Question by Sunshine75: Water damage in commercial building & black & green mold?
This is a two-part question and hopefully an engineer or water damage/restoration person will answer. I will try to give brief to-the-point facts.
One month ago, the building where I work had a valve on a pipe (not in ceiling, but mid-wall angled at floor) break on the weekend when no one was there.
60,000 sq ft
water coming out at 100 psi
Someone happened to come in late Sun afternoon and there was 2 inches of standing water in the entire building.
Question 1: How long had this water been running out of the pipe?
Professional cleaners brought in dehumidifiers and fans (some are still going). Carpet was wet/damp for at least 4-5 days. Windows do not open anywhere in this building. Two weeks ago, service people pulled a baseboard back and it was covered with black and green mold. They have drilled holes in some walls (not all) to try to dry the sheet rock out. The moisture level in 90% of offices (including mine) is 100% as of last week. Building owner refuses to replace carpet or sheet rock. Numerous people have been sick, including me. They have refused to shut the building down for repairs. I am very concerned for the health of all of us who work there.
Question #2: At this point, what should be done to restore this building to a healthy environment?
I wasn’t really sure what category to put this into; it could probably fit into several.
Thank you!
Yes, this is a one-story building on a concrete slab. Very nice looking building (there are several) and building owner is not hurting for money. Bldg manager has bucked up on removing carpet, etc. Our company insisted on air samples (which bldg manager did not want to do), but finally did after persistence. However, these samples were taken by their people. We do not have the results back yet, but I am not so sure that they will give us accurate results. I think that they are flying by the seat of their pants and have not had a “plan” from the beginning to clean up this mess. They continue to do one silly thing after another thinking it is going to solve the problem. I think that the building should have been shut down immediately and cleaned up, but that didn’t happen. I am sick this week (for the 2nd time) and all symptoms are related to mold exposure.
Best answer:
Answer by linlyons
while i’m not a engineer, i think you’re in trouble. there are some “black molds” that are toxic. maybe you should look to working in a different building. if i had to guess, eventually someone will call the EPA, or CDC, or someone, and it will be determined that the building, as it is, is not habitable. drilling holes will not dry out sheetrock in a reasonable time frame. Not taking up carpets was probably a bad decision, and might be a sign that the owner of the building does not have the money to fix the problem as it should be. that would mean that there’ll be a law suit and the owner will just declare bankruptcy and you’re all on your own after that. Sorry.
to fix the problem, you’d have to remove all the carpet, and any flooring that was wet, and replace it. you’d probably have to remove the sheet rock and replace the wall studs that are still wet. keep in mind, there are many different types of building construction. some are far more prone to absorbing water than others. i presume that it’s only 1 story, but you didn’t say that. that means that i’m just guessing.
good luck.
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Tags:black, Building, Commercial, Damage, Green, mold, water
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