My wife and I have been sick off and on for several months. For the last six weeks my wife has been suffering severe hives and in one stretch I've had to take her to urgent care 4 times in 5 days. AND she doesn't have health insurance. We were finally able to get someone out to inspect the vents in our apartment and guess what?...... Someone who had rented this unit prior to us (we've been here 4 years) had taken a piece of foam about 4 inches in diameter and a good foot in length and shoved one in two of our vents. When they removed this it was absolutely COVERED in mold.
So they are now sending this off to be tested and the removed all the registers and found them coated on the inside with mold. So now, the landlord is moving us about a mile away to another unit they have just finished getting ready to rent. Unfortunately, it is smaller than our current apartment and not near as nice even though it is about 15 years newer. So we are having to move everything out, and live temporarily in this other unit until they can mitigate the mold in our unit. THEN we get to move everything back once again. They are anticipating this to take anywhere from 3-6 weeks.
On the GOOD side, is the fact that the landlord is paying for movers to come move us.
On the BAD side, in our area you cannot get but 2 channels of TV without cable and we can't afford to switch our cable, phone, and internet services only to move them back a short time later. So I guess I will now finally have some time to get back to doing artwork again (That isn't job or architecture related). So to keep from having to unpack/repack/unpack again we will be living with the bare necessities it seems.
All this to say, that if you are having sinus issues or constantly being sick, I HIGHLY recommend that you have someone inspect your ducts and registers to make sure there isn't a mold problem happening. It is far easier to deal with if you catch it early.
So, if I don't get onboard to post for the next few weeks, have fun all and let's hope for some good new sci-fi.
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
Sucks that you've got to go through that, but at least you were able to find the cause. I'm glad the landlord is paying for your move, too.
Makes me wonder though, why did the previous tenants put the foam in the vents? Did they not like the landlord and were just being an ass about it or what? It'll be interesting to hear what those tests find out about the foam/mold.
Posted by WizArtist II (Member # 1425) on :
We haven't heard from the Property Management yet, but we went to pick up our mail and they have already ripped out all the carpeting and ductwork. So we will see how long this mess takes and to what extent they have to go. Also my wife is scheduled to get her blood test results back on Friday to see what's going on.
Posted by Saltah'na (Member # 33) on :
They should give some sort of compensation on your rent due to your inconvenience. The fact that it was discovered 4 years after the move means that the foam alone would not cause the mold, otherwise you would have been suffering just after you moved in. I'm betting that there is some sort of moisture problem in the ductwork which is causing this (it could also affect other apartments).
But good luck nonetheless. It is quite the pain but hope they have that problem resolved quite soon. I would also say that perhaps you just might want to look at other places in case the contractors don't get everything......
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Lucky you that your landlord is paying for your move!
I'm having to pack up the cats and get out of my apartment from monday morning through tuesday evening- they're tenting the whole building for termites.
Fuck-o, what an pain in the ass.
I'm looking into Florida law as to how much I can take off my next rent check to help cover costs of hotel, etc.
Posted by HerbShrump (Member # 1230) on :
Our landlord's solution to the same problem was to pull the carpet back, dry the floor after the flooding and wash the walls with bleach.
That's it.
Meanwhile I got sick with bronchitis every winter.
Eventually (well, in short order) they wanted to start charging us for necessary repairs. That's when we bought a house and moved.
If we have to pay for the maintenance, we might as well own.
Funny, after leaving that duplex the bronchitis cleared up quite a bit and, after I left my employer that had similar maintenance issues, the yearly bronchitis ceased entirely.
Posted by Daniel Butler (Member # 1689) on :
My brother and I are about to move into a 2-bedroom together. Any advice on how to check for mold and things beforehand?