Mold found at UNC

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Mold found at UNC

NCCU offered $70,000 deal : Owner wants university to send students

to his apartment complex (June 13, 2004)

Easley oversees reopening of dorms : House votes to pay for work at

NCCU from state budget (June 9, 2004)

Firm threatened with suit working at NCCU (June 9, 2004)

Payment due for dorms (June 8, 2004)

State seeks damages in NCCU mold : Architect and 4 contractors sent

letters citing $7 million (June 4, 2004)

NCCU $1.8M short on cost of hotel rooms : Students housed there

because of mold problems in campus residence halls (April 28, 2004)

http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-494032.html

BY ERIC FERRERI : The Herald-Sun

eferreri@...

Jun 23, 2004 : 6:53 pm ET

CHAPEL HILL -- First there was an odor.

Then some of the paperwork in Lee Ann 's tiny office started to

curl and crinkle.

Add to that a nagging cough, and started wondering whether her

office building was making her sick.

It may be. UNC officials determined this week that the Dental Office

Building -- a smallish, three-floor brick facility sandwiched between

other dental buildings and Columbia Street -- has a mold infestation

caused, they believe, by the outdated, imperfect design of the

heating and cooling system.

Plans are now under way to replace the building's heating and air

conditioning system, a project that is expected to take until mid-

autumn to complete. It is expected to cost less than $500,000 and

won't require a building shutdown, officials say.

The mold problem is nowhere near as vast or problematic as the highly

publicized infestation at N.C. Central that shuttered two large

residence halls and cost millions of dollars to fix, they say.

Still, it has employees a bit concerned. To work on her computer,

sits directly beneath an air vent that may indeed be moldy.

" You're sitting right under it all day, so it does make you wonder, "

said , a part-time faculty member in the dental school. " I don't

have allergies, but I notice that I cough at night now, and it's

harder to get rid of colds, that sort of thing. It could be

unrelated. "

Since mold spores affect everyone differently, some workers may fall

ill, while others may not ever realize anything's amiss, said

Reinhardt, UNC's director of environment, health and safety.

Those employees who think they may be affected by the mold can

consult a doctor at the university's occupational health office.

There, a doctor can decide whether the employee needs to move to a

new workplace while the cleanup is being done, Reinhardt said.

As of Wednesday, two employees were being relocated. In all, 20 to 30

people work in the building, he said.

" Everybody has an individual reaction, " Reinhardt said. " You can't

really make a blanket statement. People who have pre-existing

allergies and pre-existing asthma can have their symptoms exposed.

Because of the individual variation, there will be some people who

don't show any adverse reaction. "

UNC officials have not determined what sort of mold they're dealing

with. The mold isn't visible, but there is a musty odor present

throughout the building. The building will remain in use while the

work is being done, and the air conditioning will remain on.

Most of the mold is within the five air circulation systems, or

blowers, that distribute air throughout the building through the

ducts. The blowers will be replaced, as will at least a substantial

amount of ductwork, officials said.

Officials won't know the precise amount of ductwork to be replaced

until work begins.

The first floor of the 15,000-square-foot building was built in 1975,

during an energy crisis that led construction workers to seek cheaper

alternative building materials and design methods, said

MacNaughton, UNC's special assistant for capital projects.

With the benefit of hindsight, engineers and architects might look

back at the building's design and find some flaws, MacNaughton said.

" There was a strong interest in energy efficiency and things were

being done that hadn't been done before, " MacNaughton said. " This is

part of the learning curve. "

The second and third floors, which have a separate heating and

cooling system, were added in 1981.

While heating and cooling systems are assessed every 12 to 18 months,

the last specific mold complaint related to the Dental Office

Building came in 1994, Reinhardt said. The system was scrubbed at

that time, and has received only general upkeep since.

Mold is an ongoing issue at UNC that often requires a complaint or

query from a campus worker before an infestation is diagnosed,

Reinhardt said.

" We do have a 200-year-old campus. We deal with it on a regular

basis, " he said. " We get a call every month, I'd say, from someone

concerned about indoor air quality. "