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!  

Thursday August 26th, 2010 - Update

Work on the basement is almost complete! Hooray!

Info. from my afternoon check in:

- All that is left to be done in the basement is the mopping of the floor to eliminate any dust left on the floor.

- John, our IH, has been called and will be out early next week to test in the basement.

- Pat (HVAC worker) continued cleaning all 42 air conditioning units with a HEPA scrubber. He said he found some mold in a few today- good thing we have time to check them all!

- Troy hopes that the basement cleaning will be completed tomorrow and that they can soon begin on the upper floors.

- Troy is confident that the job will be done with positive test results by next Monday September 6th.

Thanks so much again for your patience. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Best,
Sally

Rooming at The Inn

Hello KKG Parents!

I just wanted to give you all a quick recap of how rooming for the Inn was done. We have three girls in every room (with the exception of two rooms of four) with either 2 double beds or 1 king bed and a pullout/air mattress. Roommates were assigned based upon house room assignments made last semester by our house manager. We tried to transplant those rooms as best as we could and so far have heard no complaints.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Thanks,
Sally

KKG's Living It Up at The Inn : )

Room Service 

Sadie & Molly 

Update: August 25th, 2010

Today focus continued on the basement, here is what was accomplished:

- The remainder of the carpet was ripped out and thrown away.

- All ceiling tiles in the TV room were removed and vacuumed with a HEPA cleaner.

- The inside of the basement ceiling was cleaned.

- All of the brick panels were removed and the walls behind cleaned

In addition to work in the basement, cleaning of each individual air conditioning unit continued.

We will continue to keep you all posted : )

What to do about Books/Packages:

I know many of you have already ordered textbooks/packages that will be sent to the house -- don't worry you will still be able to get them. Eldon (our handy man) and I will begin putting all packages in a stack right inside the front door. All you have to do is swipe in, peak your head in the door, grab your books and you are good to go! Your ID card still acts as your key, so remember to bring it with you when you go to look for your packages.

Also, if you desperately need something that was stored in the basement contact me and we can set up a time to meet at the house and get inside the storage unit. If you do need to take anything from there it will have to be HEPA-Vacuumed to kill all of the mold spores that may have settled.

Let me know if you have any questions!

I thought some pictures might help to show the progress:

Basement Bike Room & TV Room 

TV Room (Don't Worry the Bricks will ALL be saved & put back in place!) 

The "Clean Room" (study room) 

Troy- Owner of Rainbow Cleaning (remediation company)

Remediation Plan from Industrial Hygienist.

Update August 24th, 2010

Dear KKG Parents,

Today has been a busy day at the Kappa house! We received the initial report from our certified industrial hygienist this morning and work quickly began. Please find attached his plan for remediation (I am not quite sure how to get this in the Blog- but hope to get it up tonight). 

Today, the HVAC company began cleaning all air ducts and inspecting each individual in-room unit, while the restoration company was concentrated on the basement.  After speaking extensively with Troy (owner of Rainbow Cleaning) and having him look over the remediation process set forth by the Industrial Hygienist, he concluded that the job should be completed within our original two-week timeline. The basement is the larger of the two projects and will take the remainder of this week to complete, leaving next week to focus on floors 1-3. Troy is confident in his crew and has gathered all of the manpower possible to get this job done in an time efficient manner. 

In addition to the work done on the inside of the house, we are busy getting quotes for the outside brick work to inspect and seal any leaks in the foundation, making absolutely sure we do not face this problem again in the future.  This work can be done with the girls in the house, but will be another project to keep an eye on- so please continue to read for updates/findings. 

Please don't hesitate to call with concerns.  I know more than I ever dreamed about this, but then, it is good to always be learning!

Thanks for being a great group of parents.

Be well,
 Karen & Sally

 

k.jackson.design
678-427-466

sallyreasoner_2011@depauw.edu 

Email sent to Parents August 21st, 2010 at 4:00pm

Dear Kappa Parents,

Over the summer we discovered water damage that appears to have affected the air quality within the house. After house staff made a walk through of the house on August 15^th mold was found and action was taken. A certified restoration company, Rainbow International, came in on Monday and conducted basement drying as well as surface and air cleaning. On August 19^th, 2010 samples were taken from 25 areas within the house and were sent to EMSL Analytical Labs in Indianapolis for testing. The results found higher than normal levels of Aspergillus/Penicillium and Cladosporium, two types of mold, leading us to believe the water damage may have something to do with the high levels of mold in the house (I can forward the results to you if interested). The results were sent to Industrial Hygienist, Mr. John F. Beltz, CIH,CSP, who advised to close the house for approximately two weeks while a remediation protocol is followed and the cladosporium and aspergillus/penicillium spore levels in the basement are reduced to a safe and ideal level.

