Mold chases Fergus family from home

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Fergus Falls, Minnesota Monday, October 18, 2004

Mold chases Fergus family from home

http://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/articles/2004/10/18/news/news01.txt

Stahl

Rick Swendsrud said he first noticed it last October, when it

started getting cold and he had to close up the windows to his house.

He, his wife and their two kids moved into their first house

together on the 600 block of West Channing in April 2003. They lived

there throughout the summer without problems, but soon after they

closed up the house, they began to smell a pungent odor in the air.

Then came the condensation: Swendsrud said it dripped like sweat

down the windows.

It got worse. One night, Swendsrud said he noticed a splotch of what

he at first thought was dirt on the wall. He tried to scrub it off,

but it wouldn't come clean. A few days passed, and the splotch grew:

not just in the room, but in their kids' room, in the basement, in

window sills, it was growing all over the house. It was mold.

The smell, they said, became unbearable, but even worse were their

health problems.

" We became sick all the time, " Rick said.

By December, after living there for only eight months, the

Swendsruds made the difficult decision to abandon the house and move

into a two-bedroom trailer home with Rick's mother.

Now the Swendsruds, who paid $93,000 for the house and at least $800

upgrading it after they moved in, are trying to recover their losses

and have filed a lawsuit against the man and realty company who sold

it to them, who they accuse of covering up the mold before they

moved in. (The man has not returned calls for comment).

Their story can be a lesson in how what seems like a small thing

like mold can wreak havoc on a family.

The mold

Walk through the house now and the mold growth isn't as bad as what

you might think: It doesn't cover every wall in the house. Instead,

you have to look for it. It creeps into the corners of the walls, in

the window sills and in small areas the carpet. Sometimes you have

to look closely just to see it.

However, cut out pieces of the drywall to see the other side, and

you'll find mold like you might find on one-month old bread.

After they discovered the mold, Rick and Kristyn said it grew too

fast to clean up. And during that time, they were having too many

health problems.

Both daughters would often have breathing problems. X-rays taken of

their daughters showed that both likely had pneumonia in the left

lower lobe of their lungs.

After they moved out, they went to their insurance adjuster to try

recoup their losses. The company sent out an inspector, Terry Duffy

of St. Cloud, who found extensive mold damage was caused by water

coming into the home for years and then covered up before the

Swendsruds moved in.

" Siding, painting, carpet and texture, etc., " he wrote, " was done to

hind [sic] the mold problem and the source of the moisture was never

corrected. "

He wrote that the home would need " a great deal of expense " to

correct the problems. Otherwise, he wrote, " the home, as it now

sits, is not healthy for habitation. "

The investigation gave the Swendsruds the validation they said they

needed to go ahead with the lawsuit. However, because the damage was

found to be preexisting, it's also why the insurance company denied

the Swendsruds' insurance claim for coverage.

Health Problems

While the Swendsruds claim a myriad of medical problems from the

mold, most mold experts agree that not enough is known about its

health effects.

" There's no evidence to support that illness correlates with mold, "

said Rich Lane, an architectural engineer who studies mold damage

for his business, Environmental Process.

The Minnesota Department of Health, for example, said only

that " mold affects the health of people who are exposed to it. " But

beyond that, the only proven symptoms and effects of mold are

similar to a cold: congestion, cough, sore throat, breathing

difficulties.

Ken Hellavang, an extension engineer with North Dakota State

University who has been studying mold effects for 10 years, said the

health problems it can cause haven't been studied enough.

" What I tell people in presentations I give is that people can react

to mold in a variety of ways, " he said.

Though the Swendsruds will have to face statements like those in

court, they say the proof is in their children's health.

" Before, the kids were healthy. We didn't have health problems, "

Rick said. " Now, they're sick all the time. "

Court battle

Could this have been avoided? Possibly not. The Swendsrud's admit

that they never had their house inspected before they moved in, but

that may not have prevented their problem. Experts say that mold can

be effectively covered up so it can't be immediately found (see

sidebar).

The Swendsruds have moved into another house, but their financial

problems are far from over.

" We're drowning in debt, " Rick said.

They had to leave most of their furniture behind in the old house

(the couches, for example, were growing mold).

And on top of the piling medical bills, the Swendsruds until

recently have been trying to pay both mortgages. But now they're

foreclosing on the house with mold, saying they'll take the credit

hit that will come.

" We just wanted to get back the money for the house, " Rick

said. " That's all we wanted in the beginning, but now we got the

doctor bills, and who knows what will come about with the health

issues of my daughter and my wife? "

Sidebar

Is mold something that can be detected in your house?

If it's been sufficiently painted over, especially with a paint that

kills exterior mold, then probably not, according to most experts.

Bob Batzloff, a house inspector in Fergus Falls, said most of the

work he does is a visual check. " If it's been painted over, I

wouldn't have any way of knowing, " he said.

There are tests available for it, according to North Dakota State

University Extension Engineer Ken Hellavang, but he doesn't

recommend using them.

A mold tester would need to be specially trained and the testing

could take days, Hellavang said, and could cost anywhere from $700-

$1,000.

Home tests run much cheaper, but " because there's mold virtually

everywhere, " Hellavang said, " they're of little value. "

So how can you tell if you have a problem? The Minnesota Department

of Health recommends:

To look and smell for mold growth (which can appear anywhere from

cottony, velvety, granular or leathery, and can vary in colors)

Look for signs of excess moisture or water damage, as well as for

water leaks, standing water or water stains.

Search behind and underneath materials such as carpet and pad,

wallpaper, vinyl flooring, sink cabinets.

The construction of the house might be the most important. When

Duffy inspected the Swendsruds' home, he found the design of the

home helped cause the years of water leaks and penetration:

inadequate ventilation, a storm drain that pushed toward the

foundation and a roof that wasn't totally closed from the rain.

The Minnesota Department of Health provides several tips on how to

identify and clean up mold on their Web site: www.health.state.mn.us.