Brians Toxic Mold Damaged House
Donation protected
I have owned a house in Pittsburgh since 2007. Over the years I have put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into keeping the house rented out almost the entire 8 years that I have owned it. Which includes me, myself, and I fixing, painting, climbing ladders, painting basement walls, breaking my back carrying appliances up and down steep steps for years
Back on Sunday, June 8th at around 10:30am, a fire started a block away from my house on an outdoor wooden porch (go figure how that happened), by the end of the day 14 houses in this neighborhood took major fire damage, 6 completely demolished. My house had bad fire damage on the 2nd and 3rd floor but when I asked Farmer's Insurance if it should be demolished, they said absolutely not necessary("100% positive it can be repaired within a couple months" were the exact words from the adjustor)
On Monday, June 9th I signed an agreement with a restoration company to start doing "emergency" work in order to save the property from water damage, things that needed done right away to salvage the property. The restoration company got to work immediately. During that week I receved calls from people at the insurance company wanting to know how the fire happened at this house. A very suspicious gentleman from Farmer's insurance basically accused me of setting it myself. The fire affected 14 houses mind you and I was sleeping through the whole ordeal being it was a Sunday. It really was a nightmare week, I had to work my 9 to 5 so I had to wake up at 6am everyday to get to the house and provide entry to the house for the restoration company and go over repairs and post condemned notices as well before going to work.
The emergency work was completed by the end of the week, but when the bill turned out to be $6,000, guess who didn't want to pay - Farmer's Insurance - they refused to pay and I suppose got the restoration company angry about that, so the restoration company pulled out of the job and forgot about it. They refused to do any more work until Farmer's Insurance paid them for the emergency repairs. Apparently they owe tens of thousands of dollars to contracting companies all over the state of PA and probably all over the country. It seems like they deny until they are sued, there are 9 different forms in Pennsylvania that an insurance company can be sued by filling out, however, I can't afford a lawyer and I'm sure my house will be in even more of a mess by the time I could settle this in court. We're talking up to 6 months from now.
After the restoration company argued with Farmer's about the money until September 29th when they finally proved with numerous documents or who knows what to get their check for 6,000. In this lapsed time, bad things happened to the house, albeit this whole time I assumed the house was being fixed as the restoration company lied to me as well saying they will "put me on the schedule after their current project". During this lapsed time, somehow, mold developed in the 2nd floor bathroom, the kitchen, the 3rd floor and yellowjackets nested in the 2nd floor ceiling space.
The restoration company finally got to work around October and finished repairing the walls where the direct fire damage occurred, ignoring the fact that there was visible mold in the kitchen and bathroom. Just doing the bare minimum and taking 9 weeks more to repair the house. The mold continued to grow as it only needs 3 things to grow, heat, moisture, and darkness.
When the restoration was completed on 12-7-14, I had to have an inspector from my mortgage company, who was holding my rebate check in escrow through another law I didn't know existed that further punishes the victim, come out and approve the repairs. This guy ignored the mold as well but quickly left the property.
A few days later I came into clean up the property myself of all the burnt leftovers which nobody put out for the trash for worry of being sued for lost property. When I did that, I was not wearing a mask because I had yet to identify the mold myself, but after a while in the property this time with the furnace on because it had become cold since the restoration company left, I began to dry heave in the bathroom and felt I had to vomit. I ran outside and got some fresh air but still did not feel right and the next day I noticed black mucus on my dry nostril lining. I've read that inhaling certain mold can cause you to have health problems for the rest of your life and its a terrifying feeling.
The $4,250 is for American Mold Remediation to remove the mold($1,850 down payment and $1,850 upon completion) and for an Air Quality Test ($450) and new drywall($100) after the mold company does the demolition work. I will be posting official documents to this campaign soon, including contacts to confirm that the repair work is set to go, just need $1,850 to get the mold company started on the work.
If I don't get a penny, I hope no one has to deal with Farmer's Insurance ever in their life and realize that their insurance policy on their house will not be handled correctly by them. There is a problem when this type of thing occurs over and over again and everyone has to fight an insurance company while they go through a tragedy like this. Please help me get this house safe for a new family to move in to this home and there will be one less abandoned house in Pittsburgh.
