Re: Dream house full of mold

[Guest guest]

Good Lord - this could give " a moldy " a reaction just reading this.

ICK.

Angelika

[] Dream house full of mold

> Sunday August 28, 2005

> Local News

> Freeport,IL

>

> Dream house full of mold

>

> http://www.journalstandard.com/articles/2005/08/28/local_news/news01.

> txt

>

> JoAnn Black waits on hold for her Realtor, while her husband, ,

> looks over paperwork Thursday afternoon at their 1603 Parkside Court

> home in Freeport. Bill Gaither / The Journal-Standard

>

> Family moves in face of what experts call a growing problem

>

> By Thorn-Roemer

>

> The Journal-Standard

>

> FREEPORT - JoAnn Black couldn't understand why all the windows in

> her home were soaking wet in the dead of winter. She kept mopping

> them, and they would just return to the same dripping condition.

>

> " Everything was wet. We called the plumber. He found no plumbing

> leaks. We called our furnace man, and he found no problem in the

> furnace. Later (we would think to ourselves that) it smelled really

> bad - of mold, " Black said.

>

> What she discovered would be the beginning of her family's nightmare.

>

> Black, 58, began poking around nooks and crannies of the home at

> 1603 Parkside Court that she and husband , 59, had purchased in

> June 2004, with the help of an FHA loan and an AmeriDream gift.

>

> The Black's dream home - the first and only house the two had owned

> in their 40-year marriage - was loaded with mold.

>

>

> " There was five feet of mold growing up behind my bed. At that point

> I got really nervous. Mold was growing on all the furniture, in my

> closet, up the walls, in Dad's bedroom, " JoAnn said.

>

> AmeriDream is a land-based nonprofit agency that provides

> financial gifts toward home ownership.

>

> Experts say that mold is common in homes. It's also becoming a

> common theme in legal battles over who's responsible for its cleanup.

>

> According to a March 2003 article in the trade magazine National

> Real Estate Investor, real estate experts believe it is still

> unclear how mold issues - which are exploding across the nation,

> sometimes with lawsuits the result - may be resolved because, for

> one, experts, including those at the U.S. Centers for Disease

> Control, are still debating whether to set guidelines for acceptable

> levels of mold in homes.

>

> Robyn Ice, a toxic tort litigation partner at the New York office of

> law firm Alston & Bird, was quoted in the 2003 National Real Estate

> Investor article, as saying that about 9,000 mold lawsuits were

> being fought in the nation's courts at that time. Ice's defendants

> include apartment owners and managers and national construction

> companies, which are the emerging targets of most mold litigation.

>

> It's prevalence and fears of health ramifications to homeowners was

> also the subject of a report by CDC Physician C. Redd to a

> United States House of Representatives committee in 2002.

>

> Redd told lawmakers that the CDC knows mold has caused documented

> illnesses in people exposed to it indoors. There are more than 1,000

> types found in homes, about 24 of which are potentially toxic. But

> reports prepared by the Institute of Medicine and presented by Redd

> state that a link between mold and illnesses such as asthma has been

> proven, and it can be a problem for people with other respiratory

> illnesses.

>

> JoAnn said, since she moved into the house, she has felt sick with a

> series of cold-like illnesses that only abated when she and her

> husband were away on vacation. Her 87-year-old father, who lives

> with her, was hospitalized with breathing problems in December, she

> said. She wonders if it was the mold.

>

> Prior to buying the house, the Blacks say they had a home appraisal

> from an FHA-qualified inspector based in Rockford but they did not

> have the home inspected by any other experts.

>

> Concerned that mold was the culprit for their illnesses, they began

> to look for answers.

>

> Home inspector Steve Gitz of Restorx of Northern Illinois, provided

> an estimate to fix what he found in their home: lots of mold, in the

> attic, on walls, in the roof, even on their furniture. Gitz, who

> provides expert testimony on household mold in court cases, said

> that mold is a growing problem for homeowners like the Blacks.

>

> The bill to clean it up? In the Black's case, according to Gitz, the

> estimate was more than $60,000. The Black's insurance won't cover

> the cleanup, JoAnn said, because their inspectors deemed it a pre-

> existing condition.

>

> Gitz said mold problems are more prevalent with newer homes which

> are built more airtight, leaving moisture and heat created by

> homeowners during cooking and bathing no escape. Drywall, compared

> to plaster, can foster mold spores. Gitz strongly recommends that

> new home buyers get the property inspected by a qualified home

> inspector.

>

> " Get somebody that's going to look up in the attic. That's one of

> the first places you see a problem. Basements are a concern,

> especially if it's finished. If you smell a musty odor, you've got a

> problem, " Gitz said.

>

> He advises checking under sinks, especially with dripping faucets.

>

> " Inspect a porch or deck, with a door going out there, that's one of

> the more common places you'll see a mold problem. And buy a

> humidistat - you can get them at any hardware store - such as Farm

> and Fleet, ShopKo or Sears, and keep humidity in your house under 60

> percent, " Gitz said.

>

> " Your air-conditioner acts as a dehumidifier. We see people using

> humidifiers too high in the winter time. If you see water on your

> windows in the winter, there's too much moisture in your home. "

>

> The Blacks, meanwhile, are angry. They said they feel helpless about

> their situation and want others to be aware of the mold problem.

>

> " We just don't want this to happen to anyone else, " JoAnn said,

> urging prospective home buyers to have homes inspected.

>

> Gitz said he sees mold issues - most with still questionable legal

> remedies - all the time in his line of work.

>

> " One of the problems we see, a lot in the suburbs, is a developer

> will put up 500 homes identical in one subdivision. A year or two

> later we have calls about mold problems. Once they start a class-

> action (lawsuit) against a contractor, they go out of business.

> That's common. Their warranty is only one year. Then it's no longer

> their problem, " Gitz said.

>

> As they contemplate their legal options, the Blacks are preparing to

> move Oct. 1, into a three-bedroom trailer, which is all they can

> afford. Both live on Social Security for disabilities.

>

> Whiton, an attorney for the family who sold them the home,

> denied demands by the Blacks that his clients pay for repairs or buy

> the home back.

>

> " They're hoping to highlight a situation caused by someone else,

> which we deny, " Whiton said.

>

> The Black's lender, Countrywide Financial, is trying to help by

> freezing their current loan payment of $650 per month while the

> Blacks try to find a solution, JoAnn said.

>

> " This was our American dream, " Black said. " Our first home

> ever. "

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> FAIR USE NOTICE:

>

>

>