A family fights mold to preserve health and sanity for a new life together in a dream home

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Essay: Unwelcome discovery shatters a sense of security

A family fights mold to preserve health and sanity for a new life together

in a dream home

08/24/2001

By KIM RADTKE BANNISTER / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

It had been almost a year since we purchased our home and begun an extensive

restoration and renovation. After months of dealing with fabric swatches,

paint chips and wood samples, the big day had arrived - moving day for the

three of us into our first home.

Nothing could take this excitement away from us, I remember thinking as the

last of the boxes were brought inside.

Eight hours later, we were packing our bags.

Just after 10:30 p.m., our 3-month-old daughter woke up crying. This would

not be unusual, except that she had been crying on and off since 3 p.m. that

afternoon. I knew a change in her environment could upset her temperament,

but this wasn't it. Her cries were low and odd - almost weeping. Something

was wrong.

After quickly packing a bag, we drove 25 miles to my in-laws' home. We

weren't quite sure what to do, but my husband and I had detected a faint

odor in the home.

Paint and refinished hardwoods seemed to be the obvious culprits, but we had

waited more than three weeks to move in to avoid strong odors for the baby.

The next afternoon, our contractor and an environmental specialist were at

our home assuring me it was nothing a little " airing out " wouldn't solve.

They went into the crawl space to be sure.

Within minutes, we were told it would be best to stay out of the home until

air-quality testing was performed. There was visible mold growing under our

home, we were told, and it was probably in the air-conditioning unit and had

contaminated the ducts as well.

Ten minutes later, I was looking at a piece of mold-infested insulation from

our air-conditioning system. The mold was airborne and attaching itself to

our belongings.

Mold had been the kind of news story that five months ago, I would have paid

little attention to. Suddenly I became part of the story.

We were told our mold problem began from previous water leaks that had been

ignored, thus causing moisture - the perfect situation for mold growth. I

called the former owner and learned that, indeed, there had been water leaks

in the exact areas where the mold was found.

It took effort to control my anger. Why did she not tell us? Why did she let

the leaks go unrepaired? And how could our inspector have missed this before

we bought the house?

We acted immediately. Specialists performed air and tape sampling to

determine the kind of mold. Once the results were back from the lab,

remediation methods would be decided.

In the meantime, we were advised to not take anything from the home and to

" suspend " living there. We were crushed. A week later, we learned that we

did not have the stachybotrys (black mold), but we did have elevated

concentrations of penicillium, aspergillus, cladosporium and alternaria

spores, all of which are common molds. High levels of these have been linked

to severe health risks. Penicillium and aspergillus can be toxic.

A sense of relief that it was not black mold was soon overtaken by anger and

fear. Did the baby suffer any health risks? What about our belongings? I

could visualize millions of spores attaching themselves to our furniture and

clothes.

Cleanup begins

Extensive remediation, followed by an air clearance test, we were told,

would solve our problem. Soon it began. Certified specialists cleaned the

mold from under the home, did a biocide wipedown of our contents and

vacuumed the interior. Baby items, pillows, open pantry and food products

were disposed of. The air conditioning unit was replaced, which included new

air ducts downstairs and an entire new unit and ducts upstairs. Two large

" air scrubbing " units, the size of a large desk, were placed in the middle

of my living room and upstairs in the hallway. They were to run 24 hours,

working to take in the polluted air and send out clean air, until we were

told otherwise.

We are thankful that our insurance company covered more than $80,000 in

expenses for the house and garage. They couldn't do much about the tension

and exhaustion.

We drove more than 3,000 miles in three weeks of commuting. Family time was

nil. Meeting work crews at our home, doing research and filing insurance

claims dictated our days and nights. There were times when I wished we were

still living in our old apartment, tripping over baby gadgets.

Seven weeks and three days later, we were told everything looked good, and

we could move back in. The air tests would be back in two days, but they

didn't foresee any problems.

Moving back

We were excited, yet timid. For good reason, it turned out. Two days later,

I received the call that we had to move out right away. The tests had come

back, and spore levels were still elevated.

It turns out that our furnace was also infected, and since the system is

tied together, mold spores were redistributed through the clean ducts and

back into the air. After a new furnace and another remediation process and

interior wipedown and vacuuming, we were told that we could move in. Time to

pack again.

At this point, something in me snapped. As I watched all our clothes, shoes,

linens and even my purses being bagged for professional cleaning, I felt

tears running down my cheeks. I was exhausted, frustrated and at the point

of giving up hope not only on the dream of our home, but also in the quality

of life as we once knew it.

About four weeks later, just when we thought we would never get rid of the

mold, we were given the green light to move back in. Two independent

nationally recognized specialists had gotten the results back from more than

six air samples they took throughout the home. The spore counts were even

less than the outside air counts, the air quality was good.

But it wasn't so easy to move back in again. Would we ever feel safe in this

house? We have now been back almost two months. With the baby's every cough

and fuss, I worry that the mold is back and that she is breathing it. This

is what it's like living with mold. We will always be fearful. But we have

learned from this experience, too. Don't give up. Trust your intuition and

keep pushing for answers.

As I read my daughter a bedtime story and watch her eyes become heavy and

her breathing fall steady, I sleep better at night because there is now a

smile behind those attention-grabbing baby coughs.

And now I can start living our dream.

Kim Radtke Bannister is a Dallas free-lance writer whose story has a happy

ending. Her home was chosen for the Lakewood Home Festival on Nov. 3-4.