Would appreciate some advice

[Guest guest]

I'm really glad that I stumbled upon this group. Seems that is how

I've been finding out a lot recently - stumbling. Here's the story:

We (myself, husband, and our two daughters (ages 7 and 16 months))

live in a rental townhouse community in PA. I have lived in the

community since age 6, my husband and I moved to a townhouse down the

street from my aging parents when we married. He has his own

business

and we are slowly saving for a house. Anyway... Background info is

that 15 years ago the townhouse we currently live in was flooded

about

2 feet throughout by a small creek, as were many other townhouses. I

don't even know if that matters, but it is my first recollection of

water problems here. To remedy things back then, they removed the

flooring (wood tiles) and installed padding and carpeting on top of

the cement slab. Fast forward ... we moved in here in October 1999.

Last July our hot water heater (located in hall closet type area

along

with intake to heating ducts and furnace) blew up. Within an hour of

going to bed, my husband went downstairs for a drink and was walking

in soaked carpet. Our downstairs was soaked - all except for the

front half of the living room and the back part of our dining room.

We called maintenence who helped soak up some water and installed a

new hot water heater. He then called a carpet cleaning firm that

they

deal with who came and sucked up more water with his machine and then

installed 2 fans under my carpet and padding (one in the front room,

one in the back).The fans were left for 2 days, at which time the

carpet man removed them. At that time I told him I smelled mildew or

something and he sprayed some " sanitizer " on the carpet and said that

would take care of it. I also told the manager of the community and

the lead maintenence man that the carpet was still damp in areas and

that I felt it should be replaced. They said it would be okay. So

we

let it go and tried to air our the smell that returned. It did

eventually go away and we thought it was over. My oldest daughter

had

a lot of allergy type problems and chronic tonsillitis. Her tonsils

and adenoids were removed in November of 2001. We thought that would

be the end of it, but she kept having these head colds and cough and

missing a lot of school. Around November, early December, my

husband,

my toddler and myself also began having lots of " head colds " - so

much

so that we were becoming the subject of quite a bit of

humor/annoyance

by friends and family. One of my neighbors brought up the carpet and

we got to talking about mold - so I looked. This Friday - First

thing

I found was a leak about my washing machine. Maintenence opened the

ceiling/wall to fix it and found a gross mold growing (black with

almost a foamy white part) on the leading hot water pipe and onto the

2x4 beneath it. I took pictures. He replaced the part of pipe then

removed the wood and sprayed the rest of the wood and surroundings

with Milstop. He also said " off the record " that a few weeks after

my

hot water heater mishap, they had a company meeting on mold liability

and that if carpet or anything is wet more that 24 hours they are

supposed to replace it. He also said that the manager and he

discussed that mine had been wet so long. The manager was fired a

few

weeks after that discussion (for different reasons) and it went no

further. This past weekend we looked and found mold under the carpet

by our back door - I had felt cold air coming in there and asked that

it be fixed, and I thought that it had been. If air can get in, so

can moisture. We also found spots of mold in various other places

under our carpet and concentrations of it behind the baseboards

(especially in our hallway). Both my daughters were at the doctor

today - the older one was given Claratin for her allergy symptoms

and Phenergan w/ Codeine for her night time cough and the younger

one was given some expensive cream for this mysterious skin rash she

has had. Our family doc offered to document everything for our

landlord if I need him to. This evening I accompianied my husband to

the same doctor for his sinus problems and headaches. He was given a

strong antibiotic and prescription decongestant. When infection is

cleared up, he has to go back. At that point our doctor told us

point

blank that if he were us, he would move.

We want to get out of here but we are concerned that our stuff might

all have mold spores and everything. The hole that was cut about the

washer was never closed up - he said he would do it Monday after it

aired out, but no one came or called about it today. So obviously

anything that he didn't spray could be seeping into our air - is that

right? Also, my father, who rarely gets ill and is 84 years old has

had pnuemonia 3 times in the last year (he visits frequently) and he

was talking to the maintenence guy as he was cutting the hole to the

pipe on Friday. Saturday morning he was at the doctors with

breathing

problems - this time bronchitis and put on meds.

It's not just us - we are the only ones trying to solve it, but many

of my neighbors have noticed that their asthma got worse when they

moved here, one that here sinus problems got worse, one has never had

a nosebleed until she moved her - the last one coincidentally lives

in

a townhouse formerly occupied by a friend of mine who had horrible

allergy problems when he lived here that miraculously cleared up

after

he moved away.

I need to know what to do next. Obviously I need to tell the

management about the rest of the mold I found this weekend. I am

seriously concerned though, that they will not correct the problem

correctly and that my children may be exposed to more mold or that

they will offer to move me into the connecting townhouse next door

that probably also has mold. Also, air ducts have never been cleaned

in these places EVER. I pulled the one out of my bathroom floor and

saw a bunch of paint chips, dried caulking, etc... that must have

been

stuffed in there during a remodel or something.

I would appreciate anyone's advice here. We do not want to going

suing these people. We want a safe place to live. But do we need an

attorney to insure that they do the job correctly?

Thanks,

Jen