Mold contamination drives 2nd family from homeBy Prentiss Findlay (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Thursday, July 10, 2008
A second Daniel Island family has moved out of their D.R. Horton-built house after getting results of a mold test because the parents are concerned about their children's health. David and Terry Pittman said Wednesday that they decided to leave the house July 4 after consulting the ear, nose and throat specialist for their son, Anders, 7, who has suffered repeated ear infections. The highest level of mold contamination was found in Anders' room, the Pittmans said. "It's a toxic environment. It's mainly because we have children that we should not be in that environment," Terry Pittman said. Anders Pittman's hearing is diminished, and he has scar tissue from the infections. He can't relieve pressure in his ears in the way that a person does normally. "That's the way he is all the time. We're praying that this is reversible," Terry Pittman said. The Pittmans were concerned about their house because their next door neighbors, Benjamin and Joy Allen, moved from their D.R. Horton house more than a month ago after receiving results of a mold test. The Allens said their daughter, Madeleine, 3, has suffered repeated serious respiratory problems. The family pediatrician advised that they leave the house. As part of the mold testing at the Pittman house, three sections of vinyl siding were cut open, revealing rot and mold, David Pittman said. "I think we're kind of still in a state of shock. I can't believe the extent of the damage," he said. David Pittman said window flashing was not installed to keep moisture out of the walls. Mold inspector Terrence Tully of Moisture Control Experts inspected both houses. He said improperly installed window flashing allowed moisture in walls that created mold in both houses. Tully said another resident of Jordan Court, where the families live, has scheduled a mold inspection for today. Paul and Joan Quam of the Rivertowne subdivision of Mount Pleasant have sued D.R. Horton because of mold in their house. They said they have spent more than $100,000 to correct moisture problems in walls and remove mold. They moved out of the house last summer for nine months but have returned. Before they left the house, Paul Quam's doctor told him he had the early stages of mold poisoning. An attorney for D.R. Horton, Kyle Dillard, did not respond to e-mail and phone messages Wednesday. The Daniel Island Co. and D.R. Horton parted ways in 2001, so the company is no longer building homes on the island. "It was a mutual agreement. The customer service was an issue," said Daniel Island Co. Communications Director Julie Dombrowski. Reach Prentiss Findlay at 937-5711 or pfindlay@postand courier.com. |
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Comments
This article has 19 comment(s)
Posted by tomross on July 10, 2008 at 3:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)
There is no need to spend $100K or move out of your house if you spend $45 on an ozone generator that will kill mold. A little tip I got from a retired doctor for infectious diseases who worked for the Pentagon. It worked great in my house.
Posted by moonpie on July 10, 2008 at 6:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
WOW can you say class action?
Can you see the property values dropping in that section of DI? Maybe all over DI if they prove it was due to environmental issues, you know like being built on a marsh landfill!
Posted by gococks1985 on July 10, 2008 at 6:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree with tomross completely...ozone generators work wonders for many things...not just mold. Any reputable water damage company should have the industrial ones. After that, purchase one for your home..they penetrate through everything but steel.
Posted by tripsa on July 10, 2008 at 7:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
ozone generators - is that the same as the one I have that is in the outflow main duct for my AC?
It is ozone and UV producing.
Posted by CaptPete on July 10, 2008 at 8:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Fix the leak first. Treatment for mold should not run 100k. I wonder how they arrived at these figures? It sounds like someone is trying to get out of their house and this is just an excuse.
Posted by WandaR on July 10, 2008 at 8:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)
CaptPete - you have no clue. The homeowners never win in a lawsuit like this. Do some more checking around.
Posted by Early on July 10, 2008 at 8:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Well, glad we have so many experts here today. First, a person with any respiratory problems cannot be around an ozone generator which would be THESE PEOPLE!!!!!
Second, DR Horton needs to be sued. A class action would suffice though it will take years. They have walked all over customers for years thinking they are so big, they do not have to build per code.
Third, if I did live in a DR Horton home, I would pay for the mold test. This seemed to be a common practice for DR Horton. This is what you get when you have a bunch of illegal immigrants build your house.
Posted by charlestonian on July 10, 2008 at 9:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Correct, do some reading on the ozone generators before running out and buying one..
http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/ozonegen.htm...
Posted by metallic on July 10, 2008 at 9:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)
At the risk of being accused of "self plagiarizing" (see the comments directed at me in yesterday's story on "mold": http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/jul/... )
"Mold eradication" is mostly about playing on the fear and ignorance so prevalent in our society today. The scammers take a few facts about mold, mix them into a stew of exaggeration, then look for weak-minded victims.
A good place to find such victims is in the crappy tract-built homes -- which do commonly have real water infiltration problems because of poor quality construction.
Once the "mold eradication" scammer locates fungus, it's just a matter of scaring the victims into thinking they need hundreds of thousands of dollars of "re-mediation" to fix their problems.
