My girlfriend has had MS for over 20 years. She moved into a condo where she currently resides about 7 years ago. We noticed about a week ago after the housekeeper was looking on the floor of her closet, black mold that was about 2 feet from the floor up the wall and covered the carpet about 1-2 feet out and there was mold in various places out about 2-3 feet from the corner of the wall.
We called the landlord and they had 2 different plumbers come out and they both said it was very dangerous toxic black mold and the water was leaking from the adjoining shower where there were loose tiles. The owners of the condo asked their plumber who was one of the two they sent, to fix it and he came over this morning to look at it. They instructed the plumber to tear up the carpet and throw all of it away.
I told them I had called the Health Department, yesterday, Sunday, the day before the 4th of July and left a message on their Hot Line about the problem. The plumber said he had worked for the owner’s Father in Law for almost 30 years and for the owner about 22 years and that the owner was very cheap. The owners and the Father in Law told the plumber to throw away the carpet so there wouldn’t be any evidence before the health department came out to inspect. The Father in law said he had a similar incident happen and it took the Health Department months to come out, so we could wait for them or take out the carpet and start the work right away. I want the Health Department to measure the air and look at the carpet and look behind the wall also.
The plumber also said that the owners lived in this unit and he was called out for the same exact black mold issue 10 years ago, which they never fixed. The plumber said that not only was there black mold in the closet but also in the front of the shower and there is still black mold that he showed us in front of the shower, all along the base of the shower. He said when he came to assess the problems 10 years ago, he noticed the loose tiles and the hall carpet next to the shower had black mold growing all over it. The tiles were loose and allowed the water to leak out and the black mold began to grow. And they didn’t address the black mold issue then in either the closet or on the carpet by the shower or the floor base running along the front of the shower. They simply replaced the carpet and then had a shoddy repair job done on all of the bathroom shower tiles where the leaks was coming from. The owners then moved out, almost immediately and never told the tenants about this problem which according to the plumber, happened about 10 years ago.
My girlfriend as I said, has been here over 7 years and had MS and has been having some strange health challenges as I have, some which seem to be respiratory related to some extent. We asked the plumber to not take out the carpet today, to stop and we just told the owners that we’re not going to be here so we don’t want to leave strangers here. We didn’t want to make the owners aware of course of what their plumber told us, so as to protect his part time work with them. He’s worked for them for over 22 years. We also Must give the health department time to get back to us and hopefully come out in the next few days.
We also had massive amounts of water over the winter come into my girlfriend’s Condo along the outside walls in the bedroom and Living room has been going on for a few years and got so bad this year that water covered my girlfriend’s carpet from the wall about 3 feet out. This leakage has been going on for years and the issue gets somewhat handled by the HOA and Management Company and then it occurs again. The carpets in both places have been soaked and under water at various times this past Winter and Spring and I wouldn’t be surprised to find black mold in both of those locations also.
Questions:
What are any of your suggestions and do you believe it was a wise decision to wait about removing the carpet and repairing the leaks until the Health Department gets out here so they can measure the Black mold on the carpet and wall, inside and out in the closet and in front of the shower along the base of the floor where black mold is and where it was on the carpet? They can look underneath and measure any potential black mold.
By the way, the Father in Law said let’s not call this Black Mold, let’s call this something even more serious, Fungus which he then began calling it this morning when they came over.
3 comments
Garrett, if at all possible, I think it would be wise to look at other options and encourage your girlfriend to relocate to a home where she won’t be battling with mold and water damage. I haven’t had any experience with the health department so I’ll look to those who have to weigh in there. Keep fighting the good fight.
Garret, I had called the health department here in Alabama to be told that they had no jurisdition over cities, which our exposure was in a city owned building. We got no where fast! I hoep you get a better out come.
Garrett,
INSIST that your girfriend relocate out of the premises IMMEDIATELY and take NOTHING with her. Everything in that unit is now cross-contaminated. Sue the landlord for the loss of ALL of your personal belongings from cross-contamination!
MS is an auto-immune dissease and even if the entire unit were remediated any physician with a speciality in mycotoxicology would NEVER advise a patient with ANY AUTOIMMUNE to live in a residence which has been even fully remediated.
My mother dies from mold in her home. I know all this from personal experience. Mold is a neurotoxin. Get her out while before she suffers more needlessly. Even if you owned the unit I would recommend that you move and let it be foreclosed on. That is what I did and altough my mother died this saved my life.