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August 20. 2012 11:04PM
Amy Fultz talks in her West Lebanon apartment about the mold problem she believes has caused severe problems in her 12-year-old daughter's health. (Meghan Pierce/Union Leader Correspondent)
Mold is seen coming through living room wall of Amy Fultz's West Lebanon apartment before mold remediation. (Courtesy)
Mold found inside the plumbing access panel of Amy Fultz's West Lebanon apartment in May. (Courtesy)
Mold found inside the plumbing access panel of Amy Fultz's West Lebanon apartment in May. (Courtesy)
Lebanon woman campaigns to hold landlords accountable for mold removal
Amy Fultz talks in her West Lebanon apartment about the mold problem she believes has caused severe problems in her 12-year-old daughter's health. (Meghan Pierce/Union Leader Correspondent)
Mold is seen coming through living room wall of Amy Fultz's West Lebanon apartment before mold remediation. (Courtesy)
Mold found inside the plumbing access panel of Amy Fultz's West Lebanon apartment in May. (Courtesy)
Mold found inside the plumbing access panel of Amy Fultz's West Lebanon apartment in May. (Courtesy)
WEST LEBANON - Amy Fultz is on a crusade, she says, to regulate the removal of mold in rental properties.
The single mom and her two children, 14-year-old Marcus and 12-year-old Kayla, are preparing to move out of their home of a decade due to what Fultz says is an unresolved mold problem.
She said it's not her intention to draw attention to herself. “It's more to be able to bring attention that this is problematic for renters. As a renter, you don't have the right, you don't have the privilege, to go in and mitigate and start tearing out walls,” she said. “We're expected to live with what's there whether it's toxic to your family or not. You're expected to live with it or move out and I'm not OK with that.”
She said Kayla was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in January 2010. This spring, Kayla was diagnosed with non-celiac glucose intolerance and a mold allergy. Fultz and her son have not been diagnosed with anything, but the family of three has suffered from chronic fatigue for several years, Fultz said.
The mold has been growing inside the walls of her apartment for many years in two different locations, she said. The family has lived in the apartment for more than 10 years.
Landlord speaks up
Fultz's landlord, the Lebanon Housing Authority, hired a private company to remove the mold last June. The company did a poor job, Fultz charges. She is currently suing the Housing Authority in Lebanon District Court for back rent and possibly other damages, she said.
“I have withheld my August rent because it is in violation of my ability to have a safe and peaceful living,” according to the renter's bill of rights, Fultz said.
Lebanon Housing Authority Executive Director Ditha DeSimone would not comment on the lawsuit, but said as soon as her office was notified of the problem, she followed HUD guidelines. A professional company certified and trained to remove mold was hired to take care of the problem, she said.
“In this general instance I reached out to a professional company that are trained and certified in mold remediation. It was completed. We achieved clearance,” said DeSimone.
Fultz traces the problem to 2003, when her toilet was replaced with a low-flow toilet. She said the installation caused a leak inside the wall that separates the kitchen and living room on the first floor of her apartment. The bathroom is on the second floor. Eventually, water started seeping through the ceiling and mold began forming inside the kitchen cabinets, which are directly below the upstairs bathroom, she said.
Last September, the bathroom floor was torn up and replaced and the leak was repaired. Fultz believes the work released mold that had been growing inside the wall for years.
Her doctors have advised Fultz to remove obvious mold from the home to alleviate her daughter's allergies, which should in turn bring her diabetes back under control.
“If you have a flu or a cold, or any of those things, it's going to affect your diabetes; your diabetes is going to be a yo yo,” Fultz said.
Air samples
Fultz hired mold expert John Wright of Kingdom Cleaners to take air samples in her apartment. He said the company hired did not properly seal off the area being treated, causing cross-contamination throughout the apartment.
“They didn't use the proper equipment and they didn't do the job correctly, so they actually made the problem a lot worse,” he said.
The second time he tested Fultz's apartment, after the remediation, he found two different target molds in the air of the first floor, he said, noting the molds are associated with significant health issues.
DeSimone said she couldn't comment on Wright's test results since she hasn't seen them.
“We achieved clearance and we moved on,” DeSimone said. “We respond to any concerns as they come across our desk. We're right on it.”
In the past 14 months DeSimone has worked at the Lebanon Housing Authority, she said she has seen nothing but a responsive maintenance team.
“This Housing Authority takes care of its residents and has a very good history,” she said.
There are no laws in New Hampshire or on the federal level about mold, according to Eugene Benoit, an environmental engineer at the Environmental Protection Agency New England Regional Office in Boston.
“Basically, in New Hampshire, I get a lot of phone calls from people that have issues of mold problems in their homes and apartments,” Benoit said. “We spend a lot of time on the phone.”
