Mike Paul, director of energy management for Campus Planning and Plant Operations points out the new filters that were installed in the air unit in Moore Hall. (John Schreiber)
When sophomore Katie Byers and her roommate moved into their efficiency-style apartment in room 213 of Moore Hall, they quickly discovered their quaint, little apartment had more to offer than a private bath and kitchen – it had mold. In the three drawers where their silverware, spatulas and measuring cups might have gone, a thin layer of green mold already inhabited the space.
Mold was also growing on the underside of the drawers and in the cabinetry where the drawers are housed. The roommates immediately reported the problem to their apartment community assistant, Christina Dohanich.
Two hours later, two women from the housekeeping staff arrived to clean the mold.
Byers said the ladies spent about 20 minutes cleaning the cabinetry and “there was still mold on the particle board after the two ladies left.”
The girls were unsatisfied with the cleaning job and decided to clean it themselves. Byer’s roommate called in her mother, Margaret McCain, for assistance.
The mold was not the only problem.
“We had to scrub the floor, scrub the walls, scrub the cabinets, scrub the inside of the cabinets, pull out the fridge and vacuum, and kill the cockroach…” said Byers.
Between the two roommates and one of their mothers, it was a five-hour undertaking.
“There was a cleanliness issue that should have been addressed before they moved in,” Dr. Doug Hallenbeck, the executive director of Resident Life Student Housing (RLSH) said.
“I first suspected a mold problem the moment I stepped into the building,” McCain said. “Once I saw the large quantity of mold actively growing in the cabinetry, I knew from experience that this could be indicative of a problem with the air system.”
McCain lived in an apartment in Plano while her home was being remodeled. After living there a week, she developed symptoms that she remembered experiencing from exposure to mold. She discovered mold in the air vents and moved elsewhere. Other families in the complex experienced similar symptoms and followed suit, she said.
Her concern and past experience led her to unscrew the vents and look inside. She said she discovered the ducts were extremely dusty, and contacted RLSH to address the air quality problem.
According to Hallenbeck, when a student has a complaint about the air quality in a room, RLSH enacts a standard response. First, a staff member from Campus Planning and Plant Operations (CCPO) clean the coils, which the air comes in contact with while cooling it. If the problem persists, the air quality is tested. Depending on the results, it is decided whether any additional steps need to be taken.
A tour of the air-handling unit in the attic of Moore Hall revealed a seemingly clean system. The unit’s coils and filters were clean. SMU also shines UVC lights on the coils, which kills mold spores in the air.
The girls moved into their room on Aug. 21, and two days later CPPO placed an Aircuity machine in their room to analyze the air quality.
As is standard practice, the machine was left in their room for one week to gather information about the types of particles present in the air. At the end of the seven-day period, it was removed, and a software system analyzed the information and compiled a report on the machine’s findings.
SMU’s Aircuity test showed “no action suggested,” which is the highest rating, for air cleanliness and building pollutants. For comfort and ventilation it found “improvement possible.” Looking further into the report, the temperature was at 75 degrees, and the machine is programmed to suggest the temperature stay at 72 degrees or lower.
After seeing the report, SMU determined there was no air quality problem. But Byers and her roommate were still suffering from allergies.
“You’d wake up and you’re totally stuffed up and you sneeze all day,” Byers said, who suffers from seasonal allergies.
McCain said she noticed her daughter, who is allergic to several types of mold, was experiencing itchy eyes, coughing and trouble sleeping.
SMU hired a private company, Farmer and Associates, to test for air borne mold spores. The company tested the room on Sept. 11, about two weeks after the Aircuity test was completed.
A rule of thumb for evaluating a potential mold issue is to consider if the mold count inside is higher than the mold count outside, said Dr. Louis Hosek, who has 27 years of experience as a manager of a corporate industry hygiene department for a Fortune 500 company.
The highest mold count was for Aspergillium/Penicillium. The test showed 9,830 spores per cubic meter inside room 213 and 10,714 spores per cubic meter outside.
Without seeing the results of SMU’s mold test, McCain decided to hire her own expert to do a full mold report. The test was conducted on Aug. 13 by RCI Environmental Inc. The company’s report shows it found 14,630 Aspergillium/Penicillium spores per cubic meter and 307 spores per cubic meter outside.
The two reports differ, and Hosek suggested that the discrepancies were likely due to the tests being conducted on two different days, by two different companies, with slightly different equipment and conditions outside differing from one day to the next.
Human error also factors into the equation.
The spore collections are counted under a microscope, and a lab technician counts the spores for a sample area and multiplies it to get the total.
“No matter how good or qualified they may be, you’ve got a human being counting them,” Hosek said.
However, SMU and McCain’s private companies use the same laboratory, Steve Moody Micro Services, Inc.
McCain’s company did a swab test of the ductwork that pumps air into the room. According to the report, the swab detected “abundant mold growth.”
But more importantly than the mold count are the people living in the space, said Hosek.
“Some people could have a reaction at a low level and others could have a very high count and not have any reaction,” he said. “If the student is having a reaction, then you have a problem, and you need to lessen the mold count.”
Byers and her roommate were still struggling with allergy symptoms despite the efforts of RLSH and CPPO.
Moving out
Between dealing with the cleaning, air testing and mold testing, Byers was just trying to focus on school.
“I got out my book to study because I have four tests and [a cockroach] crawled across my book,” she said.
Her mother, Nancy Byers said, “That’s when I got a call saying, ‘Hey, mom, will you come get me?'”
Nancy and her husband, John Byers, drove from Plano to pick up their daughter that evening, Sept. 24.
“It was not the girls’ imaginations as I first suspected,” John said. “The minute I walked into the room there was no doubt about it. It smelled musty and then had two HEPA filters running.”
When John returned home he said he used his asthma inhaler, which he has not used in years.
Earlier that day, Byers’ roommate decided to move out to temporarily live at home in Frisco until the two could find an apartment near campus.
Byers and her roommate have rented a loft in Mockingbird Station, but are still commuting from home. They are waiting on furniture.
“We didn’t want them to move,” Nancy said. “It was a perfect compromise of having an apartment and still being on campus.”
McCain agreed, but decided it was for the best to move her daughter out.
“I received word yesterday from Dr. Hallenbeck that he received [my mold] reports and we could expect a full refund of all money paid to SMU for Moore Hall and that they would investigate further into the situation in Moore Hall,” she said
Byers and her roommate are gone, but the mold wasn’t.
When Byers moved out on Sept. 24 the mold appeared to be growing back on the particle board.
“There was some reason why the mold grew there,” Hosek said.
Mold needs three things: food, moisture and the right temperature, said Mike Paul, director of energy management for CPPO. Moisture is basically the only thing you can control to prevent the growth of mold.
“They just need to clean up the mold and eliminate the source,” Paul said.
Both roommates are wondering if the next resident of room 213 in Moore Hall will have a similar move-in day or if RLSH’s investigation will uncover the problem.
