Ashley Whitehead never thought her home would be considered a health hazard. The house she and her husband Robert bought off Haws Run Road seemed safe enough. But in no time, her children began to have trouble breathing. The foundation started to crumble. Cracks appeared above the widows. Then she saw the mold, lots of it.

The Whiteheads' 2-year-old daughter and 8-month-old son experience ongoing breathing problems. Trey was placed on a respirator as a result of the mold, while daughter Kaydence takes medication every day for her coughing.
"I don't know how long the mold has been here, but it's thick and has been growing for a while," said Ashley Whitehead. "Every time I clean it, it just keeps coming back."

Today, the Whiteheads realize they live, in part, in a flood plain, which helps account for some of the problems they have now. The 19-year-old mom is wondering how much longer her family can stand to live there.

"It's been like hell," she said. "If I knew it was going to be like this, I never would have bought it."

To John Harrison, director of environmental health for Onslow County, it's a familiar story. Mold is a common complaint for many in the county. And while certain categories of mold can carry effects for those exposed to it for extended periods of time, there is little his department can do.

"We get quite a number of calls concerning mold," Harrison said. "However, we are, by no stretch of the imagination, experts on mold and don't have any regulatory authority in the area of dealing with mold issues."

Harrison normally directs calls to Peggie Garner at North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service in Onslow County. Garner makes referrals and works with North Carolina State University in mold identification and remediation. Most of all, she helps residents get a handle on mold by helping them minimize moisture in their homes.

"It may be they have a lot of humidity in house, so they use a dehumidifier," Garner said. "A lot of people, even though they have a fan in the bathroom, don't know the importance of the fan is to draw moisture out."

The first step in addressing mold growth is identifying and correcting it at the source, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Health.

Cleaning visible moldy areas with bleach and water or industrial cleaners may get rid of it for a while, but unless the origin is located and eliminated, mold will come back.
A breeding ground

Stacy Crawford knows how stubborn mold can be. She lives at Town Center Apartments in Jacksonville, and dampness under her kitchen sink has become a breeding ground for mold spores, as have the cabinets under her bathroom sink, along the tub, under her shower tiles, and on many of her baseboards and window frames.
"I know everything under there is going to have to be thrown away," Crawford said, looking into her kitchen cabinet. "I've had to throw away food over this. There aren't too many places it isn't there."

She's cleaned. Her landlord has cleaned. By all appearances, the mold goes away every time. Almost as soon as they finish, it's back.

"I wash this stuff all the time. It's horrible, it really is," Crawford said. "It's caused me some severe (health) problems, but they don't seem to care."

Crawford's neighbor, Latarsha Terrell, changed apartments after the one she was living in became so infested with mold it began to take a health toll on her family, which includes her husband and 2-year-old daughter, Ja'ziah. Now that the family is in a mold-free apartment at Town Center, Ja'ziah's asthma has improved.
 
"It started in the closet then started trailing from that bedroom to the closet in the other bedroom; you could smell it," Terrell said. "This place if fine, but when it rains really bad, the front door leaks (in) water."

Jackie Michaliga, the regional manager for Town Center Apartments, said the company tries to stay in tune with the concerns of residents. While mold is something they know about, identifying why it happens is often a problem. Sometimes, Michaliga said, the tenant is responsible for it.

"There's two types of mold: mold and mildew due to poor house cleaning practices or (mold) due to moistness," Michaliga said. "If we have a complaint either way, we always go and assess it. It's something we're really aggressive on."

A water problem

Most molds require only moisture to multiply, said Romie Herring, an industrial hygiene consulting supervisor for the North Carolina Department of Public Health.

Specializing in epidemiology, or the study of communicable diseases, Herring said although mold and mildew can stem from bad cleaning habits, spores more typically thrive when time, temperature and moisture join forces.
"Even with poor housekeeping, if no moisture is there, then no mold," Herring said. "It takes time, usually 24 to 48 hours of staying wet for mold to grow. You won't have mold without having a water problem."

Herring said he receives numerous calls from homeowners and renters with mold problems looking for a solution. But with no specialized state legislation regulating such instances, Herring said, local building inspectors may be the only way to get help. The extent of the mold must be severe enough to question the structure's integrity for authorities to intervene.

Currently, Town Center has no open requests for services dealing with mold problems, said Michaliga, who ensured Terrell's problematic apartment had been taken care of properly.

"Our residents are our No. 1 priority," Michaliga said.

As for the Whiteheads, a flood adjuster recently assessed the damage at their home, which resulted in the need for a new air-conditioning system, new drywall and siding from the ground up to 4 feet, as well as new carpet in all the rooms.

The total cost to save the home: $45,000.

For now, the only thing the Whiteheads can do is pray for a dry season until they can get their footing on an already unstable situation. Sandbags barricade the back door into the garage and help preserve an already crumbling foundation.

Ashley hopes they can get some help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It bought the lot next to them when the house that once sat there suffered similar flood damage.

"It floods almost every time it rains," Ashley said. "I'm terrified for a hurricane to blow in here."

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