Here is our action plan:

1. Relocate in-house KKG’s to The Inn at DePauw. 23 rooms have been secured 8/22-9/3. A $ 15.00/day allowance has been placed on each ID card so they can eat at the Hub or the Inn during this time.

2. From the new samples taken and tested on 8/20/2010 the Industrial Hygienist will form a remediation plan that will be immediately implemented by Rainbow Restoration. This will include, but is not limited to, the continued use of hepa air cleaners in the basement, dehumidifiers and cleaning of all vertical and horizontal surfaces

3. After the remediation process is complete we will have the Industrial Hygienist back to retest the air and surfaces to make sure the air quality is back to a healthy level.

4. Once the remediation process is complete and the results indicate that it is safe for the girls back into the house they will.

I apologize for the inconvenience and hardship this causes the girls. The timing couldn’t have been worse, but I am amazed at their willing attitudes. The president, Sally Reasoner, is a true leader, and I have heard many positive comments about this adversity drawing the girls closer. One even mentioned that they thought of it as a two-week vacation at a nice hotel that was close to the library! Please know that we have your daughters’ best interests and safety at heart.

I am happy to answer any questions or concerns you may have.

Sincerely,

Karen R. Jackson

678-427-4665

spottedzebra@bellsouth.net

Iota House Board

Move In Update - Sent to Girls August 21st, 2010 at 10:52am

Hi Ladies, 

First and foremost, thank you so much for all of your support through all of this. I wasn't sure how this whole process was going to be and Karen and I have been overwhelmed with support and thanks- so thank you all so much. I am so proud of this house and if any one ever questioned why you joined the KKG, I guarantee this next few weeks will prove it to you (ex: "Kappa Kappa Walden Inn"- Pria. hahahah). 

Now, to move on to our plan of attack. As per the recommendations of the Industrial Hygienist ("mold man") we are not to be living in the house, as a safety precaution, until we get some more results back on Tuesday. Karen has been working her butt off to find us housing and has us all booked at the Walden Inn starting Sunday. Although we do not yet have a time line, from the experts initial opinion (assuming the test results haven't drastically changed) we are looking at being in the Walden for approx. two weeks. We will be housed at the Walden (I am working on roommates now) and will have money ($15/day) put on our meal cards. 

What will you do with your stuff? We are getting PODS (portable storage units) here soon and we can store everything we will not need to two weeks there for now. We are doing this because the Industrial Hygienist will most likely want the whole house to be washed down (can we say cleanest house on campus?!). 

Also, Karen is working on a letter now that will be sent to all of your parents detailing the whole situation. 

So- pack for two weeks and get ready for some sisterhood bonding like no other : ) 

Loyally,

Sally 

First Email Sent to Girls - August 20th, 2010 4:31pm

Dear Ladies, 

I want to inform you all about a situation we have been dealing with at the house. Over the summer we discovered water damage to the house that appears to have affected the air quality within the house. We have been working tirelessly over the past week to get everything checked to make sure it is safe for every single girl to move into this house on Saturday. Unfortunately, we got some test results back last night and do not feel completely comfortable letting girls move in just yet. The results found high levels of Aspergillus/Penicillium and Cladosporium, two types of molds, leading us to believe the water damage may have something to do with the high levels of mold in the house. (I can forward the results to you if interested). We have all of your safety first in our mind and cannot let girls move in without having every surface cleaned, the mold properly remediated, and the air retested.   As a result and as a precaution, the house will not be availalble for housing for at least a few days.  That being said, House Board has all of the troops, lead by the recommendations of a certified Industrial Hygienist, ready to go and they will be working around the clock to figure out and fix everything that is going on.  House Board is following the advice of the expert Industrial Hygienist, who will establish the proper protocols, the remediation procedure, and re-testing.  House Board will keep us posted on all developments. 

What does this mean for you? We are lucky to have a few “flex” days before classes start, so we are asking that if you do not absolutely have to (aka-flight already booked) you should not to come back and expect to move into the house until Tuesday. If you are not here already and do not have to be here the next few days we request that you, if possible, make alternate move in plans. We are working with the University now to get housing set up for the time being and will be sure to keep you all in the loop. If you are already here we are working to secure housing for all of you over the next few days and I will let you know how to proceed as soon as I know.

I know this is a lot to hear, but please rest assured that we are doing everything we can to make this situation right. Also, please keep in mind that we have just as many questions as you- so please bear with us.

Thanks so much in advance for working with us. Please let me know if you have any questions- I will try to answer them as best I can.

Loyally,

Karen (House Board Liaison) & Sally (Chapter President)