The Red and Black

Issue date: 2/20/09 Section: News

Some Mell Hall residents in the past two years have reported complaints, including mold-like substances growing on walls and ceilings. [Click to enlarge]

Work Order sheets

Reporter's Note: Work orders are based on student observations. They are not necessarily indicative of true conditions.

Mell Hall has long been a hotbed for problems ranging from leaks to broken air-conditioning units - all optimal conditions for mold growth.

In work orders spanning back to January 2007 obtained by The Red & Black, reports of mold were infrequent, but humidity, leaks and wall damage were common.

Residents pay $2,080 a semester to live in Mell Hall, a four-story freshman dormitory located on Baxter Street. Mell Hall, built in 1961, houses about 160 students in approximately 80 rooms.

University Housing recently conducted an air quality test to determine whether there are "any unhealthy elements as a result of mold in the building," said Gerard Kowalski, the executive director of the University's housing department, in a phone interview Thursday afternoon.

"We do have mold in the buildings, that is just the nature of having as many square feet as we have," he said.

Kowalski said housing has not received the test results yet, but he said housing is confident it will not indicate a high level of toxins.

"What [students] think the problem is may not be the problem. Sometimes it isn't even a problem," he said.

He also said complaints about humidity, leaks and mold were "limited and confined" problems.

From Jan. 9, 2007, to Jan. 28, 2009, leaks were reported, often more than once, in 25 separate rooms on Mell Hall - almost one out of every three rooms. Ten of those rooms were located on the fourth floor. With only about 20 rooms on each floor, that means half the rooms on the fourth floor experienced leaks. About 25 percent of rooms on other floors reported leaks.

"[Leaks] probably are related to the aging steam pipes in the building," Kowalski said.

He said the building once operated on a steam system and the pipes are now capped off. "The pipes are still there but steam isn't running through them."


'It just keeps getting worse'

In January 2007 a fourth-floor resident reported a mold-like substance growing on a large crack in her wall.

"We have something that looks like a mushroom growing out of the wall where the crack is," she wrote. "I am concerned this could be some type of mold. I would like to get it looked at."

More recently, on Nov. 20, 2008, a resident assistant reported, "Residents in room 420 have shown me their room and there is yellow, moldy looking stuff along the wall. They have told me that at the beginning of the year, it was covered in paint but now it's uncovered and their room also smells moldy."

On Dec. 1, the RA reported that a resident's mother called to complain "the wall in her daughter's room, which was torn out due to leak, was supposed to be repaired over Thanksgiving break. She says wall has not been repaired and that her daughter's room smells 'horrible' and she (the mother) wants something done about it quick." Maintenance did not respond to the order until Jan. 6, after the residents had decided to move out.

Residents living in the room next door, room 418, reported on Dec. 5 that mold covered their wall and ceiling.

"The girls next door were recently forced to leave their dorm because of excessive damage from mold on their adjoining wall with ours," Room 418 residents reported in a work order. "Luckily, our wall isn't nearly as bad but mold is beginning to grow along the wall/ceiling and we've noticed a musty smell."

After winter break, another fourth-floor resident reported mold.

"We have mold everywhere in our room especially around the window and on the side of one of the desks," the resident wrote. "It is also spreading around the air conditioner and just keeps getting worse."


Air conditioning leaks and health conditions

In August 2007, a student in room 418 reported, "The air conditioner is not functioning properly and has mold in the filter so the room is not cold and allergies are rampant. Please fix this problem ASAP since it has been so hot outside."

Maintenance failed to respond, so a week later she submitted another request "for the same broken, moldy air conditioner that has now started to leak water." She wrote the unit leaked water onto her laptop so she turned the unit off, but then the room was too hot. "My roommate and I do not want to deal with a heat stroke on top of the allergies we have been suffering from the mold-producing air conditioner," she wrote. "I hope this problem will be fixed within the week or other actions might have to be taken." Maintenance responded two days later.

December 2008 residents in three separate rooms reported their units were spitting out brown and black substances.

Among them, room 404 reported, "Our AC unit spits out a dark brown rubber looking substance and it can't be healthy."


'Large pools of water'

On Nov. 1, 2007, a resident reported, "Wall between rooms 209 and 211... is making a loud hissing noise, steam coming out into one of the rooms, wall is hot."

A third floor resident requested a dehumidifier for excess moisture in her room and on the first floor, a resident reported that a leak from the room above had "penetrated through the wall into [her] apartment. The paint on the wall is peeling," she wrote.

On Nov. 8, 2007 room 422 reported, "The air is full of moisture. There is a mold smell in the air, and condensation is forming on everything possible. I didn't realize just how serious the problem was until I saw that my paper towels were completely soaked from being INSIDE the plastic drawers. These are not bearable living conditions. Please send someone ASAP. Mold forming on my clothes and belongings is completely unacceptable."

The same day, another work order for 422 was submitted saying, "Room is collecting condensation in large amounts in the dresser drawers and all over window sills, please come to look at immediately."

Yet another work order was placed by the residents in 422 on Nov. 16. Residents reported a "mildew smell," and wrote it "still smells really bad in room." These three work orders were not addressed until Nov. 26, 18 days after the first request was placed.

Kowalski said 18 days was far too long to respond to a pressing work order.

"Ten days from our perspective wouldn't be satisfactory," he said. "Particularly if it is something affecting the student in terms of their study or sleep environment. If they haven't had a prompt response then we ask students to put in another [work order]."

In August 2007, a resident reported that the ceiling next to her door was "corroding." She also reported the air conditioning unit in the room directly above hers "leaks and floods my front entrance." Two months later, in October, maintenance addressed the problem.

Also in August, a second-floor resident wrote she had sent in three work requests regarding her broken air conditioner, to no avail.

"Our air conditioner continues to leak and is making large pools of water in our room," she wrote.

In September, a resident on the first floor wrote, "My room is leaking, literally. There is a crack in my ceiling and water is dripping onto my bed making it wet and unpleasant." It took maintenance eight days to respond to her work order.

Another first floor resident wrote a crack over her window was leaking water. The leak was fixed 10 days later.

Among other delayed requests:

On May 3, 2007 a student in room 408 submitted a work order stating one of her walls "was badly patched and it seems the increasing heat has caused the thin wall covering to begin to crack and peel back. Parts of the wall are beginning to bubble outward as well. We would like this to be looked at and if possible, patched so that the damage does not continue to worsen." This issue was not addressed until July 13, 2007.

On May 4, a work order was placed by room 417 saying, "There is a crack in the plaster on one of our walls and plaster is starting to fall off the walls." This issue was not resolved until July 13.

Also in May, a work order was submitted saying, "Walls are severely cracked due to age and humidity, getting worse over time." The problem was addressed one week later.

Among other reports was a "soiled and moldy" hand scanner, humidity in room 307, large cracks in the walls in 308, 311, 312 and 319, and paint peeling off the wall in 305.

The Red & Black will meet with housing officials on Monday to discuss the conditions of freshman dorms across campus.

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