The Board of Health will notify the town that it must remove the new carpeting in the vestibule of the old library building because of possible mold from a water leak two months ago. A section of carpeting in the basement that was soaked when a toilet overflowed around that same time will also have to be removed for sanitary reasons.
At the Jan. 14 Board of Health meeting, Mark Mikitarian and Willie Wickman, board members of the old library’s tenant, Fivesparks, explained how both carpets came to be waterlogged. Mikitarian said that during construction on the building last year, the new vestibule, located where the side entrance used to be, was always damp, so the Old Library Accessibility Committee had sealant installed on the flat roof over that area. In addition, the Department of Public Works cleaned the building’s gutters, which had not been done in some time.
According to Mikitarian, those actions seemed to solve the moisture problem in the vestibule until the wet carpeting was discovered sometime in November. Shortly afterward, in the days following a snowstorm, the carpet had standing water on it. Mikitarian said the likely cause was thought to be melting snow on the flat roof leaking into the building via damaged brick masonry. In its evaluation of the building’s roof and gutters last fall, engineering firm Gale Associates found multiple instances of deteriorated mortar in the building’s masonry caused by water leaking from gutters and downspouts.
Board of Health Chair Tom Philippou said the carpeting in the vestibule should be taken up and not replaced until the building’s water infiltration problem is fixed. Mikitarian said the town had purchased a wet vac to help keep the carpet dry and asked if the removal could be delayed until the town decides if it will fund a $1.25 million project to replace the building’s roof and repair the masonry. Board of Health member Sharon McCarthy said no, because mold could be deep in the fibers, and mold spores could travel in the air and infiltrate the building.
In addition to the vestibule leaks, a toilet in the basement overflowed Nov.12 when a breaker switch that controlled the power to the sewer grinder pump was accidentally turned off. That resulted in a small flood that crossed the threshold of the bathroom into the carpeted hallway. A cleaning company provided an estimate to the town for two options: cleaning the carpet or removing and replacing it, the company recommended removal. To date, neither has been done, according to Wickman and Mikitarian. Ira Grossman, the town’s sanitarian from the Nashoba Associated Boards of Health, said the carpet should have been cleaned within 24 hours of the overflow, and since more than two months have passed, it must be removed. Philippou noted that the cleaning estimate was only $175 and said he couldn’t believe the town didn’t clean the carpet immediately after the overflow.
The board had granted a variance to install carpet in the new vestibule area last April, but McCarthy said in retrospect it probably should not have. Neither area can be recarpeted unless the Board of Health grants a new variance. Mikitarian said the floor under the carpet in the vestibule is wood, which should be covered to prevent further water damage. He was unsure what was underneath the carpeting in the basement.
