Newborn Baby sleeping by mold

By Matthew Lee

My wife and I moved into this older house last summer in 2010. We moved due to her being pregnant and the house we lived at the time was unsanitary and the land lord did not want to fix anything. So we moved for the sake and safety for the baby. I spent some of my own time and money fixing and painting the nusurey, fixing and replaceing broken sprinkler pipes and heads, sealing the windows due to them being old and drafty, doing alot of yard work and fixing it up nice. Long story short it has  been a wet winter so far this year. One Saturday my wife was doing laundry and decided to clean our bed sheets. While pulling the sheets back she noticed some blackness on the wall so she pulled out our Temprepedic matress back and noticed black mold all along the wall where the mattress is next to. We also noticed black mold on the bed where it is next to the wall. I got an allarming call from my wife at work that day. My 4 month old daughter my wife, that has asthma, and I have all sleeped right next to this poison pretty much every night since my daughter was born. I notified the owners of the property and they came by, one is a 80+ year old women. We noticed on the out side of the moldy wall on the house there is a lowest spot in the ground right where the mold is forming. This area between our neighbors house doesnt get much sun and the neighbors have these run off tubes off there gutters that go right towards our unit. We also noticed quite a bit of moss forming on the side of the house. One of the landlords got underneith the house and did a whatever inspection and said everything looked ok. We then went back into the bedroom and noticed some of the mold is around the 1950 sliding drafty window. So they firgured that it has got to be the windows so they said they would replace 2 of the windows in the bedroom. They left that day with the mold still on the wall. We then called a professional the next day that would do a free inspection to see what was really going on. He had to get the owners aproval to come in, which I understood, so I gave him her phone number. Less than an hour after I called shes at my door. Saying that she is doing the best she can, she been renting out places for 40 years, and that this has happened before in that room,  and this only happens ussually in the East coast. She went on and said that John down the street had this problem before and said all he did was bleached it primed and painted. She also said my expensive bed is not her problem that was right after she said this has happened before in this room. So of course we had jo shmo John over with a bottle of clorox cleaning off this black mold off the walls, window, and he said he found some in the closet. After he left our eyes started to burn from the high consentrate of clorox and it smelt pretty bad. So we left to sleep at a relatives. Which is where I am typing this story now at 4 in tha morning. I am a Licensed contracted union profesional in a trade. The way this has beed handled is completely shoty and unprofessional. I feel the safety of my family is to of no concern to these people. Its more than obvious they want this kept quite and don’t want to spend a dime on a neutral professional partys recomendation on what really needs to be done. I spend hours sometimes days consulting with engineers to find problems I have at my job. I feel I have been treated like a second class citizen and am seeking out a new place to live and how to deal with these 2 slum lords? I live in California and was hoping to buy a home next year. This is going to set me back some time, but my familys health is of most important at this time. Any advice or phone numbers to call would be great. Thank you and Happy New Year!

Edited on: Saturday, June 25th, 2011 2:04 am

One Response to “Newborn Baby sleeping by mold”

My response: (We welcome stories, examples, explanations, answers and a touch of your personality)
 

elena hinojoza

January 12th, 2011 7:57 am

WE MOVED IN TO A MOBILE HOME WE NOTICE A AWFUL SMELL THE LANDLORD SAID THE A/C VENTS WERE GOING TO BE CLEAN. FROM AUG 5 TO DEC 7 OF 2010 NOTHING WAS DONE. UNTIL I CALLED LETTING THEM KNOW THAT I WAS GOING T O GET AN ATTORNEY BECAUSE I TOOK MY KIDS TO THE DOCTOR PLUS MYSELF. WE HAVE BEEN SICK CONSTANTLY. NEXT DAY THEY SEND SOMEONE TO CHANGE THE AC VENTS ALL NEW THAT IS WHEN I NOTICED THE VENTS WERE NO GOOD MOLDY, TORN APART, SOAP BARS WERE INSIDE THE VENTS, CAT HAIR, PLUS UNDERNEATH THE MOBILE HOME WERE DEAD CATS AND STOOLS. MY KIDS HAD BEEN BREATHING THAT FOR THE LAST 4 MONTHS. MY LEASE IS FOR 6 MONTHS I GAVE MY NOTICE CERTIFIED BUT THEY REFUSE TO GIVE MY MY DOWN PAYMENT OF $4190. THEY WANT ME TO CONVERT INTO PURCHASING THE MOBILE SINCE THEY FIXED THE VENTS. BUT AS MY UNDERSTANDING ONCE MOLD IS IN YOUR HOUSE IT IS IN THERE UNTIL A REMEDIATION IS DONE WHICH THAT COST VERY EXPENSIVE. I FEEL YOUR FUSTRATION. I HAVE A SIMILAR PROBLEM MY 3 KIDS NOW HAVE ASTHMA INCLUDING MYSELF. YOU NEED TO HAVE YOUR CHILD TESTED FOR MYCOTOXINS. 2 OF MY KIDS CAME OUT POSITIVE AND NOW I HAVE SINITUS ACUTE AND RHINITUS ACUTE ALSO BESIDES ASTHMA NOW IM NOT CAPABLE OF TAKING CARE OF MY KIDS THE HAVE ME UNDER STEROIDS SO THE INFLAMATION ON MY LUNGS AND BRAIN ARE KEPT BALANCE. I SIGNED A CONTRACT FOR 6 MONTHS THEN WE WERE SUPPOSE TO CONVERT THE LEASE CONTRACT INTO PURCHASE. I GAVE MY 30 DAYS NOTICE THAT IM NOT INTERESTED BUT LANDLORD: AMERICAN COMMUNITY RESIDENTIAL SAYS IM LOSING MY DOWN PAYMENT IF I DON’T PURCHASE. I YOU GET ANY ADVICE LET ME KNOW I WILL DO THE SAME.


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