School Board Of ST. Lucie County, ST. Lucie County, Water/Mold Restoration

EE&G was retained by The School Board of St. Lucie County to provide emergency response services after the impact of Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne. These storms which lingered in the area for more than 24 hours damaged almost the entire school district. As a result of significant water intrusion, EE&G managed and conducted a wide scale restoration project that included a room-by-room, building-by-building assessment and remediation of water-damaged materials, water extraction, desiccation and drying, selective demolition, and build back in 39 schools.

According to sources in the U.S. government, this was the largest water restoration and mold remediation project in FEMA history. The purpose of the project was to improve the indoor air quality for St. Lucie County school children and staff. In order to provide optimum indoor air quality, EE&G dried the buildings expeditiously and removed water-impacted materials (i.e., drywall/sheetrock, carpet, floor tiles, ceiling, etc.) and evaluated HVAC systems and building envelopes to assess possible areas of water/moisture intrusion.

Schools were re-opened within a week of the storm events, and the remediation and build back project proceeded for over a year. EE&G would perform its work in evenings, weekends and school breaks so to minimize impacts to school schedules. Protection of the health and welfare of the students and faculty was a primary objective; thus, the indoor air quality environment was contained using negative pressure and HEPA filtration, and air quality monitored to minimize the potential for exposure of the student and faculty populations to both construction dust and airborne mold.

This project is an excellent example of how the EE&G team can bring highly talented professional resources to an extensive challenge and bring resources that included 800 trained works to do both restorations and build back in a sensitive work environment with children.