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Age-old problem, mold, finds spotlight
By Mark Thiessen
The Associated Press
OMAHA -- Mold that has been around since the dawn of man is suddenly causing
headaches for some Nebraskans.
Discoveries of possibly toxic mold inside buildings have forced more than 150
Omaha nursing home residents to find new homes, nearly 800 grade-school students
in Papillion and La Vista to move to new classrooms, and has led to scares at
the Seward County Courthouse, a grade school in Oakland, and a gymnasium in
Wakefield.
All within the last month.
Harmful mold is not suddenly growing out of control and consuming the state.
Instead, it's just a case of the public and news media becoming more familiar
with the problem, a state health official said.
"It's nothing new with weather or how our houses breathe," said Molly Goedeker,
an indoor-air expert for the Nebraska Health and Human Services System. "Really,
it's nothing more than environmental awareness."
And there's nothing wrong with that, she said.
"It's good people are educated about their surroundings and preventive measures,
and how to protect their health," she said.
Mold occurs naturally and can grow almost anywhere that's warm and damp --
including attics under leaky roofs, basements prone to flooding or inside walls
around windows that attract condensation.
While the most common molds generally aren't hazardous, some types can cause
headaches, fatigue and respiratory problems, especially in the young, elderly
and those with weak immune systems.
Those problems were so severe for Dave and Nikki Swanson and their three young
children that they burned down their mold-infested house outside Fremont last
year.
Mold thrived inside the walls and cellar of the old farm house and the family
was plagued for years with headaches, nosebleeds, allergy-induced asthma and
sinus and skin irritations.
The mold wasn't discovered until the family had the house inspected when
considering renovations.
The Swansons said the mold was caused by ground moisture under the house and a
weatherization project in 1996 that was too effective, sealing in moisture that
would have normally escaped.
The family's health has improved tremendously since moving out of the house.
They only suffer from normal ailments, such as the flu.
"That's more enjoyable now. You know what it is. It has a name," said Swanson,
who has moved his family to Uehling.
It was renovation work that uncovered mold at Alegent Health's Mercy Care Center
in Omaha and forced the nursing home to abruptly close, leaving its more than
150 residents searching for new homes.
Workers found substantial mold between the building's exterior brick facade and
interior drywall, leading to the announcement in early December that the
residents would have to move out by the end of January.
Alegent Health spokesman Tim Kaldahl said the likely cause for the mold was that
lack of a moisture barrier along the building's exterior walls. The company has
not decided what it will do with the building.
Detecting mold in a building does not require ripping open the walls. The
general rule is that if you can smell it or see it -- by routinely checking a
building's interior for water damage or visible mold -- you've probably got a
mold problem.
The air inside buildings can be tested for high mold levels, but it is expensive
and sometimes unreliable because molds are naturally present outdoors.
The Papillion-La Vista School District didn't know that five of its portable
classrooms had mold until a student showed up last month with a doctor's note
that said his bad allergies could be traced to mold.
In response, the school district has hired contractors to disinfect and wipe
down everything in those rooms -- from textbooks to crayons. Parts of floors and
walls where mold is visible will be removed.
Until those rooms are clean, nearly 800 students are attending classes in common
areas, media centers and other makeshift classrooms. So many students were
displaced because one of the infected classrooms served as an art room used by
all students at one school.
Mold grew in one of the classrooms because it sat at the bottom of a hill and
rain runoff collected underneath, said Annette Eyman, schools spokeswoman. The
causes for mold in the other rooms were still under investigation.
The school district expects to pay around $40,000 to remove the mold, Eyman
said.
It's the high cost of cleaning up mold that causes most of the headaches for
building owners. Sometimes the price includes legal costs.
Lawsuits have been filed across the country by people suffering mold-related
illnesses. Building owners from New York to California have sued builders,
blaming poor construction for mold. Homeowners in Arizona and Texas have won in
court over insurance companies for unpaid mold-damage claims.
Insurance companies are increasingly excluding costly mold coverage from
policies. In Nebraska, companies will exclude losses caused by mold that has
built up over time or is the result of poor maintenance, said Bruce Ramge with
the Nebraska Department of Insurance.
"If there was a covered loss, or a claim such as a broken water pipe that caused
damage, we would expect the insurer to make repairs that would stop the onset of
mold," he said.
Except for a couple of cases, including one that ended up in court, Nebraska has
not had many problems with insurers not covering mold losses, Ramge said.
"So far," he added. "Knock on wood." |
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