Indoor Air Quality Solutions, IAQS

BOYNTON BEACH — The mold blooming in unit L-107 at Venetian Terrace is a sickening black wallpaper of flowery-looking growths.

Like thousands of homes throughout Palm Beach County, it is in foreclosure, abandoned and caught in a labyrinthine legal system that has left it to putrefy with a leaky air conditioner that leaves dark puddles in the carpet and warping drywall.

Attorneys say L-107 is a prime example of everything that has gone wrong in real estate: a no-money-down loan on a condo now worth a fraction of its 2007 purchase price, a mortgage that went bad almost immediately, a borrower who walked away, a lost note, unclear ownership rights, and robo-signed documents handled by a foreclosure mill.

Another key factor: a court system so overwhelmed that even though a final judgment in favor of the bank was entered in August — more than two years after the uncontested foreclosure was filed — an auction sale isn’t scheduled until April 21.

But unlike the neighbor of a single-family home that can sit vacant with minor bother, June McCallion lives next door to L-107 and says she is ill from the musty odors invading her home.

“I’ve been living next door to hell,” said McCallion, 64, who suffers from a degenerative neurological disorder called Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and now has respiratory problems exacerbated by the mold. “I would please just like someone to fix this.”

But who?

No one is taking responsibility for the decaying condo at Venetian Terrace, and the recent stops and starts in foreclosures as banks review and resubmit flawed court paperwork may allow L-107 to fester indefinitely.

“This is not an isolated story. I hear it all the time,” said attorney Gary Poliakoff, a principal with Fort Lauderdale-based Becker & Poliakoff and a specialist in property law. “What’s happening out there is horrendous and no one is acting rationally from top to bottom.”

Boynton Beach requires lenders to register foreclosures and do basic maintenance on the properties. More than 1,000 homes are on the city’s list, but L-107 isn’t one of them.

Chase Home Finance, which filed for foreclosure on the unit in April 2008, has been accruing a $250-a-day fine from the city since Sept. 30, when it skipped a code enforcement hearing and failed to clean up the unit.

Although Chase has changed the locks and put the electricity in its name, the homeowner is legally responsible for the condo, spokeswoman Daisy Cabrera said. Asked why Chase doesn’t use a property preservation company to care for the condo, as it does for other abandoned foreclosures, Cabrera declined to comment.

Palm Beach County records show Aparecida Barreto, 47, bought the condo in August 2007 for $160,000 but stopped paying the mortgage three months later. It is not known whether she lived there.

Broward County records show Barreto also bought a Deerfield Beach condo in August 2007 for $195,000 with a no-money-down loan through Countrywide Home Loans. That property went into foreclosure in October 2008 with $194,302 still owed on the principal balance.

McCallion began complaining about L-107 more than a year ago, when insects started to invade her home. Today, a thin black layer of thousands of dead bugs covers the kitchen countertops and floors of the abandoned unit.

But the mold, McCallion said, is the worst part. Her clothes stink from it, and she said she has packed several boxes of books and belongings that have to be thrown out because of their musty odor.

Until recently, she was sleeping on her living room sofa because her bedroom, directly adjacent to L-107, had become uninhabitable. A cleaning of her air ducts, which cost hundreds of dollars, allowed her to sleep in her bed again, but she’s not sure how long that will last.

“My only alternative right now is to go into a nursing home,” she said. “I feel like everyone’s deceiving me, and I’m getting sicker and sicker.”

The Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s Office now values L-107 at $36,000. It’s overseen by an association, but neither the Venetian Terrace property manager nor its association representative responded to calls from The Palm Beach Post.

Skip Lewis, senior code compliance officer for Boynton Beach, said there is evidence someone attempted to remove the mold.

On Oct. 26, he re­inspected L-107 and found small sections of drywall cut out. But the air conditioner, which was shut off because of the leak, had been turned back on, possibly by someone thinking it would clear the mold.

“It looks like someone started doing something and it was just too big of a job,” Lewis said.

Part of the conundrum began with L-107’s mortgage. The loan was granted by Texas-based Woodlands Family Mortgage Inc., but Chase filed the foreclosure represented by the Florida Default Law Group, one of four large firms under investigation by the Attorney General’s Office.

