Chemicals will battle the mold

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Chemicals will battle the mold

By Gouveia / News Staff Writer

Sunday, November 16, 2003

http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/local_regional/fran_moldplan11162

003.htm

FRANKLIN -- Horace Mann Building Committee members will rely on new

antimicrobial products from an Andover company to battle mold in the

walls of three wings of the new Oak Street Elementary School.

Cole Stanton, director of sales at Fiberlock Technologies, Inc., said

the town will use IAQ 2500 and IAQ 6000HD to treat mold discovered in

the school earlier this year.

IAQ 2500 is a fungicide and disinfectant that will go on the mold-

contaminated gypsum board, or drywall, Stanton explained. IAQ 6000HD

is a water-based acrylic copolymer that will lock down mold spores

and prevent them from getting airborne.

Mark Goldman, senior air quality scientist from Engineering and Fire

Investigations in Andover, said the encapsulating system will not

only take care of current mold problems, but is designed to prevent

future mold growth as well.

" This is to make sure we've effectively taken care of the problem

now, " Goldman said. " And if there isn't an existing problem, there

should never be mold growth unless there's a flood or a lot of

condensation moisture. "

Goldman said the products are guaranteed for five to seven years if

the infected area is kept moisture-free.

In a report dated Nov. 12 from Bob Pelletier at Covino Environmental

Associates, Inc., the town's consultants on the issue, Pelletier

stressed the importance of having the contractor pay for all air

testing.

" Covino feels that the proposed treatment method may not be a

permanent solution, and that surveillance of the method's

effectiveness is warranted, " Pelletier wrote.

The document issued by Covino did not recommend or condemn White's

proposal.

Mercer, chairman of the Horace Mann Building Committee, said

J.F. White Contracting Co., the general contractor, will pay for all

costs associated with cleaning up the mold as well as air quality

tests for the next five years to ensure the encapsulants are working.

Also, White, president of J.F. White, will put a yet-to-be-

disclosed amount of money into an escrow account, in case the current

plan to isolate the mold fails.

Although a document from Neponset Valley Contractors states the

encapsulating system is not sanctioned by the Environmental

Protection Agency, Goldman said the issue is misleading.

" It's not sanctioned by the EPA because no method is, " Goldman

said. " The EPA is very affected by lobbyists and they don't take

positions pro or con very easily. "

Stanton agreed and said any product that kills and is a pesticide

must be EPA registered, which is the case with IAQ 2500. However, IAQ

6000HD is a coating that inhibits and prevents mold. Therefore its

ingredients are what have to be EPA registered (which they are), but

the product itself does not.

Committee members voted 5-3 on Thursday night to treat the existing

mold problem with the new products, reversing their vote on Oct. 27,

which instructed the contractor to find all mold-infected areas, tear

down those walls and rebuild them with mold-free material.

White pitched the encapsulating idea to committee members because he

said it will save time and prevent workers from opening up already

completed structures to the winter weather. Although he didn't

specify exactly how long the project would be pushed back using the

original plan, White said the current completion date of May 2004

would be jeopardized.

" We'd be opening the building up to the elements and that is

backward, " White said at Thursday's meeting. " If we don't do it our

way, we would not hold the May date -- it would be very much up in

the air. "

Committee member a Mullen, along with Deborah Bartlett and

Darlene Grove -- who both have children who would enter the mold-

infected school -- voted against the new plan.

Mullen, also a School Committee member, said she felt it was her

obligation to stick with the original plan.

" We had a unanimous vote last time (Oct. 27) and we understood what

the methodology was to remove the wall and that hasn't changed, "

Mullen said. " I felt that as a School Committee member I needed to

take the most conservative approach which was the removal of the

wall. "

Bartlett agreed and said, " If the problem isn't fixed in the future,

then you have a school full of children and no idea what we'd do with

them. "

But Roy, building committee member and School Committee

chairman, said his mind was changed when the project's architects,

project manager and building inspector agreed to White's proposal and

White himself offered to pay for five years of testing and to put

hundreds of thousands of dollars for remediation in escrow.

Roy also has children who will attend the Oak Street School when it

opens.

" I have a moral obligation to see to it that kids are safe, but the

contractor doesn't. They're a corporation and all they know about is

money, " Roy said. " The only way you can be certain what they're going

to do is if they put their pocketbook on the line because that shows

confidence in the process and the product. "

McCredie and Feeley, architects from TAMS

Consultants, Inc.; Fennell, project manager from Daedalus

Projects, Inc.; and lin Building Inspector Roche all

recommended White's proposal and said it is the best solution.

" I didn't like this plan until J.F. White came forward and said

they'll incur all the costs if it doesn't work, " Fennell said. " Now I

support it. "

Roche mirrored Fennell's sentiments and said the encapsulating plan

is more efficient and beneficial than removing a large portion of the

exterior and rebuilding.

" I think this process will work, I think it's the way to go, " Roche

said. " I may be sticking my head on the chopping block but I wouldn't

do that if I wasn't sure. "

Mercer agreed and said by treating the mold instead of rebuilding the

walls, the town is making out. Furthermore, he said no town official

or committee member would put students at risk.

" We're getting a better product and a guarantee we wouldn't

ordinarily get, " Mercer said. " The bottom line is this is all at no

cost to the town and Dave Roche is not going to let the school open

unless it's clean. "

That was music to Superintendent Crisafulli's ears. Although he

had to leave the technical and scientific details to the experts,

Crisafulli demanded the safest possible environment for students.

" I want a clean building, " Crisafulli said. " I just want clean air

and I don't want to be dealing with air quality issues down the road. "

The committee's approval is pending until final dollar amounts are

settled between the contractor and Mark Cerel, the town's attorney.

The committee's next meeting is Nov. 24 at 6:30 p.m. in the lin

High School library.

Gouveia can be reached at 508-634-7582 or agouveia@...