smelly clinic

[Guest guest]

I would appreciate the group's opinion on whether the tiles should be removed immediately or if a wait and see approach makes sense here. This is an email from an outpatient clinic:

Monday morning, March 27, one of our toilets flooded with sewage from the entire building. The flood was not remedied for a few hours and the flooding was significant-running down a hallway near three examination rooms. Luckily, the exam rooms and bathroom are down a step from the rest of the clinic. Otherwise, our entire work space would have been contaminated.

The toilet was fixed and we sent our staff home. Over the next 3-4 days the carpet and tiles were pulled and the area " terminally cleaned " according to hospital infection control standards. The carpet was replaced with tile. (We now know that the tile was placed on wet wood).

During the month of April (some days better/worse than others) our staff and patients have detected some pretty disgusting smells from the flooded area. The moisture meter shows that there is moisture under some of the tiles and in the plaster wall a few inches above the floor. On some days- after a few days of no smell at all, our staff reports bad odor.

We have made an effort to open the windows and keep a fan running on the tiles.

The hospital is aware of our ongoing problems and is prepared to rip up the tiles if necessary. But, can we just hold tight on this? If we just start ripping up tiles- we may be missing the source of the smell.

Thanks for consulting with your IH buddies.