Silent danger awaits some home buyers

MILWAUKEE

You can find mold in every part of our environment, but when its concentrations grow inside a warm wet house, the house and family may be at risk.

For 4-year old Carly and 2-year-old Brady Peterson, doctors were a way of life last spring. Bills mounted as their parents struggled to figure out why the family was constantly sick.

"Their sickness wouldn't last for three, four, five days. It would last for two, three, four weeks. Same thing with us," homeowner Matt Peterson said.

The sickness started as soon as the Petersons moved into their custom-built dream home in rural Racine County. A relative finally suggested maybe their dream home was the problem.

An inspection revealed high levels of mold. Peterson was stunned. He recalled one day during construction when he found a crew in the basement wearing respirators and spraying bleach on the ceiling.

"They said to me, 'Well, we got a few spots here of mold. We're taking care of it. Shouldn't be any problem,'" Peterson said. "At that point, I had to trust them that they were taking care of it."

After five weeks with relatives and $14,000 in mold remediation bills, the Petersons moved back home. But when they asked the builder to cover the cost, the company told him to check his construction contract.

"Legally they don't have to give us anything. Let's throw legality and dollars out the window, this is about what's right and what's wrong," Peterson said.

WISN 12 News went to Newport Builders.

Read this article:
Silent danger awaits some home buyers