Mold infests house next to city construction

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Web posted Monday, January 16, 2006

Mold infests house next to city construction

Savannah,GA

More damage claims are trickling in from the Casey South Basin

Drainage Improvement Project.

http://www.savannahnow.com/stories/011606/3563961.shtml

Click to view the Slideshow Jill Edenfield points to the

Stachybotrys mold growing from the baseboards in a bedroom at her

home on Harmon and 55th streets. Her home sits on a street the

city's drainage project passes by. Burkhart Savannah Morning

News

M. Larson

912.652.0397

scott.larson@...

Click to view the Slideshow

When a giant hammer pounded just outside their home on Harmon and

55th streets during construction of the Casey South Basin Drainage

Improvement Project, Jill Edenfield asked her husband Sonny whether

they would be safer on the first floor or the second if the house

collapsed.

The house is still standing, albeit with cracks in the brick, dental

molding and sidewalks. But it's hardly livable.

The cracks, the Edenfields say, allowed water in, which caused a

sickening form of mold to grow. The baseboard of the master bedroom

is a petri dish for an arching, black fuzzy mold.

The bedroom is now sealed and the couple moved into a hotel early in

December. They come home during the day to take care of business,

their cat and to just be at home.

But Sonny's doctor wants him out because he is being treated for

emphysema, which he had before they found the mold. Doctors will

test soon to see if the mold is in Sonny's lungs.

Now they've got an attorney who sent the city a notice to inform it

of a claim. Legally that gives the city the opportunity to settle

the claim and to discontinue the action that caused it, said

attorney Alan Lowe.

" We didn't feel that they (the city and TIC) would do right by us, "

Sonny said. " We saw that there were some things that couldn't be

fixed. It's so overwhelming that we couldn't do it alone. "

Contractors aren't finished with the $20 million project nearby,

which is designed to alleviate chronic flooding around the Ardsley

Park neighborhood. But damage claims continue to stream into the

city and TIC.

Both said they will do whatever they can to make sure houses are

repaired, although residents grow more tired and skeptical by the

day.

Last week residents of the Lee Olin Heights neighborhood, which has

experienced a lot of damage from the project, met with

representatives of the city, including Alderman Sadler.

Residents complained vociferously about damages at that meeting. The

city had planned a meeting Jan. 31 to discuss the route of the

second phase of the project.

That meeting now has been delayed for 60 to 90 days, Sadler said.

" We want to make sure that we make every effort to review the

project and that we've reviewed every part of the plan so we can

accomplish the project with the least amount of damage and

inconvenience to the citizens, " Sadler said.

The city has some concepts for phase two but those have not yet been

released. The plans could not be sent electronically to the Savannah

Morning News because of technical problems.

At the neighborhood meeting, Thibodaux, a resident who has

been fighting the city over the project, said if the city uses the

same construction techniques for the second phase as it did for the

first, she would stand in front of the bulldozers to stop it.

The current technique pounds sheets of metal into the ground,

causing powerful vibrations. Those sheets then have to be pulled

out, which causes the soil to settle.

" We are not beyond civil unrest if that's what it takes to make you

(the city) realize that we don't want sheetpile, " she said.

Last week Jill Edenfield unzipped the seal to her master bedroom to

show a visitor. In the past few months, many visitors inspecting the

damage have traipsed through their home and they are a little weary

of it.

As the mold grew unseen in their room, the Edenfields picked up

colds and flu-like symptoms.

Now that they don't sleep there, those symptoms have disappeared. An

expert tested the mold and determined it was Stachybotrys, and there

may be other molds present.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, people can have severe

reactions to Stachybotrys, including nasal congestion, eye

irritation, wheezing or skin irritation. It can become worse for

people with lung diseases, according to the agency's Web site.

Pulling apart her curtains, Jill pointed out the mold and

discoloration from water.

" The mold guy said what we see is the tip of iceberg, " she

said. " The whole wall has to come out. "

TIC pays for their hotel room, but sometimes the Edenfields find the

contract hasn't been renewed and they have to sleep in their house.

Sonny sleeps on a cot on the first floor because he can't get

upstairs to sleep where Jill does.

Jill said they were never opposed to the drainage project. They felt

for those houses north of them that flooded during heavy rains.

But they had no idea how disruptive the construction would be.

Last year City Manager Brown and Broker, the city's

liaison on the project, sat in the Edenfield's living room.

" I asked him, 'Did you know that this project was going to do this

much damage?' " Jill said. " He said 'Yes.' I sat there and I was

livid. So I said to him, 'So we're expendable.' "

Brown acknowledged saying that. The city knew there was going to be

damage, he said, but did everything it could to minimize it.

He said he feels for the people around the Edenfields, as well as

the people to the north who received the brunt of flooding for years.

Brown has always promised to make residents " whole " after damages.

" We're confident this construction can be carried out without

significant harm to structures, " Brown said at a March 2004 meeting

on the project. " It has been moderate thus far and will be minor in

the future. "

For the next phase, Brown said the city would be willing to pay more

to ensure less damage.

" We are willing to pay some reasonable premium, but there is always

a limit, " he said. " I think we will incur some reasonable additional

cost to minimize damages. "

Damage in the area where the Edenfields live occurred during work

done last summer.

To create the drainage system, work crews drove sheets of metal into

the ground, sometimes more than 20 feet, in order to put in giant

culverts to carry the storm water.

After the culverts are built, the metal sheets are pulled, causing

the earth to settle. Residents and TIC think the settling causes

much of the damage.

The city urged residents not to file claims until the project was

completed and streets paved. Paving was supposed to start last year.

Paving is just now getting started, though portions of the streets

may be done by the end of the month, said Carl Cleeman, vice

president of TIC Savannah Operations.

Because the Edenfields have legal representation, Cleeman said he

can't talk about the mold.

Attorney Lowe represents five other households in addition to the

Edenfields. Two houses have mold, he said, and they are testing a

third.

" These cracks (in the Edenfields' house) have appeared and happened

because of the construction, " said Nellis, an attorney

working with Lowe. " Moisture has seeped in through these cracks and

allowed mold to grow. "

Most of the cracks were not there before and could have come from

the vibrations, which Lowe contends should have been better

monitored. Contractually, TIC wasn't supposed to exceed certain

vibration levels.

" They violated that with impunity, " he said.

The city and TIC have said that levels did go over requirements, but

TIC said they were minor and for short periods of time.

Because he said the damage is still occurring as the soil settles,

Lowe has not officially filed suit or outlined specific claims.