Local couple's lives changed by mold in their house

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Local couple's lives changed by mold in their house

Saturday, March 21 ( updated 3:00 am)

By Hardin

Staff Writer

Greensboro News Record - Greensboro,NC,USA

http://www.news-record.com/content/2009/03/20/article/local_couples_lives_change\

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GREENSBORO — The house on the little road in Oak Ridge was a dream home, the

kind of place Kim and Hodges had always wanted.

Spacious and brand-new, it seemed like the perfect home for the couple and their

daughter.

But four years later, the house is home to nothing — except a massive wall of

mold. The Hodges family now lives in an apartment. The bank foreclosed on the

home when the couple couldn't afford both rent and mortgage.

Mold contamination has gained attention in recent years as homeowners,

contractors and insurers debate the extent of the problem — and who should pay

for it.

The issue created a litigation boom earlier in the decade, but caps on the

amount insurers are required to pay have discouraged suits since then.

For the Hodgeses, the house plunged them into a four-year nightmare they are

still dealing with to this day.

" This house was like a beautiful cake that I had made. Absolutely gorgeous on

the outside, " Kim Hodges said. " But when you went to cut it, it was burned to a

crisp. "

* * *

Their story began on a fine summer day in 2003. The Hodges were cruising around

Oak Ridge when they saw a house that caught their eye. " We went in, " Kim said,

" and I fell in love. "

That house wasn't quite in their price range, but the couple met the builder and

hit it off. They agreed to build a similar house nearby.

The love affair proved short-lived.

On a rainy Thanksgiving morning in 2006, as Kim walked through the living room,

she noticed the floor was wet. At first she thought their dog had an accident.

But then she noticed a much more serious water problem.

A roofer found that the house's chimney cap, designed to keep water out, had

fallen off. The cap was reinstalled, but the problems continued. When it rained,

water trickled down the walls in the room.

Yet another contractor found that the cap still didn't fit well. While

investigating, he decided he needed to open up a wall in the room.

When workers moved a bookshelf and tore into the drywall, Kim entered the

room and saw lines of ants, then a sheet of black mold coating the wall.

From that point, things moved quickly.

A testing expert found high levels of toxic mold throughout the house. The

verdict: The family needed to get out. Now.

" I said, 'I'm going to grab a bag,' " she recalls. " He said, 'You can't take

anything with you. Your house is contaminated.' "

The couple stayed with family members and friends, and scrambled to find out

what it would take to fix the problem. At the same time, other things began to

make sense in retrospect.

" We had colds that would never go away, " Kim said. " I had a cough like a

smoker's cough. "

and their daughter both suffered from allergies and assumed symptoms

were related to that. Kim, who was recovering from an earlier bout with

Guillain-Barré syndrome, a disorder of the nerves that had left her paralyzed at

one point, had been the sickest in the family.

Once out of the house, they got better. But other headaches continued to mount.

An environmental firm told them it would cost six figures to sweep the house

free of mold. And that figure didn't include the cost of replacing possessions

that could not be cleaned.

The news got worse when they talked with their insurance company and discovered

a $5,000 cap, set by the state, on what insurance policies have to pay for mold

damage.

A court case against the builder ended when the jury ruled against the Hodgeses

after a weeks-long trial. The builder maintained high winds during a summer

storm in 2006 blew the cap off, but Kim said none of the neighbors' houses

suffered damage.

Eventually, financial reality began to set in. By the time they rented an

apartment, it became clear that their money would stretch only so far.

" We made a mortgage payment until we couldn't do it anymore, " Kim said.

The house, meanwhile, looked like the family had just stepped out during supper,

everything frozen in place.

* * *

Meng knows what the Hodgeses are going through — with one exception. Her

family recently won a $4 million judgment against a builder after their Virginia

home became contaminated with mold.

Since winning the court case, she has become something of a one-woman army on

the issue. Ultimately, legislation is needed to make builders more accountable,

and houses need longer warranties, she said.

" You wouldn't buy a car with a one-year warranty, " Meng said.

Wilkinson of the Insurance Information Institute said litigation played a

role in the recent attention mold has received.

" Mold has been around for millions of years, " she said. " It's only in the early

2000s that it became a hot topic, or the lawsuit du jour. "

When the lawsuits began to mount, all but a few states placed caps on the amount

insurance companies must pay for mold claims.

Those caps are sound policy, Wilkinson said. " The vast majority of mold results

from some kind of maintenance failure, " she said. " And maintenance is an issue

for the homeowner. "

One obstacle for homeowners is that liability policies for contractors typically

don't cover mold, said Deb Bowers, an attorney who represented the Hodges

family. That makes even successful lawsuits potentially fruitless.

" You may have a really nice piece of paper ... but it's not worth much, " she

said.

* * *

There are no reliable numbers on exactly how many times mold is found in

buildings each year.

However, there is no shortage of work, said Jay Colburn, whose company,

Environmental Restoration, frequently fields calls about the problem.

" Every day, all day long. Literally, " he said.

It's not that the problem necessarily is getting worse, but people are more

aware of it, said Colburn, whose company uses infrared cameras and moisture

meters to check for leaks and excessive moisture.

To grow, mold requires water — a leaking roof, a broken pipe — and food, such as

drywall. The key is repairing the source of the water and finding and removing

the contaminated materials with a " controlled demolition, " Colburn said.

The average cleanup job costs $20,000 to $40,000, he said.

For their part, Kim and Hodges want others to avoid what happened to

them.

" You should know everything you possibly can, " Kim said. " Then you're not just

relying on the experts. "

In their case, said, they finally had to just let it go.

" It is what it is now, " he said. " You just move forward. If you keep dwelling on

it, it can rip you apart. "

Kim wonders what will happen with the house, which remains empty. She fears

someone will buy it without adequate repairs. That the problems will simply be

papered over. And the story will repeat itself.

" People will come in and say, how beautiful, " she said. " That's what they will

see. The beauty in a sick house. "

Contact Hardin at 373-7021 or jason.hardin@...