Mold drives family from Duluth home

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http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthtribune/3627194.htm

Tue, Jul. 09, 2002

Mold drives family from Duluth home

Habitat for Humanity built house, is looking at problem

BY CHUCK FREDERICK

NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Mold growing under floorboards and creeping up bedroom walls forced a Duluth

family to move out of their home last week.

Habitat for Humanity built the single-story house in Duluth's ville

neighborhood two years ago. The nonprofit is analyzing the problem and hopes

the house won't have to be torn down and replaced.

" I'm hopeful we can restore the home so the family can move back in and get

on with their lives, " said Hawley, executive director of the Duluth

chapter of Habitat for Humanity. " This is all very unfortunate. We want to

fix this. "

Habitat found a temporary apartment for Cliff and n Halverson and their

three daughters, ages 7, 13 and 15. The family moved eight days ago. The

nonprofit is paying their rent.

" We're still looking at the bright side, " said Cliff Halverson, a cook for

St. Ann's Residence. " But mold is growing inside our walls and underneath

our floorboards. We couldn't live there. We feel real bad about it. "

The Halversons bought their Habitat-built home at 9211 Keene Ave. in spring

2000. They detected the furry fungus about a year ago.

" I smelled it, " n Halverson said. " I went looking for it because I'm

allergic to mold. "

The family found unsightly black splotches near the bottoms of walls and in

windowsills. They blamed the mold for family members' chronic sore throats

and stomachaches.

Habitat officials found mold, too -- in the earthen crawlspace the home was

built over. A Habitat worker repairing a pump said there appeared to be

ongoing moisture problems there.

Habitat officials gave the Halversons a pair of dehumidifiers and an air

filter to help. They then contacted microbiologists and others to assess the

problem.

They expect experts to point them toward a remedy and estimates of how much

it will cost.

Analyzing the problem will include pulling off wallboards in two bedrooms,

Hawley said. Solutions could include lifting the house and making the

crawlspace larger or replacing the crawlspace with a poured concrete slab.

" We're still exploring, " he said. " I'd like to see this fixed and resolved

within six months. The family would like to see it by the end of summer.

Whether either of those can happen, I don't know. But we certainly are

trying. "

This is the first time Duluth's Habitat chapter has encountered problems

with mold in one of their homes.

The nonprofit that requires low-income buyers to invest sweat equity as well

as make down payments and mortgage payments has built 22 homes in Duluth,

Proctor and Lake County since 1989. Another four homes are being built and

an additional four are expected to be under construction by autumn.

The Halverson's Keene Avenue home is the only one of the bunch built over an

earthen crawlspace, however. The rest are over basements or poured concrete

slabs.

" It seemed like a good idea at the time, " Hawley said of the crawlspace. " We

were looking for a way to build well and quickly and at a good cost. There

are a lot of successful homes built on crawlspaces. This one just didn't

work out, not at that location. "

The Halversons have contacted their insurance company. It's likely most of

their furniture, bedding, clothing and other porous belongings will have to

be replaced. They look forward to returning home.

" Our insurance company is being terrific and Habitat is being very good to

us, " Cliff Halverson said.

" I want that house back, " his wife said. " I want my home back. "