Moving nightmare need advice

[Gone Disney]

First I want to say, it feels good to be back after sooooo long.
My husband and I visited the boards daily before we started building our new house and now the house is done and we are in a long drawn out process of moving in. Hopefully we'll be daily visitors again real soon.

For now I came to the one place I know I should be able to get some good advice. I'll recap our situation. We sold our house back in June just as we started building so we had to move. We decided to move on site at the new property (10acres). So we had to put most of our stuff in storage as we were in tight quarters. Soooo I fast forward 9 months.......


We went to the storage facility and started loading up. We didn't get too far when we noticed that most of our furniture was covered in MOLD! I was sooo upset. Needless to say we have new furniture now an expensive unexcepted expense. With all our stuff that was in boxes I decided to stack them in the new garage and go through them one by one and I Thank God I did. I have been horrified at what I have found. Apparenty the pest control at the site was not working! I have thrown out things that I have had for many years.

Many things I am unsure of whether I can save or not and that is why I am here today. Some items have sentimental value and/or simply can not be replaced. Has anyone here been through this same thing and if so where you able to save items? Again if so How did you clean them? Some are stuffed animals other items are of clay, wood and cloth. This has upset me terribly and I do not want to risk my families health at all but I hate to part with some of these items.

Thanks for all your thoughts and ideas.
Gone-Disney

 

[olena]

*HUGS* to you......

 

[tw1nsmom]

I'm sure that this isn't the best solution, but have you considered photographing all the ruined sentimental items? You could build a scrapbook with descriptions and why they were important to you. You could then throw the unsavable items out. I hope someone has better advice, but that's all I can think of. I'm so sorry you have to go through this.

 

[annemariec]

I don't know much about storage procedures, but I would imagine you signed a contract. If so, I'd review their obligations. And I'd hold them to it. That's where I'd start.

Get pictures of the damage for documentation purposes.

You may be covered under your household policy. If so, you may need to contact them & get the insurance company to send an agent to inspect the types of damage and determine what were the causes. Then again it should be covered by the storage company's policy. I guess that would be the first place to look, then yours.

You *may* need to consult with a lawyer to find out your rights in such a case. There are lawyers that have free phone consultations. That would enable you to make an informative decision.

Are your things still at the facility? If so it would be probably be a good thing. Because it would signify that you haven't accepted it, and could prove it happened there.

Good luck!!
Annemarie

 

[MICKEY88]

I would look for a local professional cleaner...or look online for cleaning advice..

 

[MICKEY88]

http://www.midwestfreezedryltd.com/Mold Remediation.htm

 

[MICKEY88]

http://allergies.about.com/library/blmold07.htm

 

[MICKEY88]

http://mistermold.com/

 

[ScarlettO]

Was this a climate-controlled storage facility? If so, there should be no mold...check your contract.

That said,I stored many items for 6 months in a humid area with no problem....but all my upholstered items were in our apartment.

 

[Gone Disney]

As for the storage unit it was NOT climate controlled. The contract says in so many words that they are not liable for ANYTHING! It's quite clear they won't take any blame for it. As for homeowners all we had at the time was builders risk ( house was under construction) and we did not have renters or rental/storage insurance.

I like the idea of making a scrap book with pictures. Atleast the memories will still be there then.

Mickey88 I'll check out the links later tonight when I have a few minutes to sit here.

Gone Disney