In court records, Chase claims to be the holder of the mortgage note. Attached to the original foreclosure filing is a copy of the note, but there’s no endorsement to Chase. Also, Chase claimed the original note was lost and asks for it to be re-established by the court.

In subsequent documents, an endorsed original note shows up, but one endorsement is left blank while the other is endorsed to Chase.

Foreclosure defense attorney Tom Ice, of Royal Palm Beach-based Ice Legal, reviewed the foreclosure documents on L-107 and said that the blank endorsement suggests the note was sold into a trust that is not identified in the case.

The foreclosure also contains two affidavits swearing to the amounts owed on the mortgage, both signed by so-called “robo-signers.” One of the signers, Beth Cottrell, has acknowledged in depositions that she didn’t read or verify foreclosure documents even though she swore to having personal knowledge of the cases.

Chase froze its foreclosures in late September over robo-signer concerns.

Besides the questionable documents, Ice speculated that Chase just doesn’t want the property and has been able to delay the case for what will be three years if the sale occurs in April.

“When it comes to foreclosures, nothing adds up. It’s all backward,” Ice said.

Meanwhile, McCallion suffers.

• John P. Lapotaire, CIEC
• Certified Indoor Environmental Consultant
• Microshield Environmental Services, LLC
• www.Microshield-ES.com

By NEWS CANADA

Indoor air quality can suffer, especially over the winter when windows remain closed. However, with a few easy steps, homeowners can dramatically improve the indoor atmosphere. Here are some pointers from The Home Depot Canada to ensure your home’s air quality is up to par:

Manage mould – Keep your basement dry and mould-free by ensuring gutters and downspouts aren’t blocked, and that they direct water away from the home. Also be sure to get rid of carpets from bathrooms and basements with high humidity as mould often grows in these areas.

Clean easy – Choosing Eco Options products, such as the Eco Mist line of effective cleaning solutions, offer non-toxic cleansers for every surface of your home without the strong odours of traditional cleaning products.

Paint smart – If painting this fall, use Eco Options certified interior paints that are low in VOCs or VOC-free. Interested in the hot colour trends for fall? Try a subtle grey or taupe from the Martha Stewart Living collection. Just remember to open all windows to ventilate properly when painting indoors.

Check your chimney – Over time, soot from smoke and other particles can build up in the chimney causing smoke from fires to enter into the home. Make sure you have it inspected every fall and cleaned as necessary.

Protect from invisible hazards – For those that don’t already have a carbon monoxide detector, now is the time to install one. For those who do, test it and make sure it is working properly.

Freshen the furnace – A dirty furnace is less efficient, especially during the winter months when it is in constant use. Replace or clean the furnace filter in early fall and once a month during periods of continuous use. To check the filter, take it out and hold it up to the light. If it looks clogged, be sure to wash or replace it with a new filter of the same type and size. A furnace’s blower and motor should also be cleaned regularly. So if they haven’t been checked in a while, it might be time to call in an expert.

• John P. Lapotaire, CIEC
• Certified Indoor Environmental Consultant
• Microshield Environmental Services, LLC
• www.Microshield-ES.com

Central heating and double glazing keeps us warm in the winter months, but the house dust mite loves them too.

The cold weather’s arrived and the nights are drawing in: it’s that time of the year again to turn on the central heating and be glad of double glazing. However, allergy experts are warning that we are not alone in finding our homes a winter haven.

For the house dust mite the warm and slightly humid atmosphere of our centrally heated, hermetically sealed houses are a perfect place to survive and propagate – and they are a major cause of allergies at this time of year.

This is the start of the indoor allergy season. Allergies are very common, with estimates of one in three people having an allergy at some time in their lives. People have an allergic reaction when their immune system reacts to a harmless substance by making a specific antibody to fight it. This releases histamine and other chemicals which are the cause of inflammation and irritation.

What causes indoor allergies?House dust mites are the leading cause of indoor allergies. Most of the problems stem from the mite’s droppings which break up into extremely small particles – tiny enough to be inhaled deep into the lungs.

However, they are not the only cause of indoor allergies.

