Mold epidemic in new homes?

[Guest guest]

Mold epidemic in new homes?

calgary.ctv.ca

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CFCN.ca Tue, 24 Oct 2006 4:30 PM PDT

POSTED AT 5:25 PM Tuesday, October 24

Some local experts say Calgary may be at the beginning of a mold

epidemic.

They say Calgary's over-heated housing market has led to substandard

construction in many new homes.

You may have thought leaky condos and homes were only a problem in

rain-soaked Vancouver.

But some local mold remediators and building envelope inspectors say

we're developing the same problem here in Calgary.

Murray from The Mould Squad Corp. said, " It's that there's an

epidemic going on, we're going into houses and because of poor

building practices, we're finding water problems and we're finding a

lot of mold in rather new homes, 2 years and newer in some cases. "

In the 10 years Murray has been a mold remediator in Calgary he

says he's never been this busy.

" The phone is constantly ringing with people finding mold in certain

areas of their home, or there's health and safety risks to their

family, they're feeling congested in the home, so it's definitely on

the rise, no doubt about it, " said Murray.

Murray has already done 1.5 million dollars worth of work on one

condo complex in the southwest.

He says the buildings are between 5 & 7 years old, but mold started

appearing in some units after only 2 years.

Murray says 90 per cent of the homes he works on have stucco

exteriors.

He says many stucco homes have water ingress and mold problems

because builders are applying stucco thinner than the building code

requires.

Another expert, Building Envelope Inspector Bob Passmore says he's

seeing more problems too, " Yes, we see that a lot, that the homes

are not being very well built these days, poor material choices I

think and trades that just don't know what they're doing, they're

just not as skilled as they need to be. "

But the Calgary Regional Home Builders Association says it hasn't

been receiving any calls on that issue.

A spokesman for the Alberta New Home Warranty Program says there has

not been an increase in mold complaints, but he added that might be

because the program only deals with problems arising within the

first year after construction.

Mold usually takes longer than a year to grow into a noticeable

problem, and by the time homeowners find out, their warranty is up.

Then their only hope is that their builder will stand behind its

product.

Murray remarked, " We've got good builders. I mean we've got

builders that retain our services to do work for them, and we've got

builders that won't even return our calls. "

Murray says there are six tell tale signs that may indicate a

problem in a home.

Look for water spots around windows Look for buckling hardwood Look

for drywall staining Look for swollen baseboards Look for drip marks

on top of windows Check your stucco thickness

If you have these signs you might need to call in an expert to fully

investigate.

[Guest guest]

It AMAZES me how builders around the country can build homes and for weeks,

sometimes, months, leave them in a half-finished state and completely open

to the elements, rain sometimes pouring in, wood getting drenched, no rain

protection whatsoever.

That is a total recipe for disaster and it also tells you how inadequate the

existing sanctions (which is, I guess, the 'risk' of getting sued and

losng..) are in that they ignore them!

" The cost of doing business " I guess they figure..

How dare they do that.. really...

[Guest guest]

It took 4 years for my previous apartment complex to build a club

house. Rain, floods, no roof for some times or stucco. When I called

the county they slapped stucco over the black stuff.

--- In , LiveSimply <quackadillian@...>

wrote:

>

> It AMAZES me how builders around the country can build homes and

for weeks,

> sometimes, months, leave them in a half-finished state and

completely open

> to the elements, rain sometimes pouring in, wood getting drenched,

no rain

> protection whatsoever.

>

> That is a total recipe for disaster and it also tells you how

inadequate the

> existing sanctions (which is, I guess, the 'risk' of getting sued

and

> losng..) are in that they ignore them!

>

> " The cost of doing business " I guess they figure..

>

> How dare they do that.. really...

>

>

>