Toxic Intruder: Black Mold Panic Has Families Fleeing Their Homes

— Believe it or not, families around the country are fleeing their homes — or having them destroyed — because of an insidious intruder they say is making them sick.

The invader? Black mold. Its technical name is Stachybotrys chartarum — stachy for short — and it's got a lot of people panicked.

In Oregon, the O'Hara family asked their local fire department to burn their $450,000 home to the ground after black mold was found inside. "It's basically just a house that poisoned my family," Mark O'Hara said.

In Hawaii, a $95 million Hilton Hotel tower has been closed since July because black mold was found in some of the rooms.

In a July 2001 story Time magazine said toxic mold is spreading "like some sort of biblical plague." The New York Daily News called it "killer mold."

Whatever you call it, across the country, black mold is causing people to abandon buildings, close schools and leave beautiful homes sitting vacant.

In Seabrook, Texas, the Hammond family lived in tents in their backyard for almost nine months, waiting for their insurance company to settle their claim and clean up black mold they say they discovered in their home.

Beverly and Mike Hammond say a bathroom leak caused the black mold to grow. The Hammonds lived for months with a "potty tent" that served as an outhouse. "As soon as I saw the mold, then we, you know, hightailed it for the tent," Beverly Hammond said.

They say the mold made them sick, causing fatigue and joint pain, and will only go in their house with a respirator.

Melinda Ballard's mansion near Austin, Texas is considered by many to be the "ground zero" of the current mold hysteria. Like Diane Fortner, Ballard once thought of her estate as a dream home. Ballard now refers to it as "Toxic Tara."

Ballard says it all began with a leaky roof and some burst pipes. She claims her insurance company lied to her, delaying her request to have the wet materials in her home replaced. That's when she says the black mold began to grow under the kitchen floorboards and spread to other areas. Finally, she and her family left.

"On April 23rd, 1999, we walked out of that home with nothing more than the clothes on our backs," Ballard said.

Ballard is suing her insurance company because of the black mold. She invited 20/20 to look around her home, but insisted we wear protective suits and respirators.

Ballard's case made news last year when a jury ordered her insurance company to pay her a staggering $32 million for acting in bad faith. The judgment is now being appealed.

In addition to making her house unlivable, Ballard claims, the mold also caused serious health problems.

She said her son, Reese, was gasping to get air into his lungs, coughing up blood and suffering terrible headaches. She said her husband, Ron, had similar symptoms, including what she calls early Alzheimer's.

Ballard said, "I know men forget their anniversaries and they forget things like that, but they don't forget what kind of car they've driven. They don't forget where they live. … He did."

"You can see mucosal bleeding, like bleeding from the nose and the ears, you can see hair loss … and there are some individuals that feel that indeed cognitive dysfunction or the inability to think, is also the result of the inhalation of fungal spores," said David Straus, a microbiologist at Texas Tech.

Straus acknowledged that there is no conclusive proof that these serious illnesses are caused by black mold. However, Straus said, "The data are coming."

Straus even claims his one visit to "Toxic Tara" as a consultant resulted in permanent hearing loss.

"I can't prove that the hearing loss occurred because of my exposure to mold in Melinda's house," but Straus added, "that's exactly the day that it began."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there are very few case reports of mold in the home causing internal bleeding or memory loss, and no link has been established. Most scientists say the only proven effects from mold are allergic reactions and possible respiratory problems — including asthma. Some say mold fear is being whipped up by lawyers and mold cleanup companies eager to turn mold into gold.

University of Texas Medical Center immunologist, Dr. Gailen Marshall said some of his patients have been told to leave their homes and that black mold can kill them. But Marshall insists there's no cause for alarm.

"I think it's being blown horrendously out of proportion … All the stories that are out there are based primarily on testimonials and conjecture, not on hard scientific evidence," Marshall said.

The stories of mold panic are so widespread — they're even being spoofed on kids' cartoon shows. The parodies of mold fear ring all too true to Gordon Stewart of the Insurance Information Institute.

"There is no such thing as killer mold," Stewart said. He said mold — including black mold — has been around for centuries, and that people have only become hysterical about mold in the past few years.

Two years ago, there were only 1,000 mold-related insurance claims in Texas. That number soared to 14,000 last year. And now insurers, nationwide, are raising rates or dropping mold coverage altogether.

"There isn't more mold now than there was two years ago. There is more mold fear than there was two years ago, and there may be in some cases, more mold greed," Stewart said.

Marshall said he does believe most of his patients complaining of mold-related illnesses really are sick. "The question is what is the relationship between the presence of mold and their illnesses? … There's really no evidence that the very presence of mold, which is really everywhere in our environment, will by itself create bleeding, will by itself create memory loss or deficit, et cetera," Marshall said.

He believes what may be making some of them sick is not the mold — but the panic that's been created. Marshall insists the greatest danger isn't from the mold but from the panic that's been created.

He said, "There is clear evidence that the chronic anxiety that may result from something like this itself has a negative health consequence."

While there's no evidence toxic mold in the home is deadly — there is increasing debate about how dangerous it might be — and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is funding a study of mold's health effects.

