Nick, Hey look! It's your crusade back on the pages of ESPN.com. Still no solution though... hope it's ready for 2004 All Star game. HOUSTON -- Minute Maid Park's roof is a breeding ground for a group of molds known as Aspergillus -- the same type of mold that festers on overripe oranges. The Harris County-Houston Sports Authority recently hired a private lab to determine what was growing on the thin, white plastic roof of the $250 million ballpark. Scientists testing the roof Sept. 12 found the run-of-the-mill grocery store mold along with a mixture of common yeast, bacteria and unidentified fungi. They described the roof as "slimy," and found evidence that some mold was growing and multiplying. Further tests will determine the specific species and whether the growth is affecting the roof material. "We had to first figure out what was up there," Oliver Luck, the chief executive officer of the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority, told the Houston Chronicle for its Friday editions. Before the authority and the Houston Astros knew what was growing on the roof, they filed a warranty claim with the manufacturer, GenFlex Roofing Systems of Maumee, Ohio, saying the roofing material was advertised as resistant to microbial attack. GenFlex officials have conducted their own testing and have offered to clean the roof for free. Since May, the company and the Astros have struggled over how best to restore the roof to its original white condition. Experts say the next step is to determine what the organisms are feeding on. The roof hasn't been cleaned since the stadium opened in March 2000. The baseball team leases the park for $3.4 million a year and is responsible for its maintenance. Many of the molds detected on Minute Maid, identified loosely through a microscope, are as common in Houston as humidity, according to experts contacted by the newspaper.
It looks AWFUL.... why don't they start doing something about it? Its pretty clear what it is.... MOLD.... now, clean it up.
The bad thing is, driving into downtown, you can see the roof from miles away. Its turning into an eyesore.
Also, as our fair city comes into the national spotlight in the coming months (SuperBowl and AllStar Game), it will no doubt be said by a majority of visiting media members that the discoloration is due to smoke or soot in the air. After all, we are perceived as the perpetual holders of the "smoggiest city" title. From what I read, it's due to condensation forming on the roof thanks to a temperature differential inside and outside the stadium, and then all that moisture is locked away in darkness when the roof opens... sounds like a design flaw to me... or of course a conspiracy by Minute Maid...
I can't believe it has been left looking like this for so long now. It is absolutely disgusting looking. It looks like some bachelor's shower floor. It is absolutely a disgrace to the downtown area, which is trying so hard to reinvent itself. They had better get that cleaned up before the Super Bowl, or we will get even more negative PR in Houston.
Yes we have seen this before but I have to give mad props for that HI-larious old school thread title.
Hopefully that stuff won't grow on Reliant Stadium's roof. Face it, Minute Maid Park's roof won't be cleaned in time for the Super Bowl because the Astros and the manufacturer are gonna argue back and forth on who is responsible for cleaning the roof. Meanwhile, all the downtown construction plans to be finished in time for the Super Bowl looks pretty questionable right now also. All this spells out that when the nation focuses on Houston when the SB comes into town, we will be laughed at and any future SBs here will have serious doubts. Not to mention any other plans to bring any major sporting event here.
i read an article that said a company offered to clean the Minute Maid Park Roof like 2 months ago for free but the astros wanted to see what exactly was growing on it first.
The roof maker already said that they will clean the roof, according to the article. Hell, just get a fire truck and mix some Chlorox in with the water in the truck. Spray that bad boy down and give it a rinse...good as new!
Of course, you want to know what it is so you can find a way to prevent it from growing back so you don't have to repeatedly clean it.
Take samples one afternoon, then clean it. I don't understand what is so hard about that. Every day it's left in that state is a failure.
If the structure can handle the weight, why not just make the roof out of steel (like the base for the Astrodome.) That would be one HELL of a reflective surface, thus making it quite cool inside.
Did anybody see the picture in the Friday edition of the Chronicle? In front of Minute Maid Park was a sign that said, "Ugly's OK"
