If you can smell mould at your house, there’s a chance it is harming your health, or your loved ones.
How much harm, how much mould?
Big questions, but with BRANZ reporting visible mould in 49 per cent of Kiwi homes, and in 53 per cent of rentals, it’s a big question someone ought to be trying to answer.
“If someone has got an underlying lung or health problem and there's a cold, damp mouldy house, then it's worth considering whether that is having an effect on that person's health,” Dr Michael Epton, a community respiratory physician at Canterbury DHB, told Fair Go.
Dr Epton has had a keen eye on severe chest complaints ever since the ground coughed and rumbled and split in two in Canterbury, eight years ago this week.
“You'd have to imagine that post-earthquake the houses that have been broken that are not as water tight would pose a significant health issue. And that's what we're concerned about,” Dr Epton said.
Mould is definitely on his radar as part of the problem and not just when little bits of fungus actually get snorted into people’s airways to inflame and infect them.
“The more troublesome thing and I think the thing we're dealing with in Christchurch is that mould produces chemicals - the things that give mould a smell - and we know that a whole load of these substances that are produced into the air of houses can potentially cause lung inflammation and potentially lead to an increase of people's symptoms and more likelihood of for instance getting chest infections.”
Bottom line, a mouldy smell is a cause for concern.
In Christchurch, there’s at least one home where it is not academic, but real, and possibly even lethal.
Annie Bermingham was living in a beautiful home that is now too toxic with mould for her to stay in. She’s had readings of at least 60 times the normal background level for Aspergillus, a fungus that can cause allergic reactions at just five times the normal level according to one lab Fair Go consulted.
“This winter when the mould test came in it was as if a light switched on; made sense of what has been a harrowing time looking after dead and dying creatures and progressively adjusting to my changed health conditions,” Annie Bermingham said.
Earlier this year, with her own asthma getting worse, Annie also developed a persistent cough despite years of surfing, snowboarding and rock-climbing. Then her youngest dog, two-year-old Loki, died of a mystery illness that caused his lungs to fill with fluid. The same day he was put down, she learned her eight-year-old dog Bunny had inoperable aspergillosis - fungal balls high in the nasal cavity near the brain.
“The mould report tells me that all of that was all preventable,” Annie said.
Experts Fair Go consulted are divided. Bunny's fungus could well have come from a natural source outside - or from inside the quake-damaged home. Loki’s illness wasn’t diagnosed. Annie is still awaiting further testing to understand her own health troubles.
Annie’s home has leaked due to quakes since 2011 - there’s plenty of evidence of repairs paid for by EQC and her private insurer, but by 2017 those repairs still had not stopped the leaks.
What’s more, Annie has a report from 10 weeks before the first quake that says her Butynol roof was in good condition and not leaking.
So, if there is mould, she wonders how can it not be because of the quakes and the time taken to settle her repair claim?
All of this comes as Annie argues with Tower Insurance about the true cost of the best way to properly repair her home after the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes.
In July, as soon as it had the air quality report, Tower Insurance acted swiftly by paying Annie $27,000 to shift out and store her stuff.
That's her full relocation payment under the policy, so Annie must make it last until the house is repaired. She has already been waiting eight years for that to happen.
“I feel like we're being held to ransom and being robbed of many years,” Annie said.
It is important to point out that Tower only took over her claim from EQC four years ago and lays blame on Annie for one year of the subsequent delay.
"Tower is working hard to finalise claims quickly, however, a resolution requires both parties to participate, " a spokesperson told Fair Go.
Tower added: "The customer has engaged a number of different lawyers, advocates and advisers, and did not allow Tower to enter the property for almost a year."
Annie says that delay was spent getting her own advice, which helped her to argue for changes to what Tower's experts proposed. It still didn’t get her a detailed design to repair her house foundation.
Fair Go understands that design was finalised the day after we contacted Tower about this story.
Tower has also implied Annie’s house leaks may not be quake related.
“Tower balances the needs of all our policy holders and will not pay more than a customer is entitled to. This means considering many different issues, including identifying and understanding damage that existed prior to the earthquakes, or that is unrelated,” a spokesperson said.
Fair Go learned that right after the first 2010 quake, EQC claimed Annie's roof was in poor condition - an observation filed with no report to back it up.
Annie has proof from an inspection made 10 weeks before that first quake that her roof was in good condition at the time.
Both EQC and Tower have since paid to try to fix leaks they agreed were caused by quake damage.
Tower says: “The remaining Canterbury Earthquake claims are incredibly complex and Tower remains committed to fair settlements for all its customers.”
This is a battle Annie feels has literally taken nearly everything she has of value.
“How hard is it to just attend to this and sort it out? For myself and others?” Annie asks.
It’s certainly a terrible price for trying to hold on to her home.
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