Everywhere in the house there will be microscopic mould allergens, unable to be seen by the naked eye. Mold favours warmth and dampness, so expect to find it in bathrooms, kitchens, fridge door seals, shower curtains and the corners of window frames. Mold may also be present in the moist soil of pot plants.

A pet – such as a dog or a cat – is also a source of allergens. These come from their dried saliva and skin flakes that they shed. Smaller domestic animals, such as guinea pigs and hamsters can distribute allergens from their urine-soaked bedding as they scurry around their cage.

So, what are the symptoms of indoor allergies?According to the Asthma, Allergy & Inflammation Research charity (AAIR), the principle culprit of indoor allergies – the house dust mite – can trigger allergic reactions such as asthma, eczema and rhinitis – a condition where the inside of the nose becomes inflamed, causing cold-like symptoms such as sneezing and a blocked or runny nose.

Other symptoms of indoor allergies are:
Coughing, wheezing shortness of breath
Itching, watering and inflammation of the eyes
Headache
Disturbed sleep
Poor concentration

Symptoms are often worse while in bed or first thing in the morning.

“Sneezing is the obvious symptom,” says Rosie Bradshaw from Guernsey describing her winter allergies. “It makes me very tired,” she tells us. She says house dust mites, fluff, animals, household cleaners and open fires have all triggered allergies.

Combating the indoor allergiesThe experts say there are ways to fight back against indoor allergies.

One of the first things to do is to reduce dampness. The AAIR charity recommends opening windows while cooking, washing and bathing. Also, avoid hanging clothes up round the house to dry: the evaporated moisture has to go somewhere.

“I try to open the windows as much as possible,” says Bradshaw, who would rather put on extra clothes than turn the heating up. “Fresh air is wonderful,” she adds and helps her avoid any problems with condensation in the house.

Its recommended that you encase mattresses, duvets and pillows with allergen-proof barrier covers and washing all other bedding once a week at 60 degrees or above – a temperature high enough to kill house mites.

It also recommended that you remove carpets and cartpeting whenever possible or vacuuming them regularly with a high-filtration HEPA vacuum cleaner.

“We have wooden floors in the bedroom because they’re easier to clean and you don’t get the dust that you get with a carpet,” says Bradshaw. “And we have cotton linen, which we wash very hot, and we have protectors on our mattresses and pillows,” she says.

Cats and dogsAs for pet allergies, the experts at the AAIR charity say households who do not currently have a pet should think carefully before acquiring one, particularly if there is a family history of asthma or allergies. Asthma UK says people who have cats and dogs should bar them from the bedrooms and preferably living areas too. Dogs and cats should be washed regularly, groomed outdoors and their bedding should be laundered.

Bradshaw says that people should try to discover what causes their allergic reaction. However, she cautions that finding out – and then making any necessary changes – could be a lengthy process. “It’s trial and error. You have to do it over a period of time because all these changes are major changes affecting the whole family,” she says.

• John P. Lapotaire, CIEC
• Certified Indoor Environmental Consultant
• Microshield Environmental Services, LLC
• www.Microshield-ES.com

By Kate Spinner

New federal air quality rules, expected in the coming weeks, will likely trigger a wave of emission controls on industries in Southwest Florida, and the possibility of motor vehicle inspections.

Air quality in the metropolitan region from Sarasota County to Hillsborough County ranks among the worst in the state for the pollutant ozone, created when industrial emissions, car exhaust and other vapors, such as those from gasoline, react with the sun.

Though ozone pollution here is much less severe than many other parts of the nation, it occasionally becomes bad enough to cause health problems for children, the elderly and people with respiratory illness.

Southwest Florida’s air quality barely meets current U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards, and with those thresholds set to rise, the region will be forced to put better curbs on air pollution.

In Southwest Florida, new industries will likely have to install improved emissions controls and older plants may have to upgrade equipment. Vehicle inspections also remain a possibility, but only if other measures do not go far enough, said Tom Rogers, an environmental administrator with the Florida Division of Air Resource Management.

The EPA had planned to impose the new standards at the end of October, but postponed the date recently without explanation. The agency has been under immense industry pressure to maintain the status quo and getting lawsuit threats from advocacy groups pushing tougher rules.

