Carson demolishing walls to battle imported mold

by Tom Roeder, Colorado Springs Gazette

September 16, 2008

Workers at Fort Carson are demolishing drywall in half-built barracks to battle an imported mold problem.

Post officials say the extra work isn't slowing $2.25 billion in construction at the post as it prepares to house thousands of additional soldiers who will start arriving later this year.

And because the mold problem happened during the construction of a $135 million barracks complex, the government isn't paying a dime to fix it.

"They know the standard and that's what they'll give us," said Matthew B. Ellis, a civilian overseeing the work for the Army Corps of Engineers.

Officials determined that the mold in the barracks is a side effect of a revolutionary construction method that's shaving 40 percent off the barracks build time.

The barracks rooms are prefabricated in factories in Iowa and Greeley and shipped to Fort Carson where they're assembled like building blocks. In shipment from Iowa, though, moisture leaked into insulation of some of the rooms and mold flourished.

The Army is especially sensitive about moldy barracks rooms after a scandal over conditions in housing at Fort Bragg, N.C., prompted a service-wide investigation.

Unlike the Fort Bragg barracks, which had been built decades ago, the Fort Carson moldy rooms are new and have never been occupied.

The contractor building the barracks, Hensel Phelps Construction of Greeley, said the problem that caused the mold has been resolved and the rooms with mold are being fixed.

In many cases, entire ceilings are being replaced after the area is treated with fungicide.

Fort Carson's commander, Maj. Gen. Mark Graham, said the barracks aren't scheduled to house soldiers until early next year.

The post is growing by about 6,000 soldiers in 2009, when more troops from the 4th Infantry Division move in. The first soldiers and families from that influx will start arriving in November and December, Graham said.

More soldiers will come in early 2009 after the headquarters of the division and its 1st Brigade Combat Team return from Iraq and start the move to Colorado from Fort Hood, Texas.

Home to two combat brigades of soldiers when the Iraq war began in 2003, Fort Carson is scheduled to house five brigades by 2013. In addition to the Fort Hood units coming next year, the post will be home to a newly formed infantry brigade of 3,500 soldiers in the next few years.

The post's population is expected to peak at nearly 30,000 soldiers when the last brigade arrives.

With all construction projects, from office buildings and motor pools to barracks and chow halls, running on time or ahead of schedule, the post expects to be ready for the new troops, Graham said.