Some Palm Coast residents in battle against mold

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Some Palm Coast residents in battle against mold By HEATHER SCOFIELD

Staff Writer

PALM COAST -- It's black, ugly, sticky, icky and sometimes toxic.

It's mold.

And a few Palm Coast residents said it's in their homes and taking over their

lives.

Drogo called his home's mold issues a menace and said other local homes

may be " falling apart on the inside where (owners) can't see it. "

Mold can not only damage a home and pocketbook, but some types can make

people sick. That's why Drogo called in a specially trained mold dog to ensure

renovators removed all of the contaminants from his bathroom last month.

Symptoms of mold exposure can include a runny nose, eye irritation, cough and

congestion. Other medical conditions like asthma can also be aggravated by

exposure to mold. And several forms of mold are considered toxic to humans and

animals.

But this is Florida, and mold is naturally present outdoors, experts say. So

we are all exposed to some mold spores each day both indoors and out.

Drogo's mold problems began shortly after he moved into his newly built home

on Whittingham Lane. Mold was appearing on a shower wall and on the grout

near the stall door. That was the warning sign they missed, Drogo's wife said.

Drogo warns other homeowners that if mold keeps returning despite

frequent cleaning with regular bathroom products, they should contact a

professional.

She did, and soon learned her problem was major. It required the removal of

all of the shower walls and tile and most of what was behind them. And it

doesn't end there.

Professionals tested the mold in their bathroom and discovered it was

Stachybotrys. The Drogos were told the strain could be toxic.

In fact, an infectious disease fact sheet put out at Washington University

medical school and hospital in St. Louis said a toxin produced by some

Stachybotrys mold could be used in biological warfare.

The Drogos were forced to quarantine the room, reverse the flow of air to the

outside and stop using their air conditioning until all of the contaminated

materials were removed in a special way to prevent toxic mold spores from

spreading throughout the house, they said. And they couldn't use their bathroom

for months during the process.

Luckily, the pair's homeowner's insurance is footing the approximately $7,000

bill. They blame the damage on the lack of a shower pan in the floor of the

shower stall and said the shower wasn't completely watertight.

Drywall is made of cellulose and his highly absorbent, making it the " perfect

place " for mold to grow when wet, a mold analysis report on Drogo's home

said.

Kim Billings, 29, found mold in the master bathroom of her Palm Coast home on

Franciscan Lane in March after noticing some yellow discoloration along the

wall of her stall shower. She cut out a little piece of drywall outside the

stall and stuck her hand inside. Her heart sank when she felt the soaked

drywall went beyond arm's reach, she said.

Soon a small hole was made a big one, Billings said, and she and her husband

didn't stop tearing the bathroom apart until they hit drywall and studs

that weren't wet.

That night her husband said he couldn't breathe well in their abutting master

bedroom from the mold in the air. The size of the problem became all too

real then, Billings said.

" I was in shock, " Billings said.

Billings said plumbers told her the damage in her bathroom stems from the

lack of a shower pan and an improperly sloped floor in the stall.

Contractors sent samples of the mold found in the Drogos home to a company

specializing in mold analysis, Pro-Lab, in Weston. That mold is commonly found

in bathrooms on wet, paper-containing construction materials like drywall.

Billings didn't test her mold.

Two months and about $4,000 later, some covered by insurance, the Billings'

bathroom is still sealed with an airtight plastic cover with a zipper to let

workers in. But with the mold finally gone and the rebuilding process now

under way, they hope to be showering in there again by mid-May, Kim Billings

said.

And now with the green light from the mold dog, Drogo said his bathroom

should be completed around mid-May as well.

_heather.scofield@..._ (mailto:heather.scofield@...)

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