Murray, just how bad can mold be in our home if we leave it unchecked. John C. Birmingham, MI

John I thought it would be more interesting to read what happened to this family in Daniel Island, Washington.

Mold drives family from 'dream' home

Expert says repairs could cost more than $100,000

By Prentiss Findlay (Contact) The Post and Courier Sunday, July 6, 2008

Benjamin and Joy Allen's dream home in Etiwan Park on Daniel Island has turned into something of a nightmare. Above: Terrence Tully with Moisture Control Experts must wear a respirator in the house while he examines it for mold.

Benjamin and Joy Allen's dream home in Etiwan Park on Daniel Island has turned into something of a nightmare. Above: Terrence Tully with Moisture Control Experts must wear a respirator in the house while he examines it for mold.
Rotten wood is visible between the exterior and interior walls of the house.

Rotten wood is visible between the exterior and interior walls of the house.
Benjamin Allen moved his family to Daniel Island in 2005 from the Washington area, where he worked in national security for the Bush Administration.

Benjamin Allen moved his family to Daniel Island in 2005 from the Washington area, where he worked in national security for the Bush Administration.
The Allens had their home tested for mold after they noticed it growing on the home's exterior.

The Allens had their home tested for mold after they noticed it growing on the home's exterior.

Anyone entering the home of Benjamin and Joy Allen on Daniel Island must wear a protective mask.

At first it appears that a family lives there, like they just stepped out for a while. The kids' rocking horse and stuffed animals are there. The kitchen is well-stocked. But a large rectangular hole has been cut into a wall.

"This is the worst I've found on Daniel Island," said Terrence Tully, owner of Moisture Control Experts of Summerville. The wheezing respirator he wears muffles his voice as he talks about the family's mold problem.

The Allens paid Tully $2,280 to test their home for mold May 26 when they noticed it growing on the outside of the house. When the results came back, they abruptly left what they considered their dream home on the advice of their doctor. They have been living with friends since May 30.

Tully discovered mold, which essentially is a fungus, on the inside of walls of the Allen home. That was bad news because the walls are made of porous material that allows mold spores to spread to the rest of the house via the heating and cooling system.

Moisture seeped into the home's walls, creating a wet environment conducive to mold because, Tully thinks, window flashing was not properly installed. Flashing is material that fills the space between the edge of a window and vinyl siding that prevents wind-driven rain from getting inside walls.

Tully said fixing the mold problem could cost more than $100,000. He has done limited testing at the Allen home because of the expense, cutting into some walls to evaluate the situation. "You don't know what you have until you start opening it up," he said.

If the Allens move back home, Tully said that anything porous in the house must be removed. That includes furniture, bedding and carpeting. Insulation must be removed from the interior walls. Windows and doors must be fixed to prevent another moisture problem. And the area must be fogged with a chemical to kill mold, he said.

In the meantime, the Allens are living day-to-day. Their daughters, Madeleine, 3, and Ellie, 4, cry themselves to sleep because they don't understand why they left their home, and why they can't have their stuffed animals, Joy Allen said.

Because of their disrupted home life, the daughters become upset when their mother leaves for her job as a music therapist at Trident Regional Medical Center.

"They're normally not like that," she said. "They're scared. They're absolutely scared. They don't want to go to bed at night. They want their rooms."

A next-door neighbor of the Allens, David Pittman, said the Allens' apparent problems with their D.R. Horton-built house have caused him to be concerned about his D.R. Horton-built house.

"We need to determine if we have problems with the house. We've spoken with an attorney," Pittman said.

Another neighbor said she had problems with her D.R. Horton house but could not discuss them on the record because of a confidentiality agreement she signed with the company as part of a settlement.

Representing D.R. Horton, attorney Kyle Dillard of the Greenville office of the law firm of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart released a statement saying the builder was first notified of the Allens' concerns in a letter from their lawyer, Patrick McDonald.

Dillard's statement said the company has arranged for the Allen house to be inspected, at D.R. Horton's expense, by a third-party professional engineer.

"Once the engineer has provided us with his opinions and recommendations, we will discuss with Mr. Allen's lawyer how to most appropriately address Mr. Allen's concerns. Horton is hopeful that Mr. Allen's concerns can be resolved in a timely manner to the mutual satisfaction of both parties," he said in the e-mailed statement.

The Allens said they purchased the 1,580-square-foot home, their first, for $419,000 and moved here in August of 2005 from the Washington D.C. area.

Benjamin Allen, 33, who is disabled from multiple sclerosis, said he was a special assistant for national security in the Bush Administration.

The Allens live at 100 Jordan Court in the Etiwan Park neighborhood. The home was built eight years ago, and two other homeowners lived there before the Allens purchased it.

"This was going to be our dream home. We scraped together every penny we could for this home," Joy Allen said.

They owe about $390,000 on the mortgage, Benjamin Allen said.

Joy Allen, 32, provided a copy of a June 5 letter from their family physician, Lucy Davis, of Palmetto Primary Care Physicians on Daniel Island. In the letter, Davis said it was her medical opinion that the Allens should move out of the home until the source of a water leak is repaired and all current mold is removed.

"The possibility of this causing detriment to their health or worsening current health problems of Mr. Allen and his daughters is great," Davis wrote.

She described the levels of mold and mildew infestation uncovered as a result of a May 26 inspection of the house as "very concerning."

Hayes Microbial Consulting of Midlothian, Va., analyzed the mold spore samples that Tully collected May 26 in the Allen home.

