Work Begins This Weekend!
Thanx partially to this forum for all the help.
I closed on a foreclosure last week .. "the mold house" .. had a commercial ozone machine in there last weekend and I`m ready to rip the place up this weekend.
Dumpster is coming today.. permits have been aproved.. gotta put in a furnace to get some heat in there.. WOO HOOO!
oh yeah that reminds me I gotta get the gas turned on.
gotta go..
Good luck! Let us know how it turns out.
I'm interested to hear what the mold situation will turn out like.
Ryan J. Schnabel
hello Stiffler,
I'd like to know how this goes for ya. I am in southern IL and I am curious as to how you go about the whole process. Good luck
If you were in California I would say your are crazy. There is a serious liability with homes that have mold or have had mold. Landlords, developers and construction companies are all getting sued because of this. It is very serious here.
Gently gently,
You must remember that out here in California in all this sunlight, occasional earthquake and the ever present floods of winter, the population with time on their hands and an overabundance of new bar numbers has turned to sue as a way of life.
Remember now we have one of the lowest ratings throughout the nation as to schooling (Except Beverly Hills High School) my alma mater, which stands alone at the top of the heap. What other school teaches Farsi as an elective language. I got Latin and Greek while I was there and a course in advanced dish breaking.
In any case we are super litigus. Have a large supply of the newly admited cluttering the courts so we sue, sue and sue.
Some time ago the big item was the failure of most contractors to attach their construction projects to the foundation with bolts. Small over sight. Then it was a period of time when we dug holes in the wall and injected stuff to insulate. Created sort of a miasma which floated thru the houses. Lets not forget the floor heater which by utilizing the first law of thermo dynamics transferred all the bad air under the house all through the house. I could go on forever.
Mold can be handled and corrected and certified as removed, stamped, sealed and folded. Just go do it. I have removed it for years, the methods are available on web sites and in the pronouncements from the various health departments.
Besides, think of all the good cheeses, or the stuff that they inject into you when you are naughty, penicillium thats a bit moldy.
The methods are there to correct the sins of those who built and maintained before. Let not their failures keep you from your profits. Just handle, remember you are a member of TCI and we are kings of the dirt, er Real Estate.
From the sidelines. Lucius
Tell it to these landlords...
Toxic Mold Lawsuit
A lawsuit initiated by Susan Blanton and Julie Coefield of Newport Beach, California, against their former landlord, states that the toxic mold in their apartment made them sick -- so sick that it caused fungal masses in Blanton and fungal bronchitis in Coefield, according to Santa Clarita toxicologist, Dr. Gary Ordog.
The lawsuit claims that the $1,250 apartment at Park West Apartments had eleven types of mold growing under the carpets and in the closet. Everything they owned must be destroyed after it is used as evidence in their trial. Mold is a common problem and especially prevalent in moist coastal environments.
San Fernando Valley attorney Alex Robertson, won the largest known settlement in a toxic mold case, $1.35 million, according to an article by Seema Mehta of the Los Angeles Times. He is now representing about a hundred plaintiffs in cases that stem from residing in low-income condos as well as luxury residences.
Unheard of just a few years ago, toxic mold is now a hot topic, the basis of a number of lawsuits throughout California, and the subject of a draft of a bill to set standards for mold, filed by State Sen. Deborah Ortiz (D-Sacramento), chairwoman of the Senate's Health and Human Services Committee.
Although no link between toxic mold and pulmonary hemorrhaging and memory loss has been proven yet, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a fact sheet about receiving reports of the problem. A common reaction, similar to hay fever, has been established in response to mold and, according to a 1999 study conducted by the Mayo Clinic, most patients who have chronic sinus problems probably do so because of mold.
Other toxic mold lawsuits include Amgen for allegedly hiding toxic mold in a building where kidney medicine is made, a courthouse in Visalia where claimants contend the working conditions are hazardous, and mold in a Sacramento building, the subject of a $10 lawsuit.
Consumer advocate Kelly Hayes-Raitt, of the HomeSafe Campaign, notes that toxic mold can be found in low-income apartments and mansions. Faster building, less quality materials, air tightness, and a lack of waterproofing may be contributing to the toxic mold problem.
Pat Rioux
**Please See My Profile**
I would buy a house with mold in the same neighborhood and clean up after all the fear affected everyone else.
It is after all irrelevant how large the suit is for even if won. How much did they collect?
