Mold threat lurks after hurricane

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Mold threat lurks after hurricane

http://www.news-

press.com/news/weather/hurricane/stories/040821moldmain.html

By DICK HOGAN, dhogan@...

Published by news-press.com on August 21, 2004

Think fast when it comes to dealing with the threat of mold in a home

damaged by Hurricane Charley.

That's the advice of experts who say insurance companies will be

scrutinizing exactly what policyholders did to make sure the initial

harm to the house wasn't compounded by neglect.

Mold is a hot-button issue nationwide as homeowners file lawsuits

alleging damage from mold and insurance companies respond by limiting

coverage or dropping customers who file claims.

The claims have barely started in places such as Sanibel and Fort

Myers Beach, where many homes sustained water damage. Some owners

have already begun tearing out walls and ripping up carpet.

" I think most insurance companies' policies state the owner needs to

take due diligence for water leakage and mitigate it himself as much

as possible, " said Fred Sylvester, owner of Accredited Building

Consultants in Fort Myers.

But, he said, it brings up some interesting questions. " If you're in

an area that you don't need to evacuate for rising flood waters, I

think most emergency managers are saying stay in your home. "

Someone in that situation who was scared and left anyway may have to

defend his actions to the insurance company if quicker action could

have avoided damage, Sylvester said.

The same could be true for winter residents who were up North when

their Florida house was hit, he said. " You can't just keep a gaping

hole in your house and make them pay for a new house, but maybe you

also can't just drop work and go flying down. "

Molds produce allergens, irritants and sometimes toxic substances

that can cause breathing problems.

Dick Luedke, a State Farm Insurance Co. spokesman in Winter Park,

said his company considers " each case on its own merits. So that

person in Michigan who may find out his house has been damaged and

may not be able to immediately make the repairs, we understand that. "

But, he said, " At the same time, we ask for due diligence. We owe it

to all our policy holders. Every dollar we spend adversely impacts

somebody. "

For example, he said, State Farm has to figure out in each case

whether the hurricane actually caused the mold as opposed to a

maintenance problem, which isn't covered. " Insurance is meant to

cover sudden and accidental incidents, like a hurricane. "

Mold patrol

Local residents cleaning up after the storm were on the lookout for

mold.

" A couple more days and there's going to be plenty of it with

everything as wet as it is, " said Tim Gardner, a Sanibel resident who

has a scientific background and had a long career with the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency. " Then it will dry up and you won't

know it's there, but it's still there. "

Gardner said his home sustained water damage so he's expecting to see

mold before long. His approach will be to " hose it down and get the

big crud out, then hose it again, then clean it with swimming pool

chlorine. "

Bob Bunting, a real estate agent with Century 21 Tripower on Fort

Myers Beach, spent Friday taking out carpets and furniture in a

rental house he owns on Chapel Street that took 20 inches of water

from storm surge.

" We're going to have to strip the interior walls and exterior walls

and clean everything out and spray the studs with some kind of

solutions " to prevent mold from taking hold, he said — getting the

job done fast is urgent because the tenant has nowhere to go and is

temporarily staying with friends.

Be aggressive

Bill Selvia, chief building inspector for the city of Cape Coral,

said the main thing is to be aggressive about getting rid of possible

sources of mold such as carpet and floor padding, drywall and

insulation.

" Anything in that house that's wet and not portable, strip that out

of there, throw it away and get new. Of course that causes the cost

of repair to go up but I personally don't want to live in a house

with mold. "

Houses aren't being condemned for mold because there are no legal

standards for contamination of air in residences, said Bob ,

deputy director of development services for Lee County.

That makes it a hard issue when it comes to deciding whether mold

contamination exists after a storm, he said. " If you've found it, I

don't know what exactly you do. "

— The News-Press reporter Anne contributed to this report.