Daily Journal file photo
Trafalgar Town Hall on State Road 252 in Trafalgar.
Trafalgar Town Hall is officially mold-free.
Town Hall was closed for a week at the end of July for mold remediation.
Several types of mold were discovered during an indoor air quality test of the town hall, located at 2770 State Road 252. Indianapolis-based Green Home Solutions first presented their findings at the June town council meeting.
After the mold was discovered, Green Home Solutions immediately set up dehumidifiers to bring the moisture down.
The project was a two-part system, Jason Ramey, president said. First, the mold was mitigated, and second, preventative measures were taken to prevent it from returning. Each phase cost about $10,000. The town council tentatively plans to use the American Rescue Plan Act money to pay for the expenses and will talk more about that at their September meeting.
Before the mold remediation, town employees worked for three weeks emptying the building, moving furniture and organizing documents into plastic totes.
Green Home Solutions did a full ionization of the building, gutted the ductwork and scraped all of the exposed woodwork in the basement, Ramey said. They also cleaned out each drainage hose in the HVAC system. The hoses were plugged and collected moisture, which generated the mold and was distributed throughout the building, Ramey said.
Most of the mold was “unseen” issues inside of the HVAC system, he said.
After the remediation took place, Green Home Solutions did follow-up preventative measures including sealing, coating and installing a “very large” dehumidifier and aerator system. They also relocated drainage lines to the HVAC system so they would drain properly, Ramey said.
Green Home Solutions did a follow-up air quality check days after the remediation that came back “perfectly clean,” Ramey said.
“The things that they did should significantly decrease the potential for this happening again,” Ramey said.
Some cardboard boxes in the basement containing documents were irreparable, Ramey said. Per state statue, town officials cannot dispose of the documents and will have to clean them.
The town council approved Midwest Freeze-Dry Ltc to begin working on document salvage at Thursday’s town council meeting.
The council hasn’t yet addressed the basement flooding. However, the flooding is minimal and isolated to one corner, Ramey said.
Town officials will continue to monitor the flooding in the basement as they explore options to mitigate it. Future remediation may include digging out the foundation and drainage work to direct water away from the basement, Ramey said.