The scare tactics often involve lawyers who bait their victims with dreams of multi-million dollar settlements if the victims "play their roles" well. The lawyers send the victims to doctors in the "game" -- the "doctors" add credibility (and fear) to the victims' claims of illness. If the victims are already under stress because of their financial situation of being up-side-down by tens, or hundreds, of thousands of dollars on their mortgages, they are ready to accept their stress-related physical symptoms as being caused by "mold" rather than face the reality that they screwed up buying a house they couldn't afford at the top of a bubble real estate market.
The "mold game" is a higher level of scam than those run with automobile accidents. And just like auto accidents, water infiltration and mold is not good. There is no "big money" in auto accidents without a personal injury claim; there also is no "big money" in the leak and rot repair business (or the lawsuits against the companies that did the poor construction which caused the leaks and fungus) without the "personal injury" element claims of "toxic mold."
Posted by Marianne0558 on July 10, 2008 at 9:27 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"Mold has been linked to a wide variety of illnesses, including nausea, hay fever
like symptoms, skin and throat irritation, respiratory problems such as asthma,
hemorrhaging, cancer, and neurological disorders such as headaches and memory loss.
The specific types of problems resulting from mold exposure are a function of the type of
mold encountered, the length of exposure, and the susceptibility of the victim.
Individuals with weakened or compromised immune systems are more susceptible to
mold toxins and infections than are healthy people. Complicating the detection and
treatment problems is the ubiquitous nature of mold; there are thousands of mold types
and strains, many of which produce toxins that have not yet been identified. Another
problem encountered when attempting to assess the seriousness of the harmful mold
threat is the fact that there are as yet no laboratory tests of blood or urine that can
determine whether a person has been exposed to mold toxins, nor have permissible mold
exposure limits been established."
"If an indoor mold problem remains untreated or the problem goes
unnoticed for any length of time costs of remediation can run as high as $150 or more per
square foot. The Texas Department of Insurance recently estimated that investigation a
mold claim, covering living expenses of displaced occupants, and paying for cleanup and
mold remediation costs an average of $30,000 per claim."
http://www.acre.cba.ua.edu/pdfs/indoor-m...
$100,000?? Those people got ripped off!
Posted by amylrod on July 10, 2008 at 9:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I am curious - does this problem show up in homes that have brick veneer?
Posted by charlestonian on July 10, 2008 at 9:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Any house that has water intrusion can have mold. It can even be under your house if you have a crawl space. To much moisture under their results in mold on the floor under your feet, which makes it way to the ducts if your ducts are under the house. The main thing is moisture, to much and it leads to mold and termites..
Posted by ashleyatwork on July 10, 2008 at 9:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Buy a ugly crappy looking tract house built in 30 days by mostly illegals who couldnt read a code if they had one and greedy national builders in a race to sell more houses than the next who could care less about quality what do you really expect? I bet alot of these houses will start falling apart in the next few years. If you jumped at the chance to buy one of these pieces of s***, suck it up, fix it and move on.
Posted by Name_Withheld on July 10, 2008 at 10:40 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Thank goodness we can still have access to juries to straighten out this mess by assigning resposibility where it belongs once they hear all the evidence. Hopefully the legislature will not give immunities to builders to protect them from being held accountable for their products.
Posted by charlestonroots on July 10, 2008 at 11:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)
That's too bad that they can't stay in their homes. I'm not sure if the article is stating that the boys ear infections are due to the mold problem. My son had the same ear problems. He had his first set of tubes put in before his first birthday and had 4 more sets of tubes before he turned 5. It was not caused by mold, it seems he was just prone to ear infections as my older son had none. I would think if they believe his problem is because of the mold it may be difficult to prove.
Posted by SuzieQJones on July 10, 2008 at 11:56 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This is such a shame to happen to these people. Big business always seems to win in these cases. Just an aside, Ted Nugent (the Motor City Madman) had this happen to the house on his estate in the country (it has a guitar-shaped swimming pool), and as far as I remember they are still fighting with the insurance company. Of course, they had to move out and leave everything.
Posted by coolfreaknbeans on July 10, 2008 at 12:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
My new home was built in 63 days.I was lucky enough to have a family member to help oversee construction.(they have a degree in construction technology and are currently a construction project manager for the Gov't)We oversaw EVERY aspect of our homes construction and had any corrections made immediately.(which were very few)We were lucky enough to have a rain free time frame while our home was "exposed".We saw multiple homes that got absolutely soaked while in their "raw" state.I can't help but think they may have future problems.I had great success with my homebuilder and feel very blessed.
Posted by justus1017 on July 10, 2008 at 4:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Well what's $100,000 when you living in a $2-$5 million dollar house that cost $300K anywhere else. With those prices they better resist every moisture, mold, critter, storm and anything else damaging.
Posted by WandaR on July 10, 2008 at 4:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The bottom line is that builders should be held responsible for their work...just like anything. You mess it up, you fix it.