WHITE BEAR LAKE, Minn. - A fund has been set up to aid a Twin Cities area family displaced by mold. The fund is entitled "Malmstedt Home Fund" and is available at any US Bank branch. Below is the orginal story on the Malmstedt's dilemma.
An August rainstorm has forced a Minnesota family of seven to spend the holidays - and longer - outside of their home. Initially, the Grinch in the case was the common Minnesota problem of mold.
The storm flooded the lower level of the small home, leaving a perfect mold-growing environment in the carpet in the family and children's play rooms. As a result, Daniel and Risa Malmstedt had to move to Daniel's parents' home in Vadnais Heights. The mold was causing health problems for the five children, aged 5-11.
"Now that we're out of our house, my kids have been much healthier," explained Risa. The same cannot be said for the house.
Although the Malmstedt's tore up the carpet and removed the mold, they found another even more serious problem hiding behind wet and weakened sheetrock on one wall. There is more than a foot of exposed dirt crumbling into the former family room.
The Malmstedt's house was built in the early 1900's. An addition was added later; about six feet lower than the original structure. That placed the wall that adjoins the Malmstedt's family room below the old foundation, leaving a gap filled with dirt and then hidden behind the wall.
"Looked like they built a stud wall and put some plastic behind it and then sheet rocked," commented Ben Eggan, building official of the White Bear Lake Department of Inspections. "I mean, at the bare minimum, you would think they would have had a footing and treated wood foundation."
Eggan was at a loss to account for how such a deficient job would have passed inspection in 1993. "The permit was pulled in [19]93. There were three inspections. So, somebody was out and taking a look at it."
He said he worries that the public will doubt the integrity of the permitting process. "Hopefully, this would not shed a negative light on what we [in inspections] do, because, by and large, we help the homeowners and people get things built correctly and without this process, you would probably have more of this than less," said Eggan.
The Malmstedt's say they had an inspection when they bought the house in 2005. "We did have an inspection prior to purchasing the home, however they were unable to notice anything because they did not do any deconstruction of the house," said Risa. She meant they did not look behind the sheet rock that concealed the lack of proper footings.
Eggan said he "met with the owners and gave them some ideas on how they could correct [the problem with the foundation]. We asked them to come and work with us to get it corrected."
How that correction would happen is not clear. The remedial work would be expensive. While the Malmstedt's had homeowners insurance, their carrier's company has, so far, declined to pay for any of the damage from either the mold or the foundation issue.
Thus, Mother Nature has colluded with old and odd construction work to place coal in the Malmstedt's stockings this year.
When seven-year old Riley sat on Santa's lap recently, he said "To live at our house... that is all I want for Christmas."
He will not get his wish. Even Santa cannot squeeze a repaired house through a chimney.
(Copyright 2011 KARE. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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