The new rules will mark the first enforced adjustment to air quality standards since 1997.

“EPA is working hard to finalize an ozone standard that is based on what the science tells us about this threat to Americans’ health. We will announce the final rule as soon as it is ready — this is an important and complex rulemaking and EPA is working to ensure we get it right,” said agency press secretary Brendan Gilfillan in a prepared statement.

Poor air quality

High in the atmosphere, ozone occurs naturally and protects the planet from the sun’s rays. At ground level it becomes a pollutant, created when fuel emissions react with the sun and hot weather.

Extremely sensitive people suffer when air contains more than 60 molecules of ozone for every billion molecules of good air ingredients, such as oxygen and nitrogen. Scientists express that measurement in parts per billion, or ppb.

Within the past 12 months in Sarasota, air quality exceeded 60 ppb for eight hours or longer 35 times, said John Hickey, manager of Sarasota County’s air quality program.

When ozone goes above 75 ppb, most communities issue air quality alerts to warn the young, elderly, those who exercise outdoors and people with asthma or other lung diseases.

Under the EPA’s expiring rules, however, communities do not have to reduce air pollution unless ozone levels routinely spike above 80 ppb. The EPA uses a complicated calculation, based on a three-year average, to judge a community’s air quality.

The new eight-hour standard will fall somewhere between 60 ppb and 70 ppb. Air monitoring stations in Sarasota scored between 70 ppb and 74 ppb for the three-year period ending in 2009. The highest readings during that time climbed into the 80 ppb to 85 ppb range. The highest reading so far this year was 80 ppb at Lido Park on Oct. 22.

Health threat

To most people, ozone in Southwest Florida rarely gets bad enough to notice — in comparison, the worst parts of Los Angeles rise into the 100s — but it can pose serious health problems for some people.

Clean air advocates say the standard should protect everyone, including the vulnerable few.

“We don’t want health standards set to protect a middle-aged, healthy man. We want to make sure his mother and his child and his brother with asthma are all protected,” said Paul Billings, vice president of national policy and advocacy for the American Lung Association.

Norman Edelman, a New York physician and chief medical officer of the American Lung Association, said 20 million to 30 million people in the U.S. have lung disease, making it more difficult for them to breathe as ozone levels increase. Children also develop poor lung function when they are chronically exposed to high ozone levels, Edelman said.

The Clean Air Act requires the federal government to set air quality standards that are healthy for all people and to review those standards every five years.

During such review in 2007, the EPA’s scientists concluded that the national standards were not protective enough and should be set somewhere between 60 ppb and 70 ppb. The EPA in 2008 was going to set the standard at 75 ppb, but the American Lung Association and National Resources Defense Council threatened to sue. A year later, the EPA said it would reconsider the 60 ppb to 70 ppb standard.

The EPA estimates that improving air quality to 60 ppb by 2020 would save 4,000 to 12,000 people from premature death related to respiratory illness and heart failure. Further, the agency estimates that people will collectively miss 2.5 million fewer days of work or school under the tougher standard.

That boost in air quality comes with a high price tag: up to $90 billion, according to EPA estimates. However, the EPA estimates the cost on the health system overall will drop by as much as $100 billion.

Industry groups say stricter standards will cost much more, crippling the economy. A report by the Manufacturers Alliance, funded by the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Petroleum Institute, estimates the economic cost at more than $1 trillion starting in 2020.

Depending on how strict the EPA gets, the rules could trigger a Florida vehicle inspection program, said Reggie Sanford, enforcement analysis manager with the Air Management Division in Hillsborough County.

“If you’re at a certain level of non-attainment, then according to federal law you’re required to have an inspection and maintenance program,” he said.

Inspection programs are extremely controversial because they can leave people, especially the poor, without a legal car to drive and usually meet with staunch public opposition.

View the full original story by Kate Spinner at the following site http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20101108/ARTICLE/11081045/2055/NEWS?Title=Air-rules-could-force-changes-here&tc=ar

• John P. Lapotaire, CIEC
• Certified Indoor Environmental Consultant
• Microshield Environmental Services, LLC
• www.Microshield-ES.com

Mold clung to the ceiling and left dark trails across the walls and floor. The teacher had already complained about the stench months before.