Steve Hayes, owner of Hayes Microbial Consulting, said mold problems can happen because of moisture in walls. The heating and cooling system sucks mold spores from inside the porous walls and spreads them in the house, he said.

Hayes said that 99 percent of mold-related health problems are caused by allergies.

"It can be really debilitating. It's nothing to ignore. It's been proven that mold is an asthma trigger," he said.

The Allens said their youngest daughter has had serious respiratory problems. They have taken her to emergency rooms several times, including on Christmas Eve, and have been living from one doctor's appointment to another, they said.

"Her medical condition has been awful," Benjamin Allen said.

Rodney Whitehouse, owner of Cardinal Home Inspections of Summerville, said he inspected the Allen house on July 21, 2005, before they purchased it.

"Any type of moisture issue we had seen at the time we would have reported. There was no sign of mold or moisture at the time of the inspection," Whitehouse said.

In the high heat and humidity of the Lowcountry, a large outbreak of mold can develop in as little as 24 hours, Whitehouse said.

If you have a similar problem Contact the Home Improvement Team @ (800) 998-FIX IT (3494)

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Michigan Supreme Court Overturns Foreclosure, Rules Owner Not Given Proper Notice That Woman's Right to Due Process Violated

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In an important victory for consumers, the Michigan Supreme Court unanimously ruled Wednesday that the Wayne County Treasurer violated a 75-year-old woman's constitutional right to due process by foreclosing on her house without notifying her first.

In overturning a lower court ruling, the justices noted that the county treasurer did not send a notice to Stella Sidun's Birmingham, Mich. home, despite having her address readily on hand on the deed to the property. Instead, the county sent notices to the old address of Sidun's late mother, who had been a co-owner of the property. Public Citizen and local counsel John Hermann had argued that the return of the certified-mail notices should have been a red flag that the notice had failed.

"Especially during the current foreclosure crisis, consumers should be able to trust that government agencies and banks will make a good faith effort to contact them before attempting to foreclose on their property," said Public Citizen attorney Deepak Gupta, who argued on Sidun's behalf before the Michigan Supreme Court. "The lack of effort to track down Ms. Sidun was appalling. We applaud the high court for sending a strong message to those who might take a homeowner's right to due process lightly."
Although the county also took other actions, such as publishing the notice in the newspaper and notifying the tenants, those steps did not excuse the county's failure to attempt to contact Sidun at her last known address, which was listed on county records, the justices wrote.

After she lost the property, which had provided her retirement income, Sidun sued the county. The trial court ruled against her, as did the appellate court. In reversing the lower court decision, the Michigan Supreme Court found that the lower court's ruling conflicted with the U.S. Supreme Court's 2006 decision in Jones v. Flowers, another case in which Public Citizen lawyers successfully challenged the lack of notice of a home foreclosure. Sidun's case now goes back to the circuit court, where she has the option of seeking compensation or reclaiming her home.

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I have to very large and heavy mirrors that i need to hang and my expertise doesn't go any further than putting a nail in the wall. What do i need to do? Don, Detroit

You need picture-hanging hardware that are strong enough to support the weight of the mirrors. Figure out how much the mirrors weigh each, then go to Home Depot and look for the picture hanging hardware in the hardware aisle. They comes packaged for diffrent weight. For heavy mirrors, I recommend getting a packaged set which consists of hooks, screws with eyelets and steel wires. Alternatively, you can buy the steel wire separately and cut them to length as needed. Don't use nail to hang your mirrors unless you are nailing to a stud. For the most part, you will be hanging your mirrors on drywall, so it is important to get the picture hanging hooks. By nature of their design, they will hold the weight of your mirrors. The hooks can support anywhere from 20 lbs to 150 lbs. Find two locations on the back of the mirror to screw the eyelet screws. Make sure that you screw the screws on the wood frame, not on the back of the mirror itself. Then tie a piece of steel wire on the screws, making it very slack so that when hung, the wire makes an inverted flat V. You also need to attach the wire about three-quarter way up the back of the mirror. If the mirror is wide and heavy, use two hooks about 12 inches apart on the wall. To hang the mirror, stand on a chair or stepladder. It helps if you can have someone hand you the mirror while you are standing on the step ladder. Good Luck, Murray

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WANTED: Victims of Shoddy Home Remodeling/Improvements

Are you a victim of a shoddy home remodeling, or home improvement? Are you willing to expose the shoddy construction in the national media?

If you are, please contact me as soon as possible. We are looking for remoding or home improvement horror stories from across the United States to speak with our national reporter.

Thank You
Murray Gula (800) 998-3494

Contact me at murray@mgula.com for further information and contacts.

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Murray how do I remove baked-on soot, dirt and grease from the brick and stone on my fireplace. George, Novi, MI

This is an easy one, mix 1 cup of laundry soap flakes to 4 cups of hot water then add 1/2 pound of powdered pumice to the water. (pumice is a ground volcanic rock used for polishing) most hardware stores have it, then add a half-cup of ammonia. mix well. Now the scrub sooty areas with this mixture using a stiff brush and rinse with clear water. You may have to repeat until the brick is clean. Please don't forget to put plastic down with a lot of paper towels to catch the water run off. Good luck, Murray

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Who can I call to get a Home Inspection on a home we want to purchase? Bob, Ann Arbor, MI

Bob, One of the best companies in this part of Michigan is Dan Way Home Inspections (888) 433-9922. Dan does a very extensive inspection process. Digital Pictures / 25 years experience / ASHI Standards / Computer Generated or Handwritten Reports. Good Luck, Murray Gula

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