The mold needs to be cleaned up and the source of moisture that is causing the issue needs to be eliminated, he said.
“This is really, ultimately, between the tenant and the land owners or the homeowners and the builders or contractors,” he said, adding his job is to educate and encourage people to use EPA guidelines. These guidelines are available online at epa.gov/iaq.
The Fultz family is moving to Virginia, where Fultz's brother has offered to take her and her children in until they can find their own mold-free home, she said.
“Otherwise we would be homeless because I can't stay here with my daughter's health,” Fultz said.
Fultz said she plans to return to New Hampshire in March for the trial.
mpierce@unionleader.com
The single mom and her two children, 14-year-old Marcus and 12-year-old Kayla, are preparing to move out of their home of a decade due to what Fultz says is an unresolved mold problem.
She said it's not her intention to draw attention to herself. “It's more to be able to bring attention that this is problematic for renters. As a renter, you don't have the right, you don't have the privilege, to go in and mitigate and start tearing out walls,” she said. “We're expected to live with what's there whether it's toxic to your family or not. You're expected to live with it or move out and I'm not OK with that.”
She said Kayla was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in January 2010. This spring, Kayla was diagnosed with non-celiac glucose intolerance and a mold allergy. Fultz and her son have not been diagnosed with anything, but the family of three has suffered from chronic fatigue for several years, Fultz said.
The mold has been growing inside the walls of her apartment for many years in two different locations, she said. The family has lived in the apartment for more than 10 years.
Landlord speaks up
Fultz's landlord, the Lebanon Housing Authority, hired a private company to remove the mold last June. The company did a poor job, Fultz charges. She is currently suing the Housing Authority in Lebanon District Court for back rent and possibly other damages, she said.
“I have withheld my August rent because it is in violation of my ability to have a safe and peaceful living,” according to the renter's bill of rights, Fultz said.
Lebanon Housing Authority Executive Director Ditha DeSimone would not comment on the lawsuit, but said as soon as her office was notified of the problem, she followed HUD guidelines. A professional company certified and trained to remove mold was hired to take care of the problem, she said.
“In this general instance I reached out to a professional company that are trained and certified in mold remediation. It was completed. We achieved clearance,” said DeSimone.
Fultz traces the problem to 2003, when her toilet was replaced with a low-flow toilet. She said the installation caused a leak inside the wall that separates the kitchen and living room on the first floor of her apartment. The bathroom is on the second floor. Eventually, water started seeping through the ceiling and mold began forming inside the kitchen cabinets, which are directly below the upstairs bathroom, she said.
Last September, the bathroom floor was torn up and replaced and the leak was repaired. Fultz believes the work released mold that had been growing inside the wall for years.
Her doctors have advised Fultz to remove obvious mold from the home to alleviate her daughter's allergies, which should in turn bring her diabetes back under control.
“If you have a flu or a cold, or any of those things, it's going to affect your diabetes; your diabetes is going to be a yo yo,” Fultz said.
Air samples
Fultz hired mold expert John Wright of Kingdom Cleaners to take air samples in her apartment. He said the company hired did not properly seal off the area being treated, causing cross-contamination throughout the apartment.
“They didn't use the proper equipment and they didn't do the job correctly, so they actually made the problem a lot worse,” he said.
The second time he tested Fultz's apartment, after the remediation, he found two different target molds in the air of the first floor, he said, noting the molds are associated with significant health issues.
DeSimone said she couldn't comment on Wright's test results since she hasn't seen them.
“We achieved clearance and we moved on,” DeSimone said. “We respond to any concerns as they come across our desk. We're right on it.”
In the past 14 months DeSimone has worked at the Lebanon Housing Authority, she said she has seen nothing but a responsive maintenance team.
“This Housing Authority takes care of its residents and has a very good history,” she said.
There are no laws in New Hampshire or on the federal level about mold, according to Eugene Benoit, an environmental engineer at the Environmental Protection Agency New England Regional Office in Boston.
“Basically, in New Hampshire, I get a lot of phone calls from people that have issues of mold problems in their homes and apartments,” Benoit said. “We spend a lot of time on the phone.”
The mold needs to be cleaned up and the source of moisture that is causing the issue needs to be eliminated, he said.
“This is really, ultimately, between the tenant and the land owners or the homeowners and the builders or contractors,” he said, adding his job is to educate and encourage people to use EPA guidelines. These guidelines are available online at epa.gov/iaq.
The Fultz family is moving to Virginia, where Fultz's brother has offered to take her and her children in until they can find their own mold-free home, she said.
“Otherwise we would be homeless because I can't stay here with my daughter's health,” Fultz said.
Fultz said she plans to return to New Hampshire in March for the trial.
mpierce@unionleader.com