Stuff was even growing on desks.

Classroom 103 at Walker Middle School in Orlando had become a breeding ground for mold. When an inspector investigated last year, he found the humidity at about 86 percent.

And this was no isolated incident.

Moldy classrooms and other indoor-air-quality issues have sparked thousands of complaints from teachers and students during the past three years, an Orlando Sentinel investigation has found. Mold has infested walls and ceilings, ruined books and furniture and, in some cases, led to the wholesale evacuation of children from classrooms.

The Sentinel reviewed thousands of maintenance work orders, school district reports and e-mails as well as independent environmental studies in Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia counties from August 2007 to August 2010. The key findings:

•A never-ending battle against mold — some of it the most potentially dangerous, toxin-producing varieties — infesting classrooms, cafeterias, locker rooms, media centers and even nurses’ quarters.

•Repeated complaints that cited students and teachers suffering from stinging eyes, breathing distress and other symptoms thought to be related to poor indoor air quality.

•Persistently leaky buildings and faulty air-conditioning systems, which let in the moisture that mold needs to thrive.

•Some schools making matters worse by shutting off the air-conditioning to save money during weekends and summers in one of the hottest, most humid states in the country.

•Different approaches to the problem from school district to school district with inconsistent record keeping. In some cases, maintenance workers were allowed to paint over water-damaged areas instead of removing them as recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

•Parents who are often kept in the dark about the problem.

For nine months a year, 2.6 million students and hundreds of thousands of teachers and other employees spend at least six hours a day in Florida’s public schools. Yet there are no state laws governing how schools should monitor, detect and handle mold buildup and other indoor air-quality issues.

School districts are not required to tell anyone about the problem — not even the local health department — despite a growing body of knowledge that mold can be especially harmful to children. Some people show no outward reaction to mold. In others, however, it can cause sneezing, runny noses, breathing problems and respiratory infections, health experts say.

Mold was one reason why Jessy Hamilton quit his job as a social-studies teacher at Walker Middle School in August. He said he fought mold and respiratory infections for most of the six years he worked there.

The gray-black fungi first appeared in his portable classroom after the hurricanes of 2004. At one point, the entire ceiling was covered in mold, yet he had to hold classes there for eight weeks before his class could move into the media center temporarily, he said.

When Hamilton returned to the portable, the mold seemed to be gone. But it reappeared. Again and again.

“They would look at it and say, ‘Ah, it is not as bad as it was,'” said Hamilton, who was eventually moved to another classroom, which he said also had mold. “They painted over it, which dumbfounds me to this day.”

The principal could not be reached for comment after repeated attempts. But a spokesperson for the school district said his records do not reflect any health concerns related to mold.

The state knows how widespread schools’ indoor air-quality problems are, records and interviews with school district officials show.

The Florida Department of Education has acknowledged that about half of schools are burdened with environmental issues. But it would be expensive to fix them — an estimated $70 million just to start, according to a legislative report written in 2004, the last time the state took a serious look at the issue.

Not only would repairs be pricey, Florida could be setting itself up for lawsuits if it identifies those problems, wrote the Senate analyst who compiled the report.

Central Florida school officials insist schools are safe. They said they urge their employees to report air-quality concerns immediately and that they respond as quickly and aggressively as they can.

Part of the problem, they said, is money. They need more of it — and more personnel — to make repairs, upgrade air-conditioning systems and search out water damage.

The state Legislature has slashed funding for such maintenance projects in the past several years.

A national study by the University of Central Florida found that extra funding alone, however, might not solve the problem.

School districts do not want it publicized that they have mold problems.

“There is often a greater desire to hide problems than have them resolved,” wrote the UCF researchers who, in 2006, found that schools in Florida, Texas, New York and three other states had chronic problems with mold, humidity and odors.

In Orange County, school officials investigated about 1,200 complaints about indoor-air quality during the past three years.

Officials received about 50 complaints from Little River Elementary alone. They have been called to check out buildings dozens of times each at Brookshire and Pine Hills elementary schools and Cypress Creek, Dr. Phillips and University high schools.

