Galesburg family battles toxic house

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Galesburg family battles toxic house

WQAD - Moline,IL,

By Amy Barrilleaux

http://www.wqad.com/Global/story.asp?S=6409971 & nav=1sW7

Galesburg, Il - Five years ago, Amy West, her children and a lot of

volunteers helped build her home through Knox County Habitat for

Humanity.

It was a dream come true for the family -- until a few months ago.

That's when they discovered the home was infested with toxigenic

mold, and they had no choice but to get out.

" It's hard, because I helped build this home, " said Amy.

Every month Amy West, a working mother of three, pays the mortgage

on an empty home.

She says she realized something was wrong with the home in January,

when she saw a black spot on her kitchen ceiling.

" We didn't know it was mold, " she explained. " It wasn't this bad. "

A look in the attic was horrifying -- countless spots of dark mold

invading almost every surface.

" I'm like, 'Oh my God! How long has it been there? What's it going

to do to us?' " she said.

Then Amy checked the crawl space under the home, which she says is

always damp. On the day we visited, it was full of standing water.

" You can see all the water's in there that's drained just from the

rain, " she pointed out.

" With the moisture, that's a prime breeding ground for mold, " added

Randy Stufflebeem, a certified mold inspector who was hired by the

family to test the mold and the air.

What he found was stachybotrys, a greenish-black toxigenic fungus.

" As a rule, one raw count of stachybotrys is considered a red flag, "

he explained.

Air samples from Amy's home show a count of 848.

" The levels were really high, " he said.

There is so much mold in the air colonies have started growing on

the insides of the home's windows.

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, stachybotrys

can cause a variety of respiratory and sinus problems, skin rashes

and diarrhea. It's even been linked to an increased risk of

infection. Amy says years of exposure to stachybotrys has taken a

toll on her family's health.

" My youngest son has nosebleeds constantly, " she said.

That's why she immediately moved her children out to her parents

house. She and her husband soon followed.

" My husband and i stayed until...(crying)...sorry...we stayed until

that Sunday and then we also went to my parents, " Amy said.

With toys and furniture left behind, the family is now renting a

home in addition to paying their mortgage. Amy says all those small

black spots have taken everything they have.

" We used our vacation money and kids easter money and money we had

put back for things we knew were coming up. We used it all to move. "

Knox County Habitat for Humanity has built 35 homes for needy

families in the area. They say this is the only one with a mold

problem and insist they are doing everything they can to help the

family.

To keep mold out of your home, the Centers for Disease Control

recommends using an air conditioner or dehumidifier during humid

months.

Also, make sure your home has adequate ventilation, including

exhaust fans in the kitchen and bathroom. And it's a good idea to

use mold inhibtors, which can be added to paints.

For more information on stachybotrys mold, visit the Centers For

Disease Control website at the following link:

http://www.cdc.gov/mold/stachy.htm