Mold once again found in the THs

Hayley Tsukayama News Editor

Residents of Town House (TH) A10 moved back into their home last weekend after mold in their TH bathroom forced them to live in dormitories for two weeks.

Ari Neiditz ’08 discovered the mold when he moved into the TH on Aug. 17. “I went in and I noticed the smell immediately,” he said. When he opened the door to the bathroom closet, he saw mold covering the back wall. He contacted the Residential Operations Center (ROC) , and a worker from the Buildings and Grounds division arrived to inspect the mold. “We thought it was kind of lucky that we [Neiditz and housemate Mark Goreczny ’08] were here over the summer,” said Neiditz, “because we moved in early and found it” before the mold spread to other areas of the house.

Director of Residential Life Luis Inoa and Director of Environmental Health and Safety Jim Kelly believe that plumbing problems in the bathroom caused water to run down the inside of the wall, fostering the mold growth.

Due to the amount of mold present, Kelly declared the house unsafe and asked that the students be moved elsewhere while repairs were in progress. Residential Life allowed the students to pick a place to stay from a list of available rooms, and the five housemates were put into three separate dorms. Residential Life also provided the students with a storage room in Josselyn House for their larger items. The plumbing problem, as well as the mold, were fixed within two weeks of the report.

Inoa said that the initial drywall repairs on the house after the mold was removed were not satisfactory, and they asked the contractor to return and do it again. As for the mold itself, Kelly said that while there are no government standards regulating how clean the air must be, the general rule is that the air inside a building must be as clean or cleaner than the air outside of it.

Many buildings on campus, particularly the Town Houses and Terrace Apartments, are susceptible to mold damage because of their construction materials and the climate of the Hudson Valley. “

The new construction within the Town Houses, Terrace Apartments—both new and old—and our SoCos [South Commons] has a lot of sheet-rock,” said Inoa. “Any time moisture gets into that, there’s going to be mold.”

While ROC workers do inspect all residential areas during the summer, the time alloted for these check-ups does not permit for a truly in-depth examination.

Inspections are hurried because of summer program use—Director of Facility Operations and Grounds Kiki Williams said there are only five days to get through every residence—so the College must relies heavily on residents’ reports for serious problems. Kelly and Williams said that they would like to see Buildings and Ground workers look at the apartments, as well. Williams said that ROC workers are instructed to look for aesthetic problems and for missing furniture, but not for more systemic problems. “We should be looking at things like, for instance, if the plumbing’s working, if the light switches work,” said Williams, who admits that “these are things B&G should be doing,” but that there is no process for.

The College has taken steps to seal houses against moisture more effectively; renovations over the summer to the Terrace Apartments fixed loose siding and rain run-off problems. Kelly said that his office will continue look for alternative materials in the future, such as a new type of paperless sheet-rock or solid-surface tub surrounds, but the best way to fix mold problems is to report them as soon as one sees them.

Overall, the residents of TH A10 were happy with the way the situation was handled. "They helped us get movers, helped get all our stuff [out of the storage room]…We got a late start, but we got all moved in that weekend,” said Goreczny. “They realized that there had been a big screw-up,” said Pat Donachie ’08, “so they really worked to rectify it.”

“The more eyes we have, the better off we are,” said Kelly, “Keep shower doors closed, make sure the ventilator fans are on, if you see condensation on a tub or toilet…let us know about it,” adding that students should feel free to put in service requests for even very small problems. Things like missing grout, improperly sealed fixtures, or leaky faucets all merit service requests, said Kelly.

Inoa agreed, saying, “The later it goes, the much more difficult and expensive the work is.”