Emory Atlanta,Turman North searched for mold

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Turman North searched for mold

By Zelkowitz

September 20, 2005

http://www.emorywheel.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/09/20/432fc3a01d05

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Damp walls prompted housing officials to empty four rooms on the

third floor of the Turman North Residence Hall over the weekend

while inspectors from Facilities Management search for the cause of

the moisture.

Steve Maddern, assistant director of residence life operations, said

the problem was discovered when a student accidentally punched a

hole in the wall of his room, revealing damp and weakened walls.

Maddern said Facilities Management would test for the presence of

mold this week. Results of those tests were not available as of

press time Monday.

" All it is, is wet walls, " he said.

But College freshman Celine Sledge, who had to vacate her room on

the third floor of Turman North, said she saw black mold in some of

the rooms with weakened walls.

She said she and her roommate began inspecting their walls when the

first student punctured his wall.

" We saw a little dent, " she said. " We started poking at it and we

found bigger spots. "

Associate director and Industrial Hygiene Program Manager

Gladle said facilities management is " acting in a most diligent

manner " to discover the cause of the moisture.

Workers began sealing off the rooms and removing the sheetrock on

Saturday, what Gladle called the first step of the remediation

process.

He said facilities management was investigating the roof system as a

possible source of the problem.

These new problems come a month after all Turman South residents

were moved into other university housing when mold was uncovered

there during move-in.

Gladle did not know whether the other floors of Turman North and

Turman East would be inspected for moisture.

Nor did he know why the buildings were not inspected after mold

surfaced in Turman South at the beginning of the year.

Turmans South, North and East are all part of one interconnected

complex.

Gladle said that Georgia has experienced unusually wet summers for

the past two years.

But he could not say why moisture only seemed to affect structures

in the Turman Residential Center.

Maddern said the situation is " being treated as a matter of urgency. "

He did not know how long the students who were displaced from their

rooms in Turman North would reside in their temporary housing.

Sledge said students were relocated to new housing all over campus.

" One guy moved to the girls' floor in , " she said. " He was

pretty happy about it. "

Sledge and her roommate moved to a vacant room across the hall from

their first room, but other students had to move to single rooms in

Turman West.

Maddern said University Housing would use " any and all available

space in the housing system " to accommodate students who had to

leave their rooms.

He said housing officials had no immediate plans to accommodate any

additional students being moved but would develop those as needed.

" Our need for planning is driven by Facilities Management, not

because we're lackadaisacal, " he said.