If you see mold in your home, everyone agrees you should get rid of it. But experts say in most cases there is no need to have expensive mold remediation done. They advise homeowners to stop the water intrusion and to simply clean up the mold with a little bleach. If it has spread, experts advise homeowners to replace moldy building materials like Sheetrock. It's also important to note that not all black-colored mold is Stachybotrys chartarum.

For more information on what you should do if you think you have mold in your home, visit the following Web sites:

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY: The EPA Web site includes "A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture, and Your Home," which provides information and guidance for homeowners and renters on how to clean up residential mold problems and how to prevent mold growth. http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/moldresources.html

CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: The CDC Web site has information on air pollution and respiratory health, including this question and answer page on Stachybotrys chartarum. http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/airpollution/mold/stachy.htm.

I certainly hope you got it all dry.

I did better - I moved!! Seriously, cleaning a carpet does get the carpet wet. Very wet. But, if you have A/C (r better yet, if you clean it in the heating season), you can get it totally dry within 2 or 3 days. Really, it pretty much dries out within 24 hours or so, but you know that you need to dehumidify the air constantly for a few days to really wick the moisture out. Air conditioning does this fairly well - a gas furnace in the dead of winter does even better.

... the increasing prevalence of asthma.

My relative realized that her dishwaher was causing her to have asthma attacks. She switched soap and it stopped.

I can't walk down the aisle with detergents and cleaning products at the store without having a sneezing fit.

I think I'll sue!

Metal studs...

I sell all my basement totals with metal instead of wood. Galvanised and won't hold water. Big seller. Makes a straight wall too.

Mold has been a big problem in the schools here. Funny how buildings with windows that open do not seem to have a mold problem

You're telling me! one of my biggest complaints about the office building I work in is that the windows are sealed shut. Good way to keep spreading viruses too. No fresh air, just recycled crap air.

Infact, I generally add a zero when it's mistakingly diagnosed a black mold situation.

I may be reading this entirely wrong, but it seemed to me that you are saying that you raise the price if people aren't informed enough to know the difference between black mold and other molds or mildews. Is this what I'm reading?

LOL...hell yes! lol...

Same thing goes for something like putting in a hard wood floor. If folks new how easy it was, they would not pay 7 to 15 dollars a foot to have it put in. Same difference...

Pulled out all our carpets a while ago. Harwood floors are a lot easier to keep clean, and they do not "store" stuff in them.

Yes, I pulled carpet out of all the bedrooms in the old house and only kept it in the living room/hall. I still like walking on a carpeted floor. But you're right, carpets do hold dirt like there's no tomorrow.

The new house has carpet in all bedrooms and the living room. If I want hardwood, I'm going to have to remove the carpet and install the hardwood since there's only underlayment below the carpet. Perhaps in a few years.

Honestly, I don't think carpet is that big of a concern with mold, though dust and dust mites may be an issue. Mold is more likely to show up in an area that gets wet and stays wet.

BTW, you may have stumbled onto something else that can be associated with the increased occurance of asthma - carpet.

LOL...hell yes! lol...

Same thing goes for something like putting in a hard wood floor. If folks new how easy it was, they would not pay 7 to 15 dollars a foot to have it put in. Same difference...

I'm having trouble deciding if you're a basic free market kind of guy or a rip-off artist. 7 to 15 dollars... that's basically a 2:1 range of price. Does that depend on the customer or the type of floor?

Some of these materials are hydrophillic (attract water).

Drop a chunk of it in water, watch it swell. The stuff doesn't hold nails well (or the cheap wire staples a lot of them use now). When it is used for roofing, flooring or walls, it can swell enough to loosen nails from studs and joists.

Some of these sheathing and flooring materials are designed to be wet, but most aren't (at least not to stay wet). One or two rains during construction won't hurt most building materials, but a constant soaking will ruin them. Myself, I prefer plywood, though it is expensive now days.

One of my family members has horrible asthma attacks. When they pulled out their carpeting, the attacks slowed and were not as severe. His doctor told him, it doesn't matter how often you vaccuum, just get rid of it.

Mold can grow in your carpetting, if you have a bad flood and it does not properly dry.

All I know is any homes I purchase in the future will not be a newer, energy efficient airtight model.

One of our local TV stations did a special on this problem of mold in newer homes here in the Denver metro area. From the outside and inside the homes looked fine but inside the walls mold had gotten in and rotted the wood so bad it could be crumbled in someone's hands. It was said that thousands of homes have this problem but no mention of anybody getting sick from it. From what I could see the problem was shoddy workmanship (Naw, No way!). As the house was being completed the outside had wire mesh which would be covered with some kind of covering which if it wasn't put on with care would allow water to leak inside the walls and thus begin the mold problem.

Not the customer. The size of the floor is one factor, how cut up it is(cabinets, lotta hallways, etc.) is another.

IOW, if I had a floor that was totally open and 1000 sq ft, I'd be down around 8 or 9 bucks a foot. If I had a tight kitchen with multiple islands w/walk-in pantry, I'd kick it up a bit.

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 prefer plywood, though it is expensive now days.

Especially that 1 1/8" tongue and groove flooring. I saw a place this guy built himself where the floor was large slabs of marble set in a reinforced concrete slab. Talk about expensive...

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