Mold halts reconstruction

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Mold halts reconstruction

Press - ,CA*

le MacMurchy / Press / Friday, 29 February 2008

http://tracypress.com/content/view/13763/2242/

The clanging of remodeling fell silent after crews were told to stop

work on the new math and science building at High because mold

was discovered.

McFadden Construction crews place visquine around the walls before

mold is removed from the Hawley Westlake building at the High

campus. Glenn / Press Renovation came to a stop in

High School's Hawley-Westlake building this week after crews from

McFadden Construction found mold inside.

So the district called in RGA Environmental Inc., an Emeryville-

based company that Unified School District keeps on speed dial

for asbestos and mold testing in the district's older buildings.

" It's not a big issue, " said Ted Cattehee, the environmental

consultant with RGA Environmental Inc. who visited the site

Thursday. " The mold was caused by water damage and probably has been

there for years. "

Cattehee ran no tests on the mold, but he said he could tell by

looking that it wasn't enough to be toxic.

" It's OK until you start stirring it up, " he said. " You've got to

make sure that you're protecting the interest of the kids and the

staff and use the right control methods to contain it to avoid big

clouds of mold. "

Crews post signs in the Hawley-Westlake Building at High

warning others of the mold in the building. Glenn / Press

He recommended that construction workers wear masks and that the

district hire a subcontractor to handle the infected materials.

Cattehee said his employees will stop by the site again Monday to

make sure the district and the workers have followed his

recommendations.

Crews recently built a wall to separate the half of the building

that's under construction from the other half, where students and

teachers continue to meet for class. Cattehee said an abatement

consultant will visit Monday to seal off the area with plastic while

crews tear down the infected walls.

" It was known from the get-go that there were certain elements that

needed special demolition, " said Wakefield, TUSD director of

facilities. " We're taking apart something that's very old and

putting it back together. "

The 35-year-old building has housed 17 classrooms for both math and

science classes, but after the remodel, all 24,000 square feet will

be outfitted with science labs and lecture rooms. Math classes will

be shifted to a new building on the west side of the campus, still

under construction, that has nearly three times the space once

shared by the two subjects.

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