Letter to Mass. senators

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone,

I have included in this email a letter to some Mass. senators about my mold problem. Feel free to cut and paste any portions of this letter you like to send to your state, city or town representatives.

The letter starts below.

I and my neighbors are living in homes built on protected wetlands. For 30 years or so my neighbors have been protesting the building of these homes and condexes. Now more than ever, members of the city council of Haverhill, MA are looking the other way when developers choose wetlands sites because the town coffers have run dry and money seems to not be coming in any other way.

If these buildings were built up on stilts, it would be another matter, but they are not. More often than not these buildings from the 1980's weren't even built on raised foundations. They were built using inferior materials TOUCHING THE GROUND DIRECTLY using particleboard. They were built in violation of building codes such that there is no required concrete firewall between the buildings that consist of attached townhouses, they have wrong sized wood supports, decks that weren't even attached to the buildings, roof underlayment of particleboard and improperly flashed skylights that leaked shortly after construction among many other violations.

One can say "buyer beware," but how can one know of these things unless one goes thru the disaster I and others have gone thru: Mold has run rampant between the wallboard walls of my condex. Because I had to have the walls of my condo ripped open, that was the way I discovered all these problems and what they caused.

I was so ill I thought I was going to die. It was an extremely long, painful and EXPENSIVE path to the discovery of what was causing my illnesses. Now, since nothing can totally remove the problems causing the mold and mold itself short of leveling the place, I must try to sell. I have to disclose the mold and wonder if anyone will buy.

My insurance will not pay one cent for these damages. They state that any damage caused by "surface water" will not be covered. They are assuming that I knew about the wetland issues when I bought. The area was in a 3 year drought when I found this place. The previous owner wanted to sell so they lied about the wetness.

When this year's spring melt occurred, my backyard literally had a lake in it. The ground was marshy. No one could tell me that this sort of thing hadn't happened in the building's 17 year history.

I urge you to draw up, support and pass legislation to set safe, mold proof building codes; to oversee town conservation commissions so that they don't "sell out" to the highest bidding developer so that buildings are put up on what amounts to marshland which ends up being like a floodzone, without that protective demarkation; to set acceptible levels of mold in schools, offices and homes (no mold level is safe - these places must test mold FREE); and to provide controls over insurance policies so that people who are loyally paying their premiums can know that when there is a disaster of epic proportions and they are made homeless because mold is literally poisoning them in their homes, that they have shelter and financial recourse.