Re: new to site, need advice

[Guest guest]

> Greetings,

>

> My name is Umluqman and I am new to the site. I found it from

> another message board as I was looking up info on molds in the home.

>

Thank you so much for helping me with a wealth of information.

I really appreciate it. I had no idea of how much info there is

about indoor molds.

I know we have a very bad leak in our apartment, that no one has ever

come to fix. If someone tries to soak and take a bath the water goes

from the over-flow valve to the walls downstairs and water pours down

in our kitchen and downstairs bathroom from the ceiling.

I have written a formal letter to the complex, and need to send it

cert, return receipt. I will keep you posted on what happens.

Thank you for all the help. If you have any other suggestions,

please keep them coming.

your friend

Umluqman

[Guest guest]

Well, I will give you some advice from my own personal experience. My home was contaminated with toxic mold in December, and as of this date my insurance company (FARMERS INSURANCE) has done nothing to my home. My children and I had the same sypmtoms and illnesses that you have had and are currently having. Like you, we didn't put it together and think mold until November, when a contractor brought it to our attention. I am making a very long story short, but, we evacuated our house and all of its contents on 11/8/01 because our doctor advised us to get out of the house.We haven't returned or removed anything from our home. No clothes no furniture, nothing. we lived in a hotel for 7 weeks, and now we live in a rent house with very few contents that our friends have donated to us. We had the hygenists come out and do the testing in December and those results showed 3 kinds of toxic mold. We have been in a huge tug of war with our insurance every since. They have lied to us over and over again. We retained a lawyer last week, because fineancially and emotionally I can't continue fighting them - and that is exactly what Farmers wants. If I were you, I would contact a few lawyers and tell them your situation. I would see if you could move in with friends for a while, or if you have the money move to a hotel. I would send a registered demand letter detailing your concerns of mold, and their legal agreement with you in their lease to repair anything physically wrong with the property. I would also show in the letter the dates if illnesses, and any doctors notes that you can attach. I would send a copy of this letter to the state health department, CDC, any county and state agencies that would handle this situation. If you have renters insurance, check and see if it covers anything like this. If it doesn't, the property owners have to carry property insurance as well, and maybe you can file ontheir insurance. But the best advices me or anyone can give you is to get out and take nothing with you. Take pictures of the mold and any video tapes that you can. Make a diary and write in it everyday what happens and who you speak with and anything that goes on as far as illnesses with your family. Please understand that I am not an attorney, and I only know the laws in my state of Texas, but talk to a lawyer. Talk to your neighbors as well, see if they have the same illnesses and if the have visible mold. If the mold is visible, the worst part is the mold that is not visible meaning the mold behind the walls, under the floor etc. If their are several of you, maybe if ya'll collect together and send a letter together, it would make a bigger impact. I don't know, but I would definately leave. ----- Original Message ----- From: umluqman Sent: Friday, February 08, 2002 9:19 AM Subject: [] new to site, need advice Greetings,My name is Umluqman and I am new to the site. I found it from another message board as I was looking up info on molds in the home.A little about my situation:My family and I live in a townhouse in an apartment complex. We all have experienced since we moved here 3 years ago some form of repiratory illness along with the flu and other related illnesses. I thought it was just a bug that was going around. After the first year, I noticed that we were sick more often than not. My children started to develop severe coughing and one of my children started to have asthma-like symptoms. Every time I took him to the doctor, they just said it was an upper respiratory infection and it would have to pass on its own, giving us some prescription for the symptoms and cough medicines. This went on for the entire time living here. I did not start to suspect anything until I had my last child, this past year. She is just 3 months old now and has been in the hospital for respiratory illness, including a slight asthma attack , RSV and Brochiolitis. My 6 year old son started his coughing again, and also ended up in the hospital this past Dec. with severe asthma attack and pneumonia. It was at this point I noticed the growing of mold on my upstairs bathroom ceiling. The mold is in the masterbath and the kids bathroom. In the kids bathroom the mold covers half the ceiling directly over the shower. Ihave since developed fatigue, coughing, rash on my chest that does not seem to heal quickly, sore throats, irriated eyes, and chest pains. My husband has been coughing lately and nose started to bleed off and on these past weeks,along with my 2 oldest children. I did not know what to do, and since I was not covered with health insurance, did not even attempt to see a doctor. until now.It just so happend that I got a solicited call from a company here in Georgia that tested air for homeowners. Well, since I did not own my own home the caller said there was little they could do, and they did not want to take my $50.00 to test my air since the appearance of mold was there. The lady I spoke with suggested I visited a couple of sites and find out about the mold, and to GET OUT of my dwelling immediately if I could.She went on to explain some of the effects of mold, which led me here.I have no idea what to do. I need help on what type of action I can take. I have brought this issue to the leasing managers attention for several months now, only for nothing to be done. Not even attemtps and in my shower the soap dish and the tile around it has come completely off. I had mold so bad in my bathroom cabinet, I got extremely ill, (not knowing at the time it was related) and very weak.If there are any suggestions as to what I can do in the state of Ga. please let me know.Thank you so much.I did read some of the post here, but it was too much to go through them all, a bit overwhelming.Thanks for building this community , it is well neededYour FriendUmLuqmanFAIR USE NOTICE:This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. 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