Dream house full of mold

[Guest guest]

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. "