Aging institutional and commercial facilities present maintenance and engineering managers with a host of challenges, and one Eastern university is facing one of the toughest of challenges — mold “throughout” a dormitory.
The University of Maryland is putting students up in hotels after mold was reported in some dormitories and several students said it has made them sick, according to The Baltimore Sun.
Mold was found “throughout Elkton Hall, as well as isolated reports in other residence halls, and the issue has been exacerbated by recent weather conditions,” the school’s Department of Resident Life told students and families.
The more than 500 mostly freshman students living in Elkton are being relocated temporarily to hotels to allow contractors to clean every room in the eight-story building, floor-by-floor.
The mold problems further compound campus housing issues at the university where about 2,000 students live without air conditioning and the school needed to add beds to some rooms and convert lounges into dorm rooms to accommodate about 350 extra students this year.
“We have taken many steps to address the issue; including hiring contractors who specialize in mold remediation, installing commercial-grade dehumidifiers in floor hallways, conducting inspections of rooms that have reported service requests, cleaning all surfaces, and cleaning or replacing furniture,” according to an email from the Department of Resident Life .
This Quick Read was submitted by Dan Hounsell — dan.hounsell@tradepressmedia.com — editor-in-chief of Facility Maintenance Decisions, and chief editor of Facilitiesnet.com.