All Good Samaritans out there that read this, thanks for listening
Peace be with you
Back on Sunday, June 8th at around 10:30am, a fire started a block away from my house on an outdoor wooden porch (go figure how that happened), by the end of the day 14 houses in this neighborhood took major fire damage, 6 completely demolished. My house had bad fire damage on the 2nd and 3rd floor but when I asked Farmer's Insurance if it should be demolished, they said absolutely not necessary("100% positive it can be repaired within a couple months" were the exact words from the adjustor)
On Monday, June 9th I signed an agreement with a restoration company to start doing "emergency" work in order to save the property from water damage, things that needed done right away to salvage the property. The restoration company got to work immediately. During that week I receved calls from people at the insurance company wanting to know how the fire happened at this house. A very suspicious gentleman from Farmer's insurance basically accused me of setting it myself. The fire affected 14 houses mind you and I was sleeping through the whole ordeal being it was a Sunday. It really was a nightmare week, I had to work my 9 to 5 so I had to wake up at 6am everyday to get to the house and provide entry to the house for the restoration company and go over repairs and post condemned notices as well before going to work.
The emergency work was completed by the end of the week, but when the bill turned out to be $6,000, guess who didn't want to pay - Farmer's Insurance - they refused to pay and I suppose got the restoration company angry about that, so the restoration company pulled out of the job and forgot about it. They refused to do any more work until Farmer's Insurance paid them for the emergency repairs. Apparently they owe tens of thousands of dollars to contracting companies all over the state of PA and probably all over the country. It seems like they deny until they are sued, there are 9 different forms in Pennsylvania that an insurance company can be sued by filling out, however, I can't afford a lawyer and I'm sure my house will be in even more of a mess by the time I could settle this in court. We're talking up to 6 months from now.
After the restoration company argued with Farmer's about the money until September 29th when they finally proved with numerous documents or who knows what to get their check for 6,000. In this lapsed time, bad things happened to the house, albeit this whole time I assumed the house was being fixed as the restoration company lied to me as well saying they will "put me on the schedule after their current project". During this lapsed time, somehow, mold developed in the 2nd floor bathroom, the kitchen, the 3rd floor and yellowjackets nested in the 2nd floor ceiling space.
The restoration company finally got to work around October and finished repairing the walls where the direct fire damage occurred, ignoring the fact that there was visible mold in the kitchen and bathroom. Just doing the bare minimum and taking 9 weeks more to repair the house. The mold continued to grow as it only needs 3 things to grow, heat, moisture, and darkness.
When the restoration was completed on 12-7-14, I had to have an inspector from my mortgage company, who was holding my rebate check in escrow through another law I didn't know existed that further punishes the victim, come out and approve the repairs. This guy ignored the mold as well but quickly left the property.
A few days later I came into clean up the property myself of all the burnt leftovers which nobody put out for the trash for worry of being sued for lost property. When I did that, I was not wearing a mask because I had yet to identify the mold myself, but after a while in the property this time with the furnace on because it had become cold since the restoration company left, I began to dry heave in the bathroom and felt I had to vomit. I ran outside and got some fresh air but still did not feel right and the next day I noticed black mucus on my dry nostril lining. I've read that inhaling certain mold can cause you to have health problems for the rest of your life and its a terrifying feeling.
The $4,250 is for American Mold Remediation to remove the mold($1,850 down payment and $1,850 upon completion) and for an Air Quality Test ($450) and new drywall($100) after the mold company does the demolition work. I will be posting official documents to this campaign soon, including contacts to confirm that the repair work is set to go, just need $1,850 to get the mold company started on the work.
If I don't get a penny, I hope no one has to deal with Farmer's Insurance ever in their life and realize that their insurance policy on their house will not be handled correctly by them. There is a problem when this type of thing occurs over and over again and everyone has to fight an insurance company while they go through a tragedy like this. Please help me get this house safe for a new family to move in to this home and there will be one less abandoned house in Pittsburgh.
All Good Samaritans out there that read this, thanks for listening
Peace be with you
Organizer
Brian Cawley
Organizer
Pittsburgh, PA
