4. Moving out of Your Home- Where Should You Go, and What Should You Bring?

I can easily recall the day the mold testing company called my wife and I and informed us that our home had a toxic mold and we need to move out immediately. At first I thought what an over reaction to something that has been growing in peoples homes since the dawn of time. Of course my next reaction was to think of my wife and small children and how I had a professional tell me that my home was not safe and their health was at risk. Even with the remote chance that their health was really in jeopardy I could not take that chance for them so I knew we had to leave. Then they question became how soon which the quick rely was today. How do you move your family out of your home in a day and what should you bring.

The testing company gave me some generally bad and unhelpful advice. Take as little as you can and make sure it can be washed with a diluted bleach solution. I don't know about you but I think that type of advice sucks. That basically leaves nothing but glass, which isn't very helpful in dressing your children. I then called my insurance company with some more bad advice. We don't know call the testing company. I then asked them where should I go. The immediately had me contact their corporate relocator. (More bad advice). The corporate locator immediately found me a too small of apartment at roughly double the rent that the apartment complex would charge me directly for such an apartment. (I will get to why you care about what you are paying for rent). It wasn't for at least two or three months before we figured out what we should have done. Ok so if I was faced with this problem again this is what I would do.

Where Should You Go

1. First you should not use a corporate relocator. As I mentioned above these people make their living on very short very expensive leases. For the same apartment and furniture they will give you, you could make the same phone call on the same day and get it for half price. I know "But I have insurance to pay for this so why do I care how much?" Ok, here is how it works. When you buy your home owners insurance you get something they call additional living expenses (ALE) coverage which is generally 20% of the value of your policy. For example, if you insurance your home for $150,000 your ALE coverage would be $30,000. Sounds like a lot huh, nope. Lets assume you use the corporate relocator an apartment which rents for say $1,400 per month we cost you $3,000. First it is too small but ok that means 10 months. Well not exactly, first they charge you a deposit of one month, that leaves 9 months then the apartment isn't ready for two weeks which you have to go to a hotel, 8 months. Next you have to buy things just to live. (All new groceries, consumables etc.) Now you have 7 months. You get the picture things add up quick. To make matters worse because mold issues have become so big that major contractors (we will discuss how to pick a contractor later) are so busy you will face months of delays just waiting around.

2. The best thing you can do is first move to a hotel for a few days and assume that you will be out of your home for at least 9 months maybe longer if you have a lot of mold contamination I hope it is better for you but it wasn't for me.

3. Find a home in your area that is as close to where you're currently living as possible. You will be spending a lot of time at your home meeting with contractors, picking up the mail etc.

4. Sign a 9-month lease with a month to month option for another three months.

5. Don't rent furniture, rental furniture is just as expensive as a corporate reloactor. For the same as rent