Family fears mold may undo plans for dream home

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Family fears mold may undo plans for dream home

By JACQUELINE SEIBEL

of the Journal Sentinel staff

Last Updated: May 3, 2001

A Town of Merton couple say they were forced to move out of their $300,000

dream home with nothing but the clothes on their backs after they found out

a highly toxic mold called Stachybotrys had moved in.

Based on the advice of doctors and a team of experts that said the mold

threatened their health, and Lynn Droegkamp and their two children left

the home in the 33000 block of Prairieview Lane and nearly everything in it

on April 4, said Lynn Droegkamp.

The couple did not want to believe it was their dream home that had made

them sick, she said. " We didn't know how serious it was. They just said we

had to go. "

Family members gave this account:

Droegkamp had bleeding from the ears.

Shaun, 13, the couple's son, a once healthy and active teenager who has

modeled for local retailers, developed chronic nosebleeds and asthma and is

still recovering from a bout with mononucleoses and pneumonia.

The couple's 8-year-old daughter, Amber, had been diagnosed with attention

deficit hyperactivity disorder before the couple moved into the home in late

June of 2000. Her symptoms were kept under control with medication.

Systems better after moving

But since the family's nine-month stay in the home, her symptoms have

worsened, which Lynn Droegkamp blames on the mold. The couple plan to take

the girl to see a pediatric specialist to look for effects of toxic

exposure.

Lynn Droegkamp has been spared severe symptoms, she said, but is dealing

nevertheless with a swollen lymph node her doctors haven't been able to

explain.

The family cat, Socks, was vomiting and had blood in its urine while in the

home.

Since the family moved out of the four-bedroom home, many of their symptoms

have improved. The Droegkamps have moved into a one-bedroom home they own

off Highway K. They had to kick out their tenants so the family could have a

roof over their heads, Lynn Droegkamp said.

The Droegkamps were told their homeowners insurance will not cover the mold

damage to the new home. Temporarily, they said, they are making two mortgage

payments while living in their second home, where they slept on the floor

for two weeks.

" That's when it hit and I knew we were really in trouble, " she said. She

cried many times.

The family found the greenish black, slimy mold after Christmas when

Droegkamp removed molding that surrounded a living room window. Water had

been leaking through six windows of the home, and they suspected the worst.

The couple sent a letter to the Waukesha County Division of Environmental

Health.

, the county's director of environmental health, said a sample

of the mold was sent to the state Laboratory of Hygiene, which confirmed

that there were several types of molds in the home, some of which could

cause health problems.

The couple called in a Madison-based firm, A & J Specialty Services Inc., to

get rid of the mold but was told there wasn't anything that could be done

because the mold had spread to the entire front of the home.

The family decided to leave, wearing only the clothes on their backs in

order to avoid taking the mold with them.

The home was built 10 years ago by Coventry Homes of Waukesha for and

Langdon. The Langdons, who sold the house to the Droegkamps, have

since relocated to Texas.

Mark Kugi, vice president of Coventry Homes, confirmed Thursday that the

firm built the home. The company keeps a service record on all homes it

constructs and has no record of receiving complaints about leaks at that

one, Kugi said.

" It's the homeowners' responsibility to maintain the home, " Kugi said. When

an owner calls about a leak, the company repairs it, he said.

Stachybotrys, one of the toxic molds identified as in the home, thrives on

wood, paper, ceiling tiles and other building materials.

Professor afraid of mold

Straus, a microbiology professor at Texas Tech University in Lubbock,

Texas, said in an interview that he will not go into a home again where

Stachybotrys exists. The last time he did, he lost hearing in one ear and

was vomiting for days afterward, he said.

Other symptoms from exposure to Stachybotrys include nosebleeds, hair loss,

rashes and cognitive dysfunction, Straus said.

Although Straus won't enter a home with Stachybotrys, he recommended another

company that he said would, for a fee of $3,000, evaluate how much mold is

there and whether any of the family's possessions could be salvaged.

Anyone that goes into a home containing Stachybotrys should be wearing a

full body suit and using a respirator, said Straus, who travels all over the

country to consult and identify molds. Stachybotrys is one of the worst

molds, he said.

Part of the problem is that there are no guidelines on how much mold is

safe, Straus said. It is safe to conclude that the more Stachybotrys in a

house, the more likely the home will have to be destroyed.

" Mold is like a forest fire, " Straus said. " At one point in a fire, you

could have put out the fire with a cup of water. If you leave the fire only,

the fire spreads, and you can lose the whole forest.

" In a home, if you don't stop the water intrusion that's allowing the mold

to grow, you can lose the whole house. "

Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on May 4, 2001.