Other schools with high numbers of complaints are South Lake High in Lake County, Indian Trails Middle in Seminole County, Gateway High in Osceola County and Deltona High in Volusia County.

Some of the damage has been significant, the Sentinel found.

For example, at Cypress Creek High in Orlando during the 2008-09 school year, inspectors found a 50-square-foot patch of ceiling that had water damage and mold in the boy’s locker room. Older ceiling tiles infected with mold were being stored nearby.

In a neighboring mechanical room, there was standing water.

Brookshire Elementary in Winter Park reported late last year that a 32-square-foot section of ceiling in one of its portables had water damage and mold. Several days before, officials had visited to check out mold growing in patches in the media center and bleeding through the paint in a mechanical room. Two walls in a computer lab had blistering paint and mold.

Mold continually grows on the walls of a main interior hallway there — a problem the principal has complained about repeatedly.

The moisture and mold problems at Walker Middle, apparently caused by a leak that had gone unchecked, should have been reported sooner, said Zach Smith, an environmental coordinator for Orange schools. “Conditions inside classroom 103 likely did not develop over a short period of time,” Smith wrote in his report.

When independent experts have tested the air inside local schools, they have found high levels of mold in about 40 percent of the cases. In some instances, they have discovered toxin-producing molds such as aspergillus and penicillium (which prompted city officials to shut down an Orlando fire station several months ago), and stachybotrys (a “black mold” that has forced the closure of numerous schools nationwide).

An environmental report from 2008, for example, shows that “aspergillus-penicillium” was found at Mill Creek Elementary in Osceola County. That August, the district spent more than $21,000 for an emergency cleanup of 35 classrooms there.

District officials throughout Central Florida said the number of complaints found by the Sentinel make the problem seem worse than it is. Teachers and other employees, they said, are not qualified to determine what is and is not mold with any accuracy.

In fact, a number of reports of “mold” turn out to be simply dark smudges of dust or dirt, officials said.

A “moldy” smell might actually be the unpleasant mixture of too many air fresheners in a room or odors from hamsters and other class pets, said Michael Corr, maintenance director for Lake County schools.

Corr also explained that sneezing, runny noses and headaches — typical allergic reactions to mold — can also be caused by factors such as strong cologne or pollen brought in from the playground.

“There are a lot of things in our everyday lives that can cause us to believe we have an indoor air-quality issue,” he said.

Many of the complaints, however, prompted officials to take action — throwing out books, replacing ceiling tiles or cleaning air-conditioning systems and desks, tables and carpet. Some portable classrooms were recommended for permanent closure.

In some cases, however, districts did not perform cleanups as recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other experts. For instance, mold has been allowed to remain in place instead of being removed immediately. And workers do not always wear protective gear.

School employees said the situation might be worse than it appears on paper because some air-quality issues are never reported. A lot of teachers, in this poor economy, worry about losing their jobs or being retaliated against.

And employees are frustrated that some problems that are reported never seem to get resolved.

An Osceola County employee pleaded for help at Denn John Middle in Kissimmee in late 2008: “200 — whole building is molding. The classes, the halls. Please come and see for yourself. This is not a new problem. Only new students and parents to complain.”

In a few parts of Florida, parents have spoken out about schools that seemed to make their youngsters sick.

Many times those districts did not make a concerted effort to fix problems until lawyers and the media got involved, said some of the parents who sued the Broward County school district over mold in 2003.

The State Attorney’s Office in Broward investigated and brought its findings to a grand jury, which released a report criticizing school officials not only for dragging their feet on getting rid of mold but also for having schools so poorly constructed and maintained that they constantly leaked.

Broward spent millions of dollars on repairs, but a number of statewide changes the grand jury recommended never happened.

Richard J. Shaughnessy, director of The University of Tulsa Indoor Air Program and one of America’s foremost air-quality experts, said the situation might not change unless the public pushes the issue.

“It has to start,” Shaughnessy said, “with parents becoming involved and demanding that schools address these types of problems across the country.”

Denise-Marie Balona can be reached at dbalona@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5470 or 386-228-5008.

• John P. Lapotaire, CIEC
• Certified Indoor Environmental Consultant
• Microshield Environmental Services, LLC
• www.Microshield-ES.com