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| The Basics | The next disaster: mold
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After a water disaster, mold is everywhere. It's disgusting, a possible health hazard and costly to fix. The worst horror is that youre probably not covered by your insurance.
By Liz Pulliam Weston
Diane Beauchamp knows she's among the lucky ones. After Hurricane Katrina, her home in Ocean Springs, Miss., is still standing and apparently wasn't flooded.
But it's covered in mold.
Rain seeped in through the wind-damaged roof and siding, Beauchamp said. Then the moisture sat and "cooked" in humid 100-degree heat for days, leading to mold growth in every room.
The mess Beauchamp found when she was finally able to return home after a week was almost Technicolor: Black spores crept up the walls. An ottoman, once dark green, had turned white with fuzzy growth. Green splotches sprawled on a cream-colored sectional sofa. Carpets that didn't even seem damp had mold growing in the padding underneath, and Beauchamp isn't sure how much of the drywall can be saved.
"It was really gross," Beauchamp said. "In the bedrooms, it was also on blankets on top of the beds, not just on stuff that was on the floor."
As bad as it was, Beauchamp said her mold growth couldn't hold a candle to the damage suffered by homeowners whose houses were actually flooded, where mold sprouted in a thick rug on nearly every surface.
"I know I'm fortunate," Beauchamp said, "but fixing it still involves a lot of work."
And it takes a lot of money, much of it likely to come out of her own pocket.
Skyrocketing mold claims around the turn of the century led many insurers to sharply limit or even eliminate coverage for fungus growth, which has left many hurricane-afflicted homeowners on their own in dealing with the moldy aftermath.
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Coverage limited, if available at all
Insurers said they were protecting themselves from a phenomenal increase in claims and lawsuits over "toxic mold," which some claim poses serious health risks and others dismiss as mere hype.
In Texas, epicenter of the controversy, the number of mold-related claims rose more than tenfold from the beginning of 2000 to the end of 2001, while the average amount paid tripled to $36,213, according to the Insurance Information Institute. In California, at least one major insurer -- State Farm -- briefly stopped writing policies when mold claims started to spike.
Eventually, state regulators across the country allowed insurers to trim their risks in different ways:
Some insurers exclude mold entirely. State Farm, the nation's largest insurance company, doesn't cover mold remediation, whatever the cause, a spokesman said.
Others have limited coverage. Allstate, for example, doesn't cover mold that results from longstanding problems, like a leaky pipe. It does, however, provide up to $10,000 for remediation when the mold is caused by a "covered peril" -- such as a bursting pipe or, if the homeowner has coverage for wind damage, rain pushed through a wind-damaged roof. Some insurers allow policyholders to buy more coverage, up to $50,000, for higher premiums, according to the insurance trade group.
People with flood insurance have coverage, up to the policy limits. Floods are excluded from regular homeowners' policies, but people who buy coverage from the government-run National Flood Insurance Program are covered for mold damage and remediation up to the policy's limits. The maximum amount of coverage available from the NFIP is $250,000 for a home and $100,000 for its contents.| Follow these suggestions to keep mold from growing in your home: |
Check the exterior of your home regularly for accumulation of ground water.
If you ever see bubbling or dampness in a wall, get the wall opened to see what's causing it.
If your house sits above a foundation and there's a heavy rain, put electric fans under the house to dry the ground.
Fix leaky faucets, pipes and other leaks as soon as you find them.
Have your heating and air conditioning system serviced each year.
Clean and dry out wet or damp areas within 48 hours.
Keep indoor humidity below 60% by venting bathrooms and dryers to the outside, using air conditioners and dehumidifiers, using exhaust fans or opening windows when cooking, washing dishes or cleaning, and increasing ventilation.
If you have a leak that saturates carpet, ceiling tiles or upholstery, remove them.
Use paint that has an EPA-approved mold inhibitor.
Clean kitchens and bathrooms with mold-killing cleaners.
Don't carpet bathrooms.
Don't put vinyl wallpaper on walls that are at risk of sustaining water damage.
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But most affected homeowners don't have flood coverage. In Beauchamp's hometown of Ocean Springs, for example, only 790 policies were issued to an area with 6,650 homes, according to NFIP and Census Bureau data.
Its a big job; hire carefully
The cleanup costs from mold infestation are expected to be enormous. Although small areas of mold can be cleaned with a 10% bleach solution, widespread mold often requires removing carpets, pads, drywall and other affected surfaces. The areas must be thoroughly dried before new coverings are installed, or mold can grow again. Mold may leave black stains behind even after clothing, upholstery and bedding are cleaned, which means those items often must be discarded as well.
And while claims that mold can cause everything from learning disabilities to cancer have yet to be proved, mold can cause severe allergic reactions, which is why the Environmental Protection Agency advises homeowners to use respirators, gloves and goggles when tackling the problem. (You can find EPA guidelines on mold here.)
Many homes with severe water and mold damage will be demolished. Other homeowners will hire mold remediation experts and get mixed results.
Unfortunately, some companies that tout themselves as "mold remediators" have no qualifications and questionable ethics, which experts predict will lead to a second wave of victimization as homeowners pay for mold help they never receive, that doesn't cure the problem or that actually makes things worse by spreading mold spores around rather than killing them.
Homeowners can limit their chances of becoming victims with some due diligence:
- Check out the company's record in its home city. Since remediators tend to flock to where theyre needed most, find out where the company is headquartered and check its complaint record with the Better Business Bureau there.
- Ask for credentials. The two most common are the Certified Mold Remediator, granted by the Indoor Air Quality Association, and the Applied Microbial Remediation Technician/Specialist, offered by the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (see its Web site).
- Get three bids. This is often a challenge when contractors are in short supply.
- Get a detailed work plan. The plan should outline the specific problems to be solved, the number of technicians on the job, how long the job will take and the condition in which the company plans to leave your home.
Fast response is key
Given the expected cost of hiring help, Beauchamp decided to do the work herself. (Her husband is disabled and unable to assist.) She's already torn out the carpets and bleached the walls, but progress has been slow. She's in the process of painting one room so that she can move back into the house and tackle the rest.
"I'm going one room at a time," she said. "Right now, I'm not that far along."
As she works, Beauchamp can't help but wonder if she should have heeded evacuation orders. Perhaps if she'd remained, she thinks, she could have contained the damage she's facing now.
"The reason many of us have mold problems was because we evacuated and weren't able to get back or didn't think we could come back to take quick action," Beauchamp said. "Had we stayed for the storm . . . we would have been able to get the carpets out quickly and open up the house to dry it out before mold would have had a fighting chance to get growing."
Liz Pulliam Weston's column appears every Monday and Thursday, exclusively on MSN Money. She also answers reader questions in the Your Money message board.
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