Rot, mould found at library
Black mould, rotting wood and a decayed roof beam discovered at Stoke Library will require hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of repairs.
A report to Nelson City Council’s (NCC) community services committee last week revealed severe decay, saturated wood and black mould in southwest and northeast areas of the roof structure where the building is not weathertight.
One roof beam running down the spine of the building had been identified as having ‘‘structural decay’’ to the point of having ‘‘no integrity’’ in some places, the staff report said. Some of the timber used in the library’s construction was found to be untreated.
Committee chair Gaile Noonan noted that there were ‘‘issues’’ with buildings constructed during the 1990s. The library was built in 1993. Property, parks and facilities asset manager Andrew Petheram said there was only one other council building from that era, and it had been recently maintained with no problems discovered.
Petheram said that during the Long Term Plan (LTP) process, it was discovered that regular condition checks of the library building were not being done, but they would be ‘‘from now on’’.
The preliminary estimates to replace the rotten beam were ‘‘at least’’ $300,000, he said. There was already a $2.5 million allocation in the LTP for refurbishing the library.
Petheram said the report suggested the need for another investigation to reveal the full extent of the mould, any other damage, and the potential danger to the public. It would also assess the full cost of remedial work. In the meantime, the council was ‘‘doing what it needed to’’ to ensure the safety of staff and the public.
Engineers have advised that the library building is structurally safe on the inside. Its external structure is being supported by scaffolding until repairs can be carried out.
The mould found, Stachybotrys, has been associated with increased asthma symptoms and upper respiratory irritation. Its full extent is not known.
The areas where mould was found have been treated with fungicide. At this stage, it was not considered likely to cause any harm to library staff or patrons, the council said.