Mold-News-Articles

Mold Forces Family To Move Out, Gut Entire House

June 24, 2004, WFTV.com

OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. -- An Osceola County family comes home from vacation and finds a $150,000 problem. A broken refrigerator pipe is what started the mess. Now, the family will have to gut the house because of mold. When Rebecca Li walked in her home, she was stunned. Her home reeked of toxic fumes and, what's worse, she found mold growing on her walls, her furniture and even on a handbag.

"When I opened the door, I was shocked. The carpet [was] full of water and the wall was full of mildew. It was terrible. The whole house was damaged," she explains. Li says she was only gone for a few weeks. She was visiting friends and family members in China. When she got back, she realized a pipe behind her refrigerator had broken.

"I have this house more than 10 years. This is first time. No such thing happened before," Li says.
The entire house is damaged and a clean-up crew estimates it will cost about $150,000 to repair the home, and that's not including all of her personal belongings.

Li did not have her air conditioner on and a contractor says that's what probably made the mold grow so quickly. Li and her family are now forced out of their home while crews continue to clean up their house.

"It's not healthy for anyone to be in there for a long period of time without respiratory and breathing apparatus that will make it safe," says contractor Micah Bass. Workers say the next step for this house is to gut it. Once the house is gutted, they'll test the structure to see if there is mold. If there is mold, then the house will have to be torn down.

Mold crews say, if you see mold in your home you should have it tested to see how dangerous it is. And, if you are required to move out of your home, make sure you test again before you move back in.