Friday, 29 February 2008
The clanging of remodeling fell silent after crews were told to stop
work on the new math and science building at Tracy High because mold was
discovered.
Renovation came
to a stop in Tracy High School’s Hawley-Westlake building this week after crews
from McFadden Construction found mold inside.
So the district called in RGA Environmental Inc., an Emeryville-based
company that Tracy Unified School District keeps on speed dial for asbestos and
mold testing in the district’s older buildings.
"It’s not a big issue," said Ted Cattehee, the environmental
consultant with RGA Environmental Inc. who visited the site Thursday. "The
mold was caused by water damage and probably has been there for years."
Cattehee ran no tests on the mold, but he said he could tell by looking that
it wasn’t enough to be toxic.
"It’s OK until you start stirring it up," he said. "You’ve
got to make sure that you’re protecting the interest of the kids and the staff
and use the right control methods to contain it to avoid big clouds of
mold."
Crews post signs in the Hawley-Westlake Building at Tracy
High warning others of the mold in the building. Glenn Moore/Tracy Press
He recommended that construction workers wear masks and that the district
hire a subcontractor to handle the infected materials. Cattehee said his
employees will stop by the site again Monday to make sure the district and the
workers have followed his recommendations.
Crews recently built a wall to separate the half of the building that’s under
construction from the other half, where students and teachers continue to meet
for class. Cattehee said an abatement consultant will visit Monday to seal off
the area with plastic while crews tear down the infected walls.
"It was known from the get-go that there were certain elements that
needed special demolition," said Denise Wakefield, TUSD director of
facilities. "We’re taking apart something that’s very old and putting it
back together."
The 35-year-old building has housed 17 classrooms for both math and science
classes, but after the remodel, all 24,000 square feet will be outfitted with
science labs and lecture rooms. Math classes will be shifted to a new building
on the west side of the campus, still under construction, that has nearly three
times the space once shared by the two subjects.
http://tracypress.com/content/view/13763/2242/
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