Toxic mold drives a family to raze home

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Starting over

Toxic mold drives a family to raze home

By MacQuarrie, Globe Staff, 9/25/2002

BINGTON - Dean and Patrice stood in front of their four-bedroom home

yesterday morning and watched a giant hydraulic claw smash it into splinters

and shattered hopes.

But for the s, this was not necessarily a bad day.

The Cape-style house the s bought eight years ago had turned into a

virulent incubator of toxic mold that the family suspects has harmed their

children's health. It has exhausted their finances and left them no choice

but to destroy their onetime dream house.

''This was the only thing we could do,'' said Patrice , 39, as she

watched the jagged pieces of her home disappear in the back of a

waste-hauling truck.

Since the spring of 2001, the 1950s-era home on Road turned from

comfort to culprit, as a mysterious, noxious smell in the master bedroom led

Dean to uncover a crawl space covered with mold. Meanwhile, the family

had become sick with worrisome ailments that included heart troubles, kidney

problems, asthma, chronic dizziness, and neurological neck pain.

No one has determined the definitive source of the mold, but the family

believes it was the septic system. Despite the extreme nature of the problem

that struck the s, they are not alone: Mold-related allergies are a

growing problem among children nationwide.

''We visited so many doctors, but we had no clue what was going on,''

Patrice said.

''We were at the pediatricians weekly,'' her husband said.

To compound the nightmare, the s said, the state's insurer of last

resort made yesterday's demolition inevitable by canceling their homeowner's

policy in June without explanation. That decision angered the couple, who

said Massachusetts FAIR Plan revoked the insurance two months after issuing

a policy with ample knowledge of the home's mold history.

''We showed them everything, and they OK'd it,'' Dean said.

The s' lawyer, Audrey Nee, said the state Division of Insurance has

been asked to review the cancellation decision. Officials with FAIR Plan did

not return messages for comment yesterday.

Meanwhile, the s are living in a rented home in Marshfield but plan to

rebuild on their Abington property. ''It's a great town, a great

neighborhood,'' said Dean , 37, a chef in Boston.

It's a place they want to live despite the discovery of several forms of

toxic mold, airborne bacteria, and funguslike substances that have made the

last 18 months resemble the premise of a science-fiction plot.

Most of the family's illnesses disappeared shortly after the family left the

house in June for a temporary rental in Marshfield, Patrice said. But

Mikaela, her 5-year-old daughter, still suffers from a kidney infection, she

said.

Her husband said he cannot be sure any of the illnesses are directly related

to the mold, some of which were detected in the house as recently as last

week. But Dean is suspicious and concedes that he worries about the

long-term effects on his three daughters, ages 10, 5, and 3.

Despite the frightening image of airborne spores infecting unsuspecting

familes in their homes, federal health agencies such as the Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention have said toxic mold in homes causes few

serious health problems in humans.

Whatever its long-term effect, Dean said, the mold that drove him from

his house probably spread from a septic tank located 12 inches from a

master-bedroom addition built by a previous owner. During their ordeal, the

s discovered that the septic tank, which was left full, had not been

disconnected when the property was joined to the town's sewer system in

1991.

Dean said he donned a charcoal mask and a respirator, cleaned out the

mold, double-bagged the mess, and poured a concrete floor over the dirt

bottom that separated the addition from the septic tank. Safety Insurance

denied their claim for the cleanup, the s said, so the family went

shopping for a new insurer that could cover the estimated $30,000 to $45,000

cost of having a professional cleaner scour the house to sweep out any

remnants of the mold and help prevent its return.

So, when FAIR Plan approved a homeowner's policy, the s thought they

could remain in their home. Once that option disappeared, they said, the

only sensible choice was to destroy it.

''Now, we're just borrowing our life away and hoping somehow, some way, we

can rebuild,'' Dean said. That scenario is becoming reality,

added. A contractor friend has agreed to build a replacement home at a

reduced price, and the couple have been able to refinance their mortgage

into a construction loan.

''It's a new beginning,'' he said.

This story ran on page B1 of the Boston Globe on 9/25/2002.

© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.