Tenants recount gothic tale of house filled with mold

[Guest guest]

October 2, 2005

Moss stands on the porch of her former home on Grape Street.

Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell

http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2005/1002/local/stories/03local.ht

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Tenants recount gothic tale of house filled with mold

By SARAH LEMON

Mail Tribune

Medford, OR

Moving into the spacious blue rental house on west Medford's Grape

Street almost seemed like a fairy tale for Moss.

But her family's two-year stay at 245 N. Grape came to resemble a

horror movie.

Walls throughout the three-bedroom unit broke out in a rash of mold.

The grayish, filmy, smelly substance was no ordinary fungus. No

matter how hard Moss tried to scrub it away, it crept from under

kitchen cabinets, stretching filaments across her pots and pans. It

eventually infested the family's clothes, bedding and mattresses.

" When you walked into my house, you wanted to throw up, " the 30-year-

old said. Moss' apartment is one of five that have been carved from

the formerly sprawling, two-story residence.

Water seeping from some unknown source gradually saturated the

carpets, Moss said. If her children walked around without shoes, the

stagnant fluid soaked their socks. Dirty water backed up into the

bathtub when Moss ran a load of clothes through the washing machine.

The fact that the dryer —a new appliance — burned out after only a

few months' use puzzled Moss. But a simple stovetop spill convinced

her that something was horribly wrong with the home's wiring. When

Moss touched a wet rag to the range top one night while cooking in

her socks, the electric shock knocked her to the ground.

Moss called her landlord, Senestraro, who she said " jerry-

rigged " the electrical system and insisted it was fixed. Senestraro

has denied liability for problems with the house, blaming Moss'

living habits.

The range later burned out. Moss said she replaced it at her own

expense. And as more and more moisture collected in the house, Moss'

children were plagued by electric shocks if they so much as touched

a light switch.

Yet Moss said she believed Senestraro, varsity baseball coach at

Ashland High School, would fix the problems when he had time. She

resisted the idea of moving out. The low monthly rent of $525

allowed Moss' three children to go to private school. Moss and her

domestic partner, Avila, also could save a bit for eventually

buying their own home.

" I didn't want to lose my housing. I didn't want to cause problems, "

Moss said. " We weren't getting sick yet.

" Well that winter, we got really sick. "

The family suffered headaches, nosebleeds and attacks of asthma and

pneumonia. Moss called the city, but building department officials

told her it was a health department concern, not a city housing code

violation, she said. There was nothing they could do.

" We hear it all the time, " said city building inspector Hugh

Fechtler. " There's nothing that we can enforce. "

Fechtler said mold ordinances exist solely for commercial

structures, not residences. " In older homes, rentals especially, it

is common. "

Moss and her husband decided to remove the moldy kitchen cabinets

themselves. When they pulled the cabinets from the wall, water an

inch and a half deep poured onto the kitchen floor, Moss said.

After placing the slimy cabinets and moldy mattresses on her front

walk for disposal, Moss caught the city's attention. Code

enforcement officer Joe Jimenez told her to move the items but

didn't come inside and examine the remaining mold, according to a

report he made on March 23, 2004.

" He wanted nothing to do with the mold, " Moss said.

Removing a few moldy belongings from the house proved ineffective.

Several months after Moss and Avila replaced the cabinets with

makeshift shelving, the mold returned.

" It came back, and it came back with a vengeance, " Moss said.

Senestraro agreed to replace moldy drywall, Moss said, but couldn't

move her family to another rental in the meantime. Moss said she

wouldn't consider staying in the house while construction released

mold spores into the air. She suspected treating the house with

chemicals was necessary to get rid of the problem for good.

Last winter, Moss consulted an attorney and made one final call to

the city when she overheard Senestraro telling her neighbor that she

could have Moss' apartment when she moved out. Moss said she feared

the children next door, who suffered from asthma and respiratory

problems, would become ill if the family accepted Senestraro's

offer.

Fechtler logged numerous safety violations on Jan. 25 in Moss'

rental, including a burned-out electrical connection for the dryer,

wall sockets with a three-wire plug in a two-wire system and an open

ground. An electrical contractor was needed to correct it, according

to Fechtler's report.

The house had only one smoke detector, which did not work, Fechtler

noted. The washing machine's too-small drain caused backflow into

the bathtub. Kitchen counters, porch steps and outdoor handrails

were all dilapidated.

The walls were wet, Fechtler said. The mold growth, he said, likely

was the result of old construction — possibly a leaky roof, ill-

fitting windows and poor insulation separating shiplap siding from

ancient plaster — exacerbated by Moss' living habits. She had

covered the windows with plastic, Fechtler said. Moss said she was

trying to keep out condensation.

" It is just an old house that's absorbed years and years and years

of moisture, " Fechtler said.

" Eventually, these old houses just start sweating. "

The city posted the unit as uninhabitable, and Moss moved out that

month. In March, she filed a civil suit against Senestraro alleging

negligence and seeking $140,000 in damages for the family's ruined

belongings, repairs that weren't reimbursed, health effects, and

moving and storage costs.

" They complained for a year about water intrusion problems that were

literally rotting away their kitchen, " said their attorney, Ken

Dobson of Portland.

" It's just saturated with water in there, " Dobson said. " As far as

the structural deficiencies, this has got to be one of the worst

I've ever seen. "

Senestraro's written answer to the suit denied Moss' allegations,

claiming she caused the damage. Moss misused appliances and

electrical connections, failed to heat the home in winter, clean it

or keep it sanitary, his response stated.

" When I rented that place to her it was nothing like the condition

it is in now, " Senestraro said in a telephone interview, declining

further comment while the lawsuit is pending.

Senestraro, an Ashland resident, owns 13 other rental properties in

the county. He bought the Grape Street house for $123,000 in 1995.

In addition to complaints at 245 N. Grape, city code enforcement

officers investigated complaints of garbage accumulation and

abandoned vehicles at Senestraro's rental properties on Fourth,

Ninth, Prune and Murray streets and Summit and Columbus avenues.

His answer to Moss' complaint states he lacks sufficient knowledge

to admit or deny a mold problem.

But in one of the building's smaller units next door to Moss' former

apartment, Ruth battles the same black fungus. It covers

the shower walls and a nearby closet, immune to households

chemicals.

" I wish they'd fix it, and they won't, " said.

She said she complained to Senestraro's property managers, refusing

to pay rent until the mold was eradicated. In response, she received

a threat of eviction.

Surviving on disability checks and her husband's salary from Taco

Bell, ' family can't afford to move despite the black mold

aggravating the asthma her husband and two children suffer.

Renting from Senestraro for about a year, pays $274 a month

for the tiny apartment attached to the main house. The living room

also serves as a bedroom. Next to it is a small kitchen and tiny

bathroom.

" I think it should all be condemned, " said.

Moss said she happened to meet another previous tenant of the blue

house who also complained of mold before moving out. An industrial

hygienist sampled the air in Moss' apartment before she moved out,

confirming potentially toxic mold was present at a level capable of

causing respiratory ailments, Dobson said.

While Moss awaits a May 16 trial on her lawsuit, her family lives in

two travel trailers on an uncle's property in Sams Valley.

Since suing her former landlord, Moss said she has been unable to

find rental housing anywhere in the county and blames Senestraro. He

said he believes Moss should be able to find rental housing.

But according to Dobson, Senestraro would only have to give Moss a

bad reference to practically bar her from renting locally.

" I'm blacklisted, " Moss said. " Whatever he did to us, we're

unrentable now. "

Reach reporter Lemon at 776-4487, or e-mail

slemon@.... Reporter Damian Mann contributed to this

story.