Editor’s note: In November, the Regional Council granted a loan to the San Diego Center for mold remediation for their building. This was undertaken in tandem with a visioning workshop, enabling members to move forward together to put the Center on a sound financial footing. The work included repairing gutters, sealing ducts, removing an old HVAC system, and restoring a moldy closet. The final step was installing a sump pump, as described here by Susan Van Winkle and Stephen Kelly:
We had evidence that our building’s foundation was absorbing water from a mysterious, underground, stygian reservoir that swelled during our rainy (hah) season. We believed this was causing most of our interior mold issues. Building on a brilliant design by Raymond Robel, we had an underground sump pump installed. It looks like a martian manhole and the lid is secured by bolts:
Peering down the 8′ deep cylinder reveals murky water – the underground reservoir! A closer look reveals (kind of) the engineering aparatus: a sump pump, a drain leading out and electrical wiring:
The water isn’t high enough today to get this baby going so let’s add some more water with this hose. The rising water level activates the sump pump which pumps the water up the drain into the existing underground drainage system, and the water gushes out to the street:
On a related note, the dreaded closet in the men’s latihan hall is now mold-free thanks to scrubbin’ and paintin’ and a whole lot of roof and drainage system repairs.
