For the past few days, students have been relaxing in greater numbers on the floor of the auditorium lobby (audlob) during the mornings, lunch and JLC. The floor has been noticeably hot to the touch since the morning of Feb. 8, and on Feb. 9, workers from FCPS’s HVAC division set up barriers to block students from getting too close to the heater on the wall.

“When we noticed it was warm yesterday, we all lay down in a circle on the floor,” freshman Vaiju Rajamarthandan said.

HVAC supervisor Mark Schull said that there was a steam leak under the floor because of a broken pipe. He went on to explain how HVAC technicians were going to get to it from underneath the floor of the audlob.

“They are starting by the library and crawling about 200 feet to do the repairs underground,” Schull said.

Along with many other students who have adopted the audlob as their unofficial morning lounge, freshman Charlie Maier found a way to make the steak leak useful—he spent JLC asleep on the overheated floor.

“The floor felt really good, and it was the best place to sleep,” Maier said.