what I see now days

[Guest guest]

Hi Group,

I have a friend that I have known since high school. He bought a

grain handling facility out in the country that was once a fairly

nice place in its day but was run down but he put work into it and

bought it for a right price and for his purposes is really a nice

operation to have. The original owner before it closed had added on

an extra office space that has carpet, paneling, 2X2 ceiling tiles,

and of course a very flat roof.

A year ago I went to the place to see it and he said he was afraid

to show me that room because another friend of mine told him I would

freak out over the ceiling tiles. They had, like many ceiling tiles

one sees everywhere, evidence of water leakage. But his showed

obvious mold colonies growing. I told him they will make him sick,

he did not believe >>>he<<< gets sick from mold and I said any

perfectly healthy person would become ill from it over time and did

not go on since I knew from his tone he thought I am overboard on

mold's dangers and did not want to totally over do it.

I was just there last week and the room is much worse. He had said

he tried to fix the roof leaks, but the one corner was still bad. I

looked and one of the 2X2 tiles was mushrooming downward with many

colonies of mold upon it. The other colonies I saw last year are

bigger. Some black and some dark green in the room.

This guy in college could party more than me and get up for the

earliest class and had a part time job, wife and child. He has

built himself from very little into a very successful farmer during

times where many are not doing well. He is a risk taker and always

is thinking ahead and planning and organized.

I asked him why he could not cut fiberglass boards into 2x2 pieces

and replace the the ceiling very cheaply and then water would not

matter as much. I put those in my bacement and they are great. He

told me there is a lot of insulation above the tiles and it is

really bad there. I did not say anything, but thoughts did race in

my head. Then he laughed in my face in ways hard for me to

determine. He is the type of friend whose relationship has

consisted of giving and recieveing a lot of sh#* from, we don't

usually get offended. I don't know if the laugh was his being

embarrassed over it or more toward laughing a me for being overboard

about the danger of mold.

I told him it is very dangerous and left it at that. He is setting

his sons up to work at that elevator and I do fear for their

health. Anything I say will not help because everyone thinks I am

crazy for tearing apart my house dumping huge sums of money into it

for a little mold. I dare not tell them I don't trust my house yet.

As farmers, you deal with a lot of mold. Working in elevators even

moreso. It has never bothered me nor him. If he uses that office I

know this energetic person will not stay that way.

I have to admit that when the harsh laugh came, an ugly part of me

had the attittude of " go ahead sucker, get ill and see how hard you

laugh then " . As I try to get rid of those feelings I know I will

still not be able to do anything about it other than to watch it

happen.

I am overboard. As KC puts it, we are obsessed with mold. I did

not think I was that obvious to my friends, but evidentially I am.

It is a helpless feeling to see it happen to others, warning does

not seem to do any good. If my son were to go into that place, he

would no doubt be wheezing greatly within an hour and might have to

go to an emergency room.

My own sister, knowing what we went through, has mold in her home

and they have had constant sinus infections. She thinks I am

overboard on mold and can not believe that is the reason for her and

her husbands illness. The children are off to college, but they had

problems too since one school teacher had called her daughter " Miss

aches and pains " . My other sister believes and has seen mold in her

shower walls this summer(no one told me until now). She has tried

to warn her. As I was finding all this out, we went there on

Christmas eve and my son did cough a little bit later than night and

a maybe a little the next day but did quickly recover. Running

around with his cousins and getting plenty of junk food that he

rarely sees at home did not help him much either I am sure.

These days, everytime I go to into any business or resturant, I

notice the stained ceiling tiles and point them out to my wife and

wonder if my son will be reacting. I did not notice ceilings a few

years ago, my life is different, I have changed.

So far this winter so good and my son is off all asthma meds since

Thanksgiving. My son has only a very, very small cold now, first

one this winter where many in his school have missed days with flu

and colds. But this spring I know the asthma will be back.

Sorry to unload, but only people here can understand,

Thanks and no need to reply, I feel better now,

Fletch