Toxic Intruder: Black Mold Panic Has Families Fleeing Their Homes

ABCNEWS.com ^ | 11/29/02

[meyer]

BTW...It matters not the type of floor. I was talking my labor prices. Any interior specialty, if you're not making 300 to 450 a day, you're doing something wrong.

I see. So, are you the laborer, or is someone else? Or, do you have a couple of people with you on a job? I'm curious. 300-450 per day isn't really all that huge (not bad either) if you break it down into hourly and consider health insurance and benifits that you won't get from your employer.

I used to do electrical. License expired and I moved, plus it was never my main income, just side work. Kept the vultures away one year, though.

[slimer]

I suspect there's just about as high a percentage of greedy landlords as there is of greedy tenants.

Unfortunately, there are slum lords and greedy owners but thankfully they are a minority. On the other hand, most tenants are respectable as well. My perspective is from a property managers point of view and I am fortunate to work for good owners and have decent tenants but I have had some real doozies.

[sit-rep]

I self employed when layed off from the oldest Tile company in the detroit area. We did big work...Tiger's new Comerica Park, renovations to GM's world headquarters, many more big ones. The past year there has not been too many big jobs so we all go out on our own untill "the Next big one" hits. Which coincidentally is coming up in January. We go back for a year+ on Beaumont Hospital's addition.

When on my own, I do total interior renovation or interiors in new construction. Rough framing, to finish...electrical, plumbing(above or below ground), pergos to wood/ceramic, marble and granite, to the home owners choice of berber(sp?) carpet. I got into everything years ago, because I grew tired of waiting for other trades scheduals. Now, I wait on money!

< / soapbox >

SR

[sit-rep]

I - I'm...

[Ditter]

We just sold our bay house because of toxic mold. After getting all the figures, we found the remediation & build back would cost more that the structure was worth. We were preparing to have it torn down when we got an offer. The man plans on repairing it.

The mold made me sick. Horrible headaches, recurring infections etc. My husband was not affected by it. The insurance paid us less than half of what it would cost to fix it. I am sad that we no longer own it but relieved that we don't have to worry about what to do with it. It was very distressing.

[meyer]

I self employed when layed off from the oldest Tile company in the detroit area. We did big work...Tiger's new Comerica Park, renovations to GM's world headquarters, many more big ones. The past year there has not been too many big jobs so we all go out on our own untill "the Next big one" hits. Which coincidentally is coming up in January. We go back for a year+ on Beaumont Hospital's addition.

Layoffs suck! Well, sometimes - I have friends in the trades that enjoy them for short periods of time. Where I work, there aren't layoffs. I'm not quite sure if that's bad or good yet, but I've been at it for 20-some years and have survived (though I've changed jobs and positions a few times).

When on my own, I do total interior renovation or interiors in new construction. Rough framing, to finish...electrical, plumbing(above or below ground), pergos to wood/ceramic, marble and granite, to the home owners choice of berber(sp?) carpet. I got into everything years ago, because I grew tired of waiting for other trades scheduals. Now, I wait on money!

Well, I'm glad to see that you are enterprising. I was worried that you were ripping folks off, but it doesn't seem to be the case. Frankly, as I put up drywall and all in my basement, I sometimes wonder why I didn't pay someone else to do this. Well, at least I will have some experience to fall back on if I need to some day.

[Dianna]

I'll be there isn't one FReeper on this thread who has a clue what kind of HVAC sysem he/she has in the house. Metal ducts? Rigid fiberglass? Round flexible ducts? What is the total/sensible ratio of your AC unit? Where your air-handler is located, can you clean out the evaporator coils? How many air-changes per hour do you get in each room of the house?

As per my dear non-FReeper husband.... heat pump, metal ducts. He'd like you to rephrase your ratio question. Yes, he knows where the air handler is located. Yes we can clean the evaporator coils (not that we have. We just replaced a 16 year old heat pump last week). And he does not know about the air change per hour thing. He says that has to do with air flow and he doesn't know how to begin to figure it.

Did he pass?

[meyer]

I'll be there isn't one FReeper on this thread who has a clue what kind of HVAC sysem he/she has in the house. Metal ducts? Rigid fiberglass? Round flexible ducts? What is the total/sensible ratio of your AC unit? Where your air-handler is located, can you clean out the evaporator coils? How many air-changes per hour do you get in each room of the house?

