Re: Just bought moldy home

[Guest guest]

I was told by a lawyer that you cannot sue your employer. There has to be a third party. Therefore no one pays for what they hid from me that made me sck.

Janet

[Guest guest]

I am in the same boat as you. I know the previous owners knew of the water and mold problem. We had to tear out the entire basement and are still in the process. The demolition is only part of it. It's getting rid of the mold spores that are set into motion even moreso after the moldy materials are removed. I am curious as to where you live as I live in land too. I live in southern MD which is actually a swamp. I think this whole area is prone to mold conditions since it's so humid here.

Anyway, I looked up on a website that someone posted here for a lawyer that does mold type cases but found none really. I told the insurance company years ago when we moved here that there was water coming into the house. They came out and told me it was my deck and dismissed it right then and there. Now that I have gutted a considerable amount of the walls downstairs as well as upstairs in the kitchen and bathroom, I have found the reason for the mold ~ at least part of it. There was a drainage pipe in the wall behind the kitchen sink that had broke and leaked over the years into the walls of my home. It's hard to say how long this had been going on but close examination of the pipe leds me to believe that it was from a nail from the original building of the home 25 years ago. The insurance company practically laughed and gloated at the fact that they didn't have anything to do with it and weren't paying a dime to help remediate. I believe the insurance companies are a scam. You pay thousands of dollars to them in premiums yet they find a reason to not cover anything. If you notice all insurance companies now are excluding mold from their coverage. Even car insurance companies won't cover mold damage.

When I first started to get sick and my six kids, I used a petri dish type test to see what showed up. It showed up with colonization levels that were considered over and above what should be handled by a homeowner remediation and considered my home contaminated. Just a few months ago I used an air cassette sample as well as tape and swab samples. The levels came out pretty high and I am concerned now more than ever. I have 3 aircleaners, 3 dehumidifiers, a UV cleaner on my heatpump, HEPA filters in the air ducts, on the intakes and in the heatpump itself. I have two ozonators that I run when no one is here for a few days as well as constantly vacuuming up material that settles on the floor. I feel like I have done alot but it's still not enough. My kids are still getting nose bleeds, vomiting, diarrhea, asthma, chronic bronchitis, pneumonia, sinus infections, ear infections, severe allergies with constant cold like symptoms, rashes and acne and just recently they have been getting mouth sores, lesions on the gums and pale complexions. I wish I had some place to go but I don't. It's like living a nightmare with no help from anyone or any organization. I am going it alone except for the help, encouragement and advice from this sickbuilding group and another MCS group http://www.mall-net.com/cgibin/chat.cgi?fl=mcs.log & cmd=H

Fortunately, Cladosporium has not been found to have the same toxic effects as stachybotrys. It is common to find it outdoors but can be found in elevated levels in water-damaged environments like ours. The levels they found in my indoor air were 2,399 per cubis meter of air and 11,333 in the air external to my home. So as you can see I have high levels of cladosporium outside so having it inside is that much more probable. High levels of cladosporium have been linked to chronic allergy related symptoms and mostly found on rotting materials such as plants and rotting wood. On the other hand the Stachybotrys levels were what the lab called +4. Their measurements went from +1 contamination with +4 being the highest levels. Now that scares me. I am not even sure after demolition of the moldy material and remediation that I will be able to get rid of the particles that are in my air currently. A website for the Minnesota Environmental Health and Safety helps to list the numerous symptoms from stachybotrys toxic gas emmisions http://www.dehs.umn.edu/iaq/fungus/stachybotrys/ After reading that list, I felt really depressed as my children have at least 90% of the symptoms listed... and to think we were all healthy before we moved here five years ago!

Also, I had high levels of Aureobasidium that have been found to cause symptoms of infections of the skin, eyes and nails. That surely explains why I have been having so many problems with my skin and nails. My oldest daughter has problems with eye infections as well. Aureobasidium also is a known lung irritant and O.S.H.A. lists it as the cause of hypersensitivity pneumonitis and dermititis. My two oldest children developing asthma I can link to stachy but mostly I can contribute it to the high levels of Chaetomium which causes severe allergic lung reactions like asthma. It is found mostly on sheetrock and cellulose material. Usually where you find stachybotrys you find chaetomium since they both thrive on the same materials. Both are bad molds to have!!

I had numerous other molds that I could contribute to each and every symptom. For example the tests showed up Bipolaris and Drechslera spores which are from dead plant material. I knew that must be from my house plants. That's the end of having house plants... There were also species of molds I had never heard of like Alternaria which are found to be growing on carpets, textiles, rotting surfaces and surfaces like window frames. Alternaria may be resistant to fungicides similar to stachy. It has been found to cause numerous health issues like patogenic infections and fungal allergies in humans as well as animals. It seems like this relatively unknown mold is a nasty component of toxic mold. Acute symptoms include edema and bronchiospasms, chronic cases may develop pulmonary emphysema. Unfortunately this type of mold is commonly found in buildings/homes that have had an ongoing water leak that has not only created mold but rotten and deteriorating materials.

Curvularia seems to be the evil twin of Bipolaris and Drechslera in that it emits toxic spores that cause a miriad of health problems. I wondered how I got that type of mold in my home as it is usually found in tropical and moderate climates. "Curvularia lunata is the most prevalent cause of disease in humans and animals. Curvularia are among the causative agents of phaeohyphomycosis. Wound infections, mycetoma, onychomycosis, keratitis, allergic sinusitis, cerebral abscess, cerebritis, pneumonia, allergic bronchopulmonary disease, endocarditis, dialysis-associated peritonitis, and disseminated infections may develop due to Curvularia spp. Curvularia lunata is the most commonly encountered species. Importantly, the infections may develop in patients with intact immune system. However, similar to several other fungal genera, Curvularia has recently emerged also as an opportunistic pathogen that infects immunocompromised hosts." This mold is also found in building materials indoors and in plant materials outdoors. The hyphae fragments were very high for all these molds. The lab report was enough to make me panic, but I have no choice right now but to continue in the same path that I started with remediation.

Just recently, someone wrote about their problems with mold in a new home structure and wondered if molds could cause intestinal problems as well as digestive, etc. It would suffice to say that is VERY probable that infections and problems of those natures can and do occur. I just wonder about how many people out there are suffering with symptoms that doctors can't put a finger on or are blamed on other things when in reality their illnesses stem from exposure to toxic and allergenic molds.

I know this is long, but I hope at least some of the information is useful.

Sincerely,

Rose Briggs Wonder if the latest virus has gotten to your computer? Find out. Run the FREE McAfee online computer scan now!

[Guest guest]

This is a site that get you to attorneys in all states. And good articles

about how

to use an attorney.

www.toxicmold-attorneys.com

specific to MD is www.toxicmold-attorneys.com/MD/land.htm

Hope this helps !

Bryce

[Guest guest]

I may depend on what state you live in.

I got Mercury poisoning twice. It happened when I was working at a

manufacturing site of the company that I used to work for, in McKinney

Texas. My worker's comp claim was rejected because I could not identify

the SOURCE of the mercury.

You might have better luck with a mold claim, but worker's comp in Texas

is set up to protect the company, not the workers. It's all a part of

the tort reform laws that consider ALL laws suits against businesses

costly and frivolous.

--

E. s

Registered Massage Therapist

Macrobiotic Counselor

Reiki Practitioner

Professional Speaker

> I was told by a lawyer that you cannot sue your employer. There has to

> be a third party. Therefore no one pays for what they hid from me that

> made me sck.

> Janet