Mold found in Village apartments

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Mold found in Village apartments

The Daily Planet - Telluride,CO*

By Healy, staff writer

Tue Apr 29, 2008

http://www.telluridenews.com/news/x317104881

Telluride, Colo. -

Mountain Village is fighting a mold problem at the town-owned

Village Court Apartments. One resident reported that he got sick

from mold growing in his home, and inspectors found mold blooming on

window casings, walls and ceilings inside a few apartments.

" We've had to get in there and do some remediation-type work, " said

Town Manager Greg Sparks. " We just want to make sure we stay on top

of it, and not let it get to be a bigger problem than it is. "

After receiving complaints, the Village hired an industrial

hygienist from Golden to diagnose the scope of the mold problem at

the 14-building Village Court complex. He examined six apartments

thought to be the " worst-case units " and found mold in four of them.

In three, water vapor had condensed around windows, creating a

friendly climate for surface mold to spread along windows and

frames, according to a report by the consultant, Wendell Rahorst. He

found " very elevated " spore levels in apartment 1033, in one of the

complex's older buildings.

The problem could be more widespread than the six apartments

examined in the report.

In one of the apartment complex's newest buildings, resident Darren

scooted his dresser away from the exterior wall of his

bedroom yesterday morning, and discovered a patch of teal mold

splayed out near the floor molding. Last spring, said that

the fungi invaded the bottom drawer of his dresser, and even after

bleaching and scraping it away, it had returned with the spring.

" I can tell it's already molding back here, " he said. " It is coming

up the wall. "

And on the third floor of building two, Matt Lack said that his

mother spent the past weekend removing window screens and scraping

mold from the windows. Their apartment wasn't one of those examined

by the consultant, and Lack said his family hadn't reported the

problem.

" It was all over the windows, " he said. " It was pretty bad. "

Officials said that north-facing units seemed to be especially prone.

" There's quite a few units where you get this condensation of water

buildup, which creates mold, " said Chat Root, the Village's

buildings inspector. " A lot of people think that because Colorado's

dry, we don't have mold, but because of the cold winters, we do have

mold issues. "

Samples found three types of mold in the apartments – Aspergillus,

Penicillium and Cladosporium, all of which are commonly occurring

fungi. They can spark allergies, spark respiratory infections and

irritate asthma sufferers, but none of them are toxic black molds.

The consultant recommended that the Village install bathroom fans to

sop up moisture in bathrooms and put in fungus-resistant materials

on window sills, to prevent condensation and keep moisture or mold

from invading the inside of walls.

He also recommended that the Village do a full-scale cleanup inside

apartment 1033, complete with decontamination equipment, airlocks,

exhaust fan and air monitors.

Village staff and council members said they were doing their best to

scour affected apartments and address any residents' complaints.

When one resident reported feeling sick from the mold — and offered

a doctor's note as proof — Root said that the man was relocated to a

new apartment immediately.

The resident has since moved out of the area, and could not be

reached for comment. The manager of Village Court Apartments also

declined to comment on the problem or cleanup.