Ventilation

The City Council has declared a ventilation system atop an 18-unit condominium a public nuisance. A public hearing to discuss removing the system has been scheduled for March 10 at 8 p.m. The shiny metal structure, which ventilates fumes from a garage, has annoyed neighbors, who say it is unsightly. The Palos Verdes Homes Assn., which regulates deed restrictions and approved the condominium plans, says it did not approve the ventilation plans.

A Yorba Linda man died Thursday after the van he was driving veered off the road, jumped a curb and hit a 3-foot-tall ventilation post. Morris Wolocatiuk, 71, did not appear to be wearing a seat belt when he lost control of his 1992 GM Safari about 11 a.m., going east on Shadow Hill Drive at Kellogg Drive, said Officer Katrina Lundgren, a spokeswoman for the California Highway Patrol. Wolocatiuk was taken to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, where he was pronounced dead, Lundgren said.

Odors, mildew, blistering paint, peeling wallpaper and desilvering mirrors are a few of the conditions that result from poor bathroom ventilation. Many well-intentioned homeowners just crack a window while showering, but in most cases it simply isn't enough. One sure way to rid the bathroom of unwanted odors and excess moisture is an exhaust fan. Fans are rated by cfms--cubic feet of air moved each minute.

QUESTION: I own a house built with an inner and outer brick wall. There is a three-inch unventilated airspace between the walls with steel ties holding them together. Should this space be ventilated or insulated? ANSWER: Your brick cavity wall is typical of residential masonry construction. This type of wall has a number of advantages. Because of the cavity, the inner wall resists rain penetration.

The ventilation system in the Pierce College library has been cleaned and sanitized after the indoor air quality became a health concern to the library staff. Head Librarian Florence Robin said she noticed that "people with allergies were having upper-respiratory problems, which may have been related to the air quality in the building. "People were showing allergy-type symptoms, getting sick and coughing.

Question: The drywall in my house separates from the ceiling and opens a gap of a quarter-inch in the winter. In early spring the gap closes completely and stays that way until late fall. The drywall tape comes loose from the wall, and the gap is most significant on the walls toward the interior of the home. There is negligible or no separation of the tape along the walls around the perimeter. The problem is severe on the second floor but nonexistent on the first floor.

Six days after he was shot in the head at Figueroa Street Elementary School in South-Central Los Angeles, teacher Alfredo Perez took a giant step toward recovery Wednesday when doctors disconnected the ventilator that breathed for him. "He is breathing spontaneously and his vital signs are stable," said Dr. George Locke, chairman of neurosurgery at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center in Willowbrook.

A CHP officer who was shot and critically wounded last week was taken off a ventilator Saturday and was talking to friends and family, a hospital spokeswoman said Sunday. CHP Officer Rafael "Ralph" Casillas was described as awake and alert as he continued his recovery at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills. "He was taken off his ventilator and is now communicating with hospital staff and family," said Marie Ogilvie, a hospital spokeswoman. "His family is very happy."

The Environmental Protection Agency said Friday that it will use Superfund money to help establish a system to ventilate dangerous benzene fumes rising from caves beneath the city. The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta had issued a warning that, although the chemical levels in the fumes have been low, they pose a potential long-term health threat. The EPA will continue to search for the source of the fumes.

Maria Trujillo admits that she visited Cipriana Santibanez's hospital room in Upland in the early morning hours of July 17. Trujillo says she kissed Santibanez's forehead and told her friend, who was suffering from cancer, that she hoped she felt better soon. But Trujillo denies she ever touched the ventilator that was briefly turned off 24 hours before Santibanez died. "I didn't do anything," Trujillo said Thursday at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga.