wabash Ave)

  • Hallway outside SP 307, Media Center - eCycling bin for small equipment

Sullivan Center (36 S Wabash Ave)

  • Hallway outside of SC 1232, Advanced Output Center - eCycling bin for small equipment

Residence Halls - eCycling bins for small equipment located near main Residence Life offices.         

Additionally, if the small electronics you want to dispose are still in working condition, you might consider donating them to SURPLUS, instead of e-cycling. A waiver must be signed for this type of SURPLUS donation, per SURPLUS guidelines.

Surplus—SURPLUS is a system for material reuse at SAIC. SURPLUS is a service station where used and excess materials can be made available for other students to take and use for free. Students can bring anything they no longer need—materials, former art projects, etc., as long as they meet the material guidelines posted—and take away stuff that they can use. SURPLUS provides a constantly changing resource for materials for artmaking, and it keeps quantities of used and excess materials that the school produces out of the landfills.

SURPLUS Locations 

  • 280 Building, 280 S Columbus, room 123 - Monday: 2:00-3:00pm, Thursday and Friday: 2:00-3:00pm (This location will be closed May 9-August 28, 2017 due to construction.)
  • Sharp Building, 37 S Wabash Ave, Room 312 - Open during shop hours

For more information, visit the Sustainability at SAIC page.

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Pest Control

SAIC’s campus is in an urban environment, which means that the presence of pests at one time or another is inevitable. Pests can include bed bugs, insects, rodents, and wildlife. When pests are spotted it is important to refrain from handling the pest. To report pests please contact Campus Security and enter a Facilities 360 work order. To prevent pests from entering campus, please consider the following:

  • Avoid leaving food out at night
  • Avoid leaving dirty dishes out at night
  • Keep classrooms, dorm rooms, courtyards, and facilities tidy
  • Report if trash is not being taken out nightly
  • Keep lids tightly secured on compost bins
  • Keep outer doors of all campus building closed. Do not prop them open.