Mold at Ashbrook High. Sounds like one of those 50s horror movies, right?

Ashbrook High is joining that list of schools that has been rushing to get mold cleaned up before classes begin. In fact, they may be working twice as hard as other schools. This is because they’ve had to clean up twice.

55 classrooms have been cleaned up after mold was discovered in the furniture; then it was discovered again after it had supposedly been eliminated.

When mold comes back, it is obvious that the circumstances favorable to mold growth have not been eliminated: water, humidity and spores are going to keep coming together and producing a mold crop until the circumstances are made unfavorable to mold growth.

The school is saying that the HVAC was at fault, due to the venting system not properly working. Vents that were supposed to be closed were actually open, and humidity accumulated, and of course the moisture damaged insulation and ceiling tiles, etc… but the school officials expect the problem will be gone by the time school opens.

assessment from Byebyemold.

Wet weather, flooding, leaking air conditioning, trapped humidity, old buildings, bad remodels: schools are scrambling to deal with mold-related delays:

Kellybrook Elementary School in the Liberty School District-KANSAS CITY, Mo. High mold levels and humidity are responsible for delaying the 2010 reopening of this one year old school. Using dehumidifiers and air filtration devices are not enough. The school board is turning to air-quality professionals to ensure a healthy air-flow when classes commence.

Rossville Junior and Senior High-Kaw Vallely school district, Kansas. Mold clean up and restoration is in progress but school will probably be starting a week late.

Regina Catholic Education Center-Iowa City parochial school- The elementary wing of the pre-K through grade 12 school is infested, probably from a leak in a shut-off valve above an air-handler unit. They set school opening for next Monday.

Pierce Elementary - Northeast Nebraska. Roof problems have jeopardized air quality. They are hoping to open by Sept. 7 but will not open if students health is threatened.

Northeastern High School-SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (nine rooms and the media center) The school is racing to complete cleanup before August 23. The district’s insurance company dispatched specialists.

Easly High School-EASLEY, S.C-Ongoing battle being fought with mold in 19 Easley High School classrooms and the gymnasium at Edwards Middle School. Already replaced the heating and air systems but mold returned this year but cleanup will hopefully be managed before classes begin.

Baker Middle School -BAKER, LA. After mold was discovered two weeks ago, an emergency declaration allowing the school to hire a mold remediation contractor. There are concerns about mold in more than a dozen classrooms although classes will begin anyway.

Jesse Stuart Elementary and Southside Elementary School have both been harboring mold due, maintenance thinks, to moisture accumulating after hours when systems are shut off. The health department has made it a requirement to check the moisture content of the carpeting in both schools, and if the schools flunk the moisture reading, they will be following EPA guidelines to rip the carpet out.

No health problems have been reported. Yet.

Monday, Mayor Brown is making public the final report of the air quality analysis which found that the Precinct building’s air quality met most guidelines.

The 90 page report is available as a .pdf online.

As wonderful as it is, Hawaii is humid–and mold loves Hawaii as much as we do.

Take for example the Hawaii Hilton, with a history of mold. (Closed for mold in the past, and possibly in the future.

Before the so called infestation there had to be water intrusion!

Where water has been, mold will follow, like that water from the fourth-floor pool in the tower that intruded into the spa treatment rooms. Since there were complaints of mold, standing water and degraded air quality, the Health Department’s visit to the Mandara Spa is going to cost up to $70,000. That’s just pennies compared to the hotel’s 2002 settlement of $1.8 million.

Island Sunset
by Vincent Khoury Tylor

PRWeb has a press release for a new product touted for remediation. It is a “new technique” that kills and removes spores which are said to “biodegrade, essentially turning it into harmless particulates. While other commercial antimicrobials available kill the mold spore, it is still present inside the home or office unless it is hepa vacuumed from the surface, which can be a considerable extra expense.”

One of the problems with mold is that the spore itself, dead or alive, is an allergen. And spores are tough little packages nature designed for mold to survive between periods of moisture. After visible mold is removed, there remains a variable quantity of ambient mold spores. There is a measurable amount in outdoor air all of the time which varies according to region and season.

I look at this with a positive frame of mind–but seeing is believing.

Apparently, Wailuku county in Hawaii has been paying about $75,000 per year to lease a moldy building owned by Honolulu-based Kalama Land Co in a contract that runs through 2026. A study recommended they buy the property and convert or rebuild as office space on the Wailuku campus. The problem is that the building is mold and asbestos infested. The county is talking about buying the property for 1.5 million.

No one seems to be discussing the landlord’s responsibility to provide a safe environment. In fact, why is the landlord not being held to standards to make the place habitable? Who in their right mind would pay $75,000 yearly to lease an uninhabitable property? Until 2026? That’s $1,257,000.

I’m in the wrong business.

At the very least, someone should be using the condition of the property to bring down the asking price. Last year, the property appraised for $1.5 million. Property values are falling as dramatically in Hawaii as everywhere else.

They’re going to have to demolish the building, dispose of the mold and asbestos and start from scratch anyway.

Peanuts are particularly prone to grow certain molds. Inspection of the Peanut Corp. of America plant revealed conditions such as “tote containers with butter residue and “black buildup” and “mildew and possibly some static dust on ceiling of butter storage room,” a leaky roof and other sources of contamination.

Click to view PDF of Plant Inspection pages

As a result of this inspection, hundreds of peanut products linked to this factory have been recalled. There may have been some whistleblowing from the whistles of employees who were recently laid off. In fact . All but three of the 46 employees at the Blakely Peanut Corporation of America plant have been laid off

Since 1993, MCG hospital has been engaged in full scale warfare against environmental contaminants, going back into its history. Records obtained as part of a lawsuit against MCG Health reveal that employees have complained for years about illnesses that appear to be related to mold and mildew. Workers complained of headaches, cold and allergic symptoms Recurrent sicknesses seemed to disappear at home and reappear when employees returned to work in mold contaminated areas.

The big problem is that the hospital denies that there is a mold issue. Employees who filed complaints were eventually fired, even though the complaint was valid. (See Todd Brandenburg)

Part of the contention is that mold toxin is officially defined not as a general toxin but as an allergen.

Parents in Paradise had been complaining about air quality and student illness for at least two years, so when mold growth was discovered in 2006, Paradise Elementary school was condemned–even though officials thought the school could be cleaned up within days.

Twenty-eight million dollars has been allocated to build two new schools, one of which is the replacement for Paradise Elementary. In the meantime, 600 Canadian children are being bused elsewhere. The new building won’t be ready until the 2010.