I am sure that the wily apartment owner may have had his property in trust or under the protection of an LLC. If the wily lawyer got a charging order against the property in the LLC then the landlords could not be forced to distribute assets and the plaintifss are now paying taxes on the judgment against the LLC without ever touching the money. THey are probably broke now as well
The fact is I got a great deal on this home cause noone would touch it. I`m glad people are afraid of mold
It took me two weeks to get the realtor to even show it to me. I~ll buy up all the homes with mold.
As long as the original problem is fixed (ie moisture) and the mold is removed then there`s no issue.
In my case a water line broke and flooded the basement. House sat for months and the bank did nothing while the mold grew and grew.
Everyone said it would cost me $25K to remove the mold.. I laughed.
Cost so far:
5 Respirators: $100
2 dumpsters: $500
2 guys and myself having fun ripping stuff down : $500
3 days commercial ozone machine: $ 100
3 days commercial air scrubber rental:
$150
Far cry from $25 G`s.
All the mold will be removed by tommorrow and I`m back to 4 walls in the basement. The furnace never ran so the problem is only in the basement.
Now I will have some cost associated with framing, drywall ect but I think that will just add value to the home.. the old basement was UUUUUGLY paneling and a nasty drop ceiling all 20 years old.
In Europe I remmember many homes had leaky old mold smelling crawl spaces and celers.. noone ever considered it a health issue.
I think the tabacco lawyers are bored.
Sounds like you have a pretty good handl e on things Stiffler. I would like to know more about this if you would care to let me know how you went about the task of getting everything going. I am very interested. As we all know, the mid-west has a bit of a moisture problem, hence the perfect breeding ground for mold to grow...
don't take it personally. If you know what you are doing that is great. I personally being in California am concerned about this issue. Which it sounds like to me is a good niche market, because very few people want to deal with it. Good luck and I hope it turns out well for you.
Update:
Well I`ve filled 3 dumpsters now and may need another.. wow! lots of stuff.
New furnace is up and running..
Today I took down the vanity in the ustairs bathroom to find mold on the walls... My first thought was that I`m in real trouble, that the mold from downstairs had crawled up the walls to the upstairs and now I`m screwed since it will be everywhere..
After gutting the bathroom it turns out the mold was only on the upper portion of the wall (above the sink and bathtub) it did not come from the downstairs.. WHEW!
The walls are stucco and I bet half the homes in this town have that mold build up from the years of moisture in the bathroom.. OH OH someone better start a class action suit
The walls will get replaced by the moisture proof `green` drywall and I should be good to go..
My favorite tool so far is the sledge hammer .. breaking stuff is kinds fun
Stiffler,
I am glad you didn't let anyone scare you. I sort of had the same thing happen to me. I lived in a 4000 feet of living space with a 3 car garage. I had to buy a John deer to cut the front lawn. Taxes were $4500.00 a year. But I wanted the SECLUSION of the property. I tripped onto the peoperty where I know live.(for real)
I went to look at an investment property in my current neighborhood. I parked in my "now parking space" When I got out of the car I looked over the hill (Most of my friends say mountain when they come to visit) I saw the most beautiful Ranch House ever. I walked down the steps and fell in love with the property.
Now the catch
The house was built in 1975 in the hillside, the blue prints for the house (I have) show the owner wanted to build 14 houses like this on "my" property. What happened was there was a mine under the property and the foundation cracked. Well my house is the only one on the property, but it is like living in another country. There are all kinds of animals constantly in the trees or in my yard, porch ,deck, ect.
Everyone told me I was crazy no one lived there since 1992 when the owners died 2 months apart. The funrniture was still there.
To get to the point, I sold my big house 55 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh and moved in. I am app. 2.5 miles from downtown, when I walk up my steps to the street I can see The Pgh skyline to one side and the University Of Pittsburgh skyline on the other.
I offered $7,500.00 for the house and all the property the man owned and it was accepted. Right now the house is worth over $150,000.00. I only had to blow in foundation in the basement.(biggest expense) I had the main floor decorated but that's a woman thing and that cost more than the repair work that needed to be done on the house. ( total cost for repair, $2,200.00)
The house was on the market from 1992 until December 2000. I made an offer the first saturday in Jan 2001 and closed january 31,2001.
Some peoples concerns are anothers goldmine. I am glad you bought the house and none of the posts scared you away. That's what it takes to be IN THE GAME.
Lori
Keep us posted
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