Sandy left N.J. shore with massive mold problem

Todd B. Bates and Jean Mikle | The Asbury Park (N.J.) Press

TOMS RIVER, N.J. -- As a real estate agent who often deals with abandoned properties, John Glancy Jr. has certainly seen his share of mold.

A broken pipe, a leaky roof, a cracked window: all are recipes for growing mold that Glancy has seen in unoccupied homes. But the destruction wrought by superstorm Sandy created a perfect storm of conditions for mold growth, dwarfing anything in Glancy's experience.

"It's everywhere," Glancy, of RE/MAX at Barnegat Bay Toms River, said of mold. One of his listings in Toms River, a storm and flood damaged property, is listed at $59,000. "Contaminated with MOLD," the listing states.

"I've been hearing a lot of horror stories, about mold remediation contractors, who aren't really qualified to do it," he said. "People think they just put some bleach on it and it goes away. But then it comes back."

Superstorm Sandy flooded tens of thousands of New Jersey homes, businesses and schools, and longtime home inspectors say the state's mold problem is the biggest they've ever seen.

Mold can sicken asthmatics and other people with lung conditions and mold allergies. It can also cause major damage in buildings and cost tens of thousands of dollars to remove. To protect public safety, officials did not allow many people to re-enter homes and other buildings for weeks after Sandy struck on Oct. 29. But that, ironically, allowed mold to gain a major foothold.

Many people tried to get rid of mold on their own or hired professionals or other contractors to clean up. But many people did not have the knowledge, tools or equipment to properly remove mold, which frequently returned.

Mold also resurfaced after some contractors completed their work. And some contractors vastly overcharged homeowners. Moreover, many people still don't know they have a mold contamination problem, according to experts.

"The problem is, you had all these gypsies coming from down South, mostly," said Laura DiGirolamo, who owns Empire Restoration Services in Jackson with her husband, Joe. "They were telling people they knew how to get rid of mold. A lot of people were misled. It's still going on, and that's the sad thing."

Frank Vodraska, a home inspector and board member with the New Jersey Association of Licensed Professional Home Inspectors, said "people have a bigger problem than the public has acknowledged. A lot of it has been taken care of, but a lot of it hasn't."

Vodraska, president of Whitehouse Home Inspections, which has offices in Lavallette and Pittstown, said about 20 percent of the homes affected by Sandy — perhaps thousands — have had major mold issues or recurring issues.

No government standards

Federal agencies have no standards or recommendations for acceptable levels of mold or mold spores in the air, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Research on mold and potential health effects is ongoing.

A general rule of thumb is that indoor mold levels should not be higher than outdoor levels.

New Jersey legislation (A-1588) would require the state Department of Community Affairs to establish standards on mold levels in residential buildings and school facilities.

The bill, approved by the state Assembly in March, would also require standards on mold evaluation and cleanup and a program to certify mold inspectors and cleanup workers. Another bill (A-2515) would require mold inspectors and cleanup workers to register with the state annually.

Paul J. Lioy, director of exposure science at the Rutgers Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute in Piscataway, said "there's no systematic approach" to evaluate whether mold cleanup procedures are effective enough to keep mold from coming back.

Home inspector Vodraska has costly first-hand knowledge of the mold problem. During Sandy, his home in the Ocean Beach section of Toms River had about 15 inches of water on the first floor. And he wasn't allowed back in for three weeks.

He paid a professional about $15,000 to gut the house, treat it for mold and recoat it with anti-fungal paint. Flood insurance covered roughly 65 percent of the tab, he said.

Local doctors have reported more patients with symptoms possibly linked to mold. Dr. Jeffrey A. Miskoff, a pulmonary and critical care physician in Monmouth County, said "I definitely think that since Sandy there's been more pulmonary symptoms, more asthma exacerbation, maybe more COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) exacerbation."

Sick from Sandy mold?

As many as one in 10 people are allergic to mold, according to experts. In a state of nearly 9 million, that means nearly 900,000 New Jersey residents may be sensitive to the fungi.

Concerned that residents and contractors working on Sandy-damaged homes could be exposed to irritants like mold, mildew and asbestos, officials from Deborah Heart and Lung Center in Pemberton received a $625,000 grant from the Robin Hood Foundation to conduct respiratory screenings in areas hard hit by the storm.

So far, 455 people have been screened at the events, which test lung function. About 14 percent — five to seven times higher than normal — of the participants have been told to see their primary care physician for further testing, according to Deborah spokeswoman Donna McArdle.

McArdle noted that some of those who were told to seek additional testing may have had preexisting conditions that are unrelated to any exposures they may have suffered after Sandy struck.

"We are not sure what the health risks are from Sandy, but we wanted to be pro-active," McArdle said. Deborah staff are particularly concerned about elderly residents, who are more susceptible to cardiac and pulmonary health problems, and also first responders, volunteers and contractors, who may have spent many hours inside mold-filled homes, she said.

Dr. Bradley Pulver, who chairs the Department of Emergency Medicine at Ocean Medical Center in Brick,said "certainly, we've noticed anecdotally that there has been an increase this summer, and for the spring and even over the winter after the storm, of people coming in with Sandy-related problems."

Building mold awareness

Leslie Terjesen, spokeswoman for the Ocean County Health Department, said the department began offering mold awareness and remediation classes for homeowners and volunteers in the spring.

The classes, offered by the department in partnership with the state health department and the Rutgers School of Public Health, give tips on identifying mold problems and staying safe while dealing with mold.

Diana Moore, project manager at Millstone-based SERVPRO of Freehold, a company that performs mold remediation, said "there's no regulations by the government right now, which makes it way too easy for the fly-by-night companies" to do work they shouldn't be doing.

SERVPRO of Freehold, one of more than 1,500 franchises in a 40-plus-year-old business, follows an industry standard and reference guide on professional mold remediation, according to Moore.

"I don't want people to have unnecessary mold remediation if their house doesn't need it," she said.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks destroyed the World Trade Center, generating vast dust clouds, the government provided people with high performance air vacuums and new air conditioners to help clean up, said Mark A. Maddaloni, a toxicologist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Region 2 office in New York.

But after Sandy, "people simply didn't have the tools to implement good guidance" on mold, he said. Tools include moisture meters, dehumidifiers and fans.

"There are precedents for, I think, the federal government to provide the tools to help remediate," and maybe the state could help, he said.

"We need to do just a better job the next time we have flooding," he said.

Contributing: Asbury Park Press reporter David P. Willis