Posted on 11/13/2005 7:36:51 PM PST by SmithL
NEW ORLEANS -- The Longue Vue estate, with its English furnishings, Turkish rugs, blown-glass chandeliers and oil paintings, is on life support. Hundreds of yards of air-duct hoses run through doors and into cellars, trying to save the mansion from Hurricane Katrina's long-lasting remnant: mold.
The storm flooded the flower-studded grounds, swamped the wine cellar and buried the gardener's quarters in muck. Two months after Kartina, workers are at war with creeping moisture, trying to repel stench and rot from the Greek Revival mansion and museum in Old Metairie, a National Historic Landmark.
New Orleans — the perennially flooded city platted amid sea, lake, swamp and river — has always battled mold. But since Katrina inundated 80 percent of the city, moisture's assault has hit an all-time high, and a busy army of "mold remediation" crews have come from around the country to dry homes, businesses, schools and churches.
"We've had floods before," says preservationist Daniel Brown Jr., "but nothing like this where houses sat in water for two, three weeks."
A wet building is a moving target: The longer it sits, the worse the mold gets.
"Get some air circulation going, get dehumidifiers going, the air conditioner, throw that carpet away," says Brian Sullivan, a spokesman for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. "If water is coming through the roof, you've got to fix the roof. If you've got a burst pipe, call the plumber. You've got to stop the source of moisture."
The drying-out cavalry rolled in an armada of trucks carrying miles of hoses, thermal imaging cameras and moisture meters. The crews talk enthusiastically about the properties of dew point, relative humidity and air circulation.
"When we were driving in, people were beeping their horns, giving us the thumbs up,"...
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Now I understand all of Saddam's lawyers quitting. They found something more financially rewarding.
I'm putting my money on the mold.
The triazole family of fungicides are quite effective if usen prophylactally (brand name Folicur). The trouble is most fungicides work, but if you try to treat mold AFTER it takes root, good lunk.
They need to hurry up and rebuild New Orleans so it can flood again then they can rebuild it before it floods again then they can rebuild......
Sunday nite on FR sure makes me look forward to Monday.
It already flooded, what?, twice since Katrina? I think the mold's gonna win, too. Just ANOTHER in a long list of reasones NOT to rebuild. What a waste of money and resources.
Having driven from one end of a vacant, devastated city to the other I wonder why chemicals can't be dropped by air? Much like they do on forest fires? We spray for mosquitos by air- surely there is something that can be dropped on these deserted neighborhoods.
That wouldn't help the INSIDE Of structures, I realize. But it would have to help some.
I went to my aunt's house last week. Total loss, 5ft of water inside and the house is on 3ft brick piers. The inside is TOTALLY BLACK. The carpet is black and still squishy- 2 months after the storm. I'm sure the floor must be rotted by now.
Now multiply that times thousands. That is New Orleans. The New Orleans the citizens lived in- not the tourists' New Orleans. When they talk about N.O. 'coming back'- it's the tourist N.O. they mean- the Quarter and Garden District. Take it from this native- I have seen VERY little evidence that everyday N.O. is coming back- or will.
Thank you. I need all the lunk I can get.
; )
Sad! I'm so sorry for your aunt.
What's dumber than building a city below sea level? Re-building a city below sea level.
There is one thing dumber than rebuilding below sea level...government subsidized Section 8 housing rebuilt below sea level.
"When we were driving in, people were beeping their horns, giving us the thumbs up,"...
This is total, utter baloney. If anyone was honking their horn it was to tell them to get the hell out of the way. There were very few people in the city when it opened up and most of the residents were too much in shock, utterly depressed by everything around them, or too damn busy to be giving someone a thumbs up. More likely giving this blowhard the finger.
OK, I live in a hurricane zone... South Floida. So how do you use this stuff before you have a problem?
"What's dumber than building a city below sea level? Re-building a city below sea level."
What about Venice Italy? Perhaps the most charming city on the planet and yet it is flooded and continues to flood every year. Maybe the fact that it precariously exists is part of the immense charm of the city. Dumb? Not to the residents who live there and have businesses there. Tourists return in droves to Venice, just like they will again to NOLA.
LMOA! Good one Lori!
That is what we use in the basement when the moisture allows for mold to grow. Works wonders.
I'm sure the old New Orleans was a charming place, but there's no comparison to Venice, which sits at sea level and is on relatively stable soil, and New Orleans, which sits between 1 and 10 feet below sea level, on average, and is sinking further with each passing day. And Venice doesn't need to worry about Cat 5 hurricanes...
Saving the port and the areas near sea level will probably happen; the rest of it will be a total loss.
The midwest has tornadoes,the west coast has earthquakes, the north east has blizzards, and the gulfcoast has hurricanes.
Where do you suggest we rebuild? South Dakota?
Most of the city is perfectly safe. Sorry we got hit by a once in a century storm right when the country didn't need it.
Give up. Mold never dies.
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