‘Hopefully, this will finally conquer the problems’
Westover school’s drying-out project two-thirds done
STAMFORD — Two of three dehumidifier units were installed this week at Westover Magnet Elementary School in an effort to curtail ongoing humidity and mold issues at the school.
But with one unit yet to be delivered, the dampness issue won’t be fully resolved once students return on Monday.
In April, city officials suggested installing three “dedicated outdoor air systems,” or DOAS, in an effort to dehumidify air that enters the structure. The systems, described by City Engineer Lou Casolo as essentially giant dehumidifiers, would bring in outside air and take out the moisture before the air is delivered to unit ventilators inside classrooms.
At first, it seemed the plan would not be completed until 2022. But Mayor David Martin stepped in and put the project on the fast track in early May, calling the 2022 target date “unacceptable.”
In order to complete the project sooner, Martin circumvented the traditional project delivery method. Instead of the typical design/bid/build approach, Martin suggested using the existing contract at Westover with Viking Construction to allow them to complete the project, and he also identified funding sources, not necessitating any approvals by boards.
The estimate for the work is roughly $2.8 million.
On Friday, Martin and Casolo held a press conference at Westover to give an update on the project.
Martin called the work so far a “miracle job,” as about 75 percent of the project has been completed before school begins. The third DOAS unit is still in Lexington, KY., and is expected to arrive in Stamford in late September, Casolo said.
The mayor said the issues at the school have been there since it was built in 1998 and have increased over
time.
“Water was coming in from the roof, water was coming in from the drain spouts, water was coming up from under the ground, water was going through the unit ventilators. This school had lots of water problems,” he said.
Martin said the DOAS systems could put an end to long-standing moisture and mold issues.
“Hopefully, this will finally conquer the problems that started in 1998,” he said.
Martin and Casolo said they hope to have the third system installed and operational by mid-October.
This week, Casolo sent a letter to Westover principal Lisa Saba-Price to provide an update of the work.
While the two installed DOAS units will provide dehumidified outdoor air to the unit ventilators, room dehumidifiers will still be used until “airflow balancing” is completed, he said.
That balancing, he wrote, will be an on-going process until the final unit is installed and fully operational.
“As such, you may experience conditions that vary from classroom to classroom until the final balancing and commissioning process is complete,”
Casolo wrote.
The wing that connects the back building of the school to the cafeteria is the one currently missing a DOAS system. It encompasses about 20 classrooms between both floors. In those classes, the unit ventilators will provide heating and cooling. A temporary exhaust fan has been hooked up to serve those spaces, Casolo wrote, and temporary room dehumidifiers will remain active.
The dampness in the building continues to create problems. According to a letter from environmental consultant Tighe and Bond dated Aug. 20, John Hobbins, a project compliance specialist for the company, told school and city officials that “visible suspect mold growth” was found in building materials.
As a result, about 35 ceiling tiles were removed from a number of different rooms and common spaces.
Westover closed in October of 2018 following air quality tests that detected mold. Students were relocated to an office building on Elmcroft Road owned by Building and Land Technology.
Once repairs were underway in 2019, workers found more mold than was originally expected at the school building. In February of 2019, the district announced the school would be closed for the entire 2019-20 school year
and reopen in fall 2020.
The school district has spent roughly $24 million on renovations to fix longterm problems at the school, which reopened at the start of this school year.
Condensation caused mold to form on ceiling tiles in multiple classrooms a few days before school started last year. The mold was removed and the rooms remediated.
Later, mold was discovered in eight classrooms.
Last year, Casolo told members of the Stamford school board’s Operations Subcommittee that keeping the building dry has proven difficult.
The four wings at the school include classrooms that use unit ventilators, and they have all been problem areas, he said. Over the past two years, the interior of the building was gutted and renovated as part of a project that included new mechanical upgrades as well as new floors and ceiling tiles.
Martin was asked Friday if any other school could use a DOAS system, including Hart Magnet Elementary School. But he said Hart has a number of other issues and has also been identified as one of five schools in the district in most need of a complete rebuild; installing DOAS systems would be unlikely.