Well, the only question on the thread that I didn't try to answer yet. :^)

Metal main duct and plenum with flex-duct to each register. All insulated. Don't know the sensible / total ratio, but I know that I have 3 tons of cooling and it works well. 60,000 BTU gas furnace, 80% efficient induced draft pilotless furnace as well. Its located in the middle of the basement and serves as the air handler. I've cleaned the condensor, but the evaporator hasn't been cleaned yet. Haven't taken the time to learn how to calculate the air changes per hour of the house either on a per-room basis, or as a whole.

[Dianna]

The most important thing at this point is to make sure you have determined and corrrected the source of the moisture intrusion that caused the mold growth.

Well, at the moment that we found the mold, our water heater had a small leak. The damaged area was flooring and wall in an area which held the water heater, a laundry room with deep sink (the idiots we bought the house from had the washer water draining into the deep sink. So of course, every time someone tossed a dirty rag in the sink and it went unnoticed....FLOOD!) and a bathroom. The damage was extensive and it's likely they had a number of overflows.

What really frosts me about this is ANYONE who had half a clue should have been able to find the mold. We had TWO house inspectors (one we paid and one VA) and neither one saw the mold or even tried to close the bathroom door. The door frame was warped and the door did not close.

We knew very little about buying a house and hired people we thought would find problems we didn't know to look for.

[Dec31,1999]

Asthma and allergies are constant plagues to many people in my extended family. Just as an aside, I have a nephew who lives in a spotlessly clean home and he has suffered from asthma and allergies since he was a tot.

Perhaps he's had too much exposure to modern cleaning chemicals, carpet and construction glues and lives near a busy street or highway. Or it could be the numerous required vaccines.

[Dec31,1999]

Sit-Rep.com

[sit-rep]

I'm a straight Joe...I only stick it to 'em when they insist on something that "Someone else" told them.

Freegards,

SR

[sneakypete]

I don't know about all the claims being made,but I do know I damn near died two years ago from inhaling mold while remodeling my home,and I STILL have trouble breathing. I had been cutting out and replacing rotten siding and subfloor,and came in the house that evening to rest. I say in my recliner chair,and it was two days before I could get out of it. Every time I would "wake up" and try to get out of the chair,the exertion made me lose all my "wind",and I'd black out again. I even managed to quit smoking after being a 2+ pack a day smoker for about 40 years. I didn't even have enough "wind" to inhale a cigarette. I went for well over a year not being able to walk from the house to the truck without having to go to my knees and gasp for breath at least once. I am only marginally better now,and am to the point where I don't think I will ever again be "well".

My advise to all of you is to do whatever you can to avoid breathing mold dust.

[sit-rep]

Well damn... Recognition!!

'preciate it. tis a small place that needs some updating here and there but, it works...

SR

[meyer]

Oooohhh!!

Web site! Cool!

[sneakypete]

Biocides such as bleach are not effective at eliminating mold problems.

What do you recommend?

[Restorer]

There is nothing new under the sun. This 3,000 + year old passage shows two things: God wanted the Jews to be careful around mold; and that modern building codes, materials and practices have little to do with the problem.

I strongly suspect that the rate at which the problem occurs is far greater than 3000 years ago. A very rare problem then is becoming a very common problem today.

Drywall, EIFS, OSB, Tyvek, particle board, polyethylene and many other problem (when misused) materials were rather rare then. :)

[meyer]

My advise to all of you is to do whatever you can to avoid breathing mold dust.

Good advice, I'd say. Dang! Hope you continue to improve after that situation.

My overall opinion, based on what I've read so far is that mold can be a real serious problem. Under such circumstances, I think it needs to be dealt with ASAP. BUT, my big caveat is that trial lawyers have exgaderated (sp?) the problem to the point that probably 8/10 claims are bogus. That's not to say that there isn't a problem - I'm guessing that 1/2 of the false claims are from people that do have a problem but it isn't related to mold. But, the rest of the false claims, IMHO, are from folks that think that they can get something for nothing. Kind of like welfare - free rides attract riders.

[Restorer]

I think the problem is that this is a newly recognized problem. Few people have gotten their heads around the severity and extent of it yet.

Practices that have been routine in maintaining buildings for decades are going to become completely unacceptable.

I'm not in favor of rent control, at all. However, the problems it creates for landlords in financing proper maintenance is an entirely separate issue.

Although there are a lot more tenants than landlords, each landlord who is unethical has the potential to effect the lives of a great many tenants. So I think the dishonesty issue cuts both ways.

[Dec31,1999]

And why not?