Move-In

Hi Ladies, 

I just met with Kelly and Molly and we figured out a plan of attack for move in. Here is the plan: 

- Move-In will begin at 12:00pm on Friday. We are starting at noon so Rainbow (cleaning crew) can be there and Hepa-Vac all of our items before we move everything in. We have decided to do this as an extra precaution and to make sure there is not a single spore in that house : ) 

- Molly created an online sign-up with seven spots per half an hour, this is so it is not mass chaos and that we move back in an orderly and efficient manner. 

- I will be sending out the sign-up based on class. Seniors will have first pick, then juniors and last sophomores-- so keep an eye on your email! (Seniors have until 9:00pm tonight, Juniors will have from 9:00pm-9:00am, and Sophomores starting 9:00am tomorrow)

We are almost through this : ) See you all back in the KKG very soon! 

Loyally,

Sally 

Test Results

In case your daughter has not told you, we received the results from the Industrial Hygienist today & we are all clear to move back in! Karen working on a letter with all appropriate results attached that will be sent out via email soon.

Thanks so much for all of your support these past few weeks! We are almost through this : )

Best,
Sally

Update Letter Sent to Parents 9-3-10

Dear Kappa Parents,

I am writing to inform/update you on the progress of the house. Rainbow International, the remediation company, has been working many hours these past two weeks to get the house ready for the women. Here is a timeline of the most recent progress:

-       On Friday August 27^th Rainbow International focused their work on the basement, which included: cleaning all walls and horizontal surfaces with a hepa vacuum, removal of the carpet and furniture, removal and cleaning of ceiling tiles, cleaning of all pipes above the ceiling tiles, the installation of five hepa air scrubbers and one dehumidifier.

-       On Monday August 30^th, Rainbow International crews moved upstairs and cleaned all walls, horizontal surfaces and carpets with a hepa vacuum on the third floor. In addition to the surface cleaning hepa air scubbers and dehumidifers were placed on the first, second and third floors. Also on Monday the cleaning of the House Mother’s apartment was completed.

-       On Tuesday August 31^st, John Beltz the Industrial Hygienist returned to the house to take more air samples.  He took a total of eighteen different samples throughout the house.

-       On Wednesday September 1^st, Rainbow International returned to the house and began work on the second floor. Just like the third floor, they surfaced cleaned the walls, horizontal surfaces and carpets with a hepa vacuum. Also on Wednesday work was completed on the cleaning of all 42 individual air conditioning units with a hepa vacuum.

-       Test results were received on the evening of the 1^st, and under the guidance of the Industrial Hygienist, I chose postpone the move-in date. In the opinion of John, CIH, the levels were still not at the level they needed to be to move girls in.

-       On Thursday September 2^nd, Rainbow International looked over the test results and altered their remediation plan accordingly. The crew decided to take a look inside the ceiling on the second and third floor and then cleaned all pipes inside. At this point Rainbow also cleaned all of the ceiling tiles on both floors.  Crews also moved downstairs and completed the same cleaning process on the first floor. All walls, horizontal surfaces and carpets on the first floor were cleaned with a hepa vacuum while hepa air scrubbers and dehumidifiers kept hard at work. At approximately 10:30pm cleaning was completed. The hepa air scrubbers and dehumidifiers will continue to run throughout the weekend and will be turned off on Monday evening upon the request of the Industrial Hygienist.

-       Today, September 3^rd, was spent working with the HVAC company, HFI, to find a solution in order to ensure this does not happen again. Here are the steps that will be taken: Baffle’s were installed in the ceiling this morning to keep air circulating and over the next two weeks UV Emitters will be installed in all 42 air conditioning units that will kill and/or reduce surface and airborne microorganisms that contribute to the spread of mold/mold spores and bacteria.  

-       An Industrial Hygienist is scheduled to come to the house on Tuesday, September 7^th, to retest. We should have results 24 hours after the samples are turned into the lab and will share those with you as soon as we have them.

That is a timeline of the most recent events; I will be sure to keep you updated next week as we receive more answers. I also wanted to let you know that a solid backup plan has been created, with the help of the University, in case we do not pass the test next week.

Do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns. Please keep in mind that Kappa has the best interest of your daughter in mind and I am trying as hard as I can to get all of the women back in their home.

Warm Regards,

Karen R. Jackson

678-427-4665

spottedzebra@bellsouth.net

Iota House Board 

Update 8-31-10

Hello!

It is time for your daily remediation update. This afternoon John, the Industrial Hygienist, returned to the house to take more samples. He tested:

- 4 areas in the basement (brick room, bike room, chapter room & study room)
- 4 areas on the first floor (mom's apartment, informal, formal and dining room)
- 5 areas on the second floor (a room in each corner and the lounge)
- 5 areas on the third floor (a room in each corner and the lounge)

He turned the tests in the lab late this afternoon and hopes to get results back to us by tomorrow evening. These results will determine the timeline for the rest of the project- so keep your fingers crossed!

I will be sure to update the blog tomorrow as soon as I get the results.

Thanks so much again for your patience....hopefully we will be home soon : )

Update 8-30-10

Hello!

I just wanted to give you all an official update on the remediation progress. After talking to the cleaning crew this afternoon we should be able to move into the house early next week (assuming we pass all of the mold tests)! They are going to work their butts off to try and get us in early, so I will keep you all posted. I will have a better idea of the exact day on Wednesday/Thursday.

Today the cleaning crew made a few finishing touches on the basement and began cleaning the first floor.

John, the Industrial Hygienist, will be out tomorrow taking samples and will get them to the lab asap. We are doing the 24 hour testing, so should have some answers by Wednesday afternoon.

Thanks so much for hanging in there- we are almost through this : )

Best,
Sally

The Cause of the Mold

I have received many questions about the cause of the mold, and from what I understand the cause was threefold:


1. Roof Issues. On August 5th our roof was patched - sounds great right? We have since learned that by patching the roof we essentially left no escape for the water that had come through the holes. Rather than having the water evaporate out of the house (leaving through one of the holes in the roof) it was now trapped within the home- adding a lot of access moisture to the air.


2. The HVAC System. HVAC systems run return air vents that circulate air through a filter that will catch and clear the moisture before redistributing the air back out. Typically such return vents are connected to the filter, so all the air is cleaned before released back into the house. Our unit however, has two return vents that are not connected to the filtration unit (one that dumps air in the chapter room the other in a storage closet). What does this mean? From what I gather, the filtration unit tries to suck all of the air into it to clean, but simply cannot get it all. Thus, leaving moisture in the basement, essentially providing mold with a platform to grow.


3. The Icing on the Cake: an EXTREMELY hot and humid summer.


From what I know & have learned it was a "perfect storm" of sorts. We are looking into ways to fix the HVAC unit so ALL air is filtered and redistributed, so that we don't have moisture just sitting in the basement in the future. We are doing all that we can to make sure this never happens again. 


Hope this helps answer some questions!

The Crew: 8-26-10

Hi Ladies,

We are so lucky to have a wonderful team of people working very hard for us, so if you see these folks around give them a BIG Thank You : )

   Eldon - Iota's Handy Man 

Pat (HVAC Man) & Tina (Employee of Rainbow Cleaning) 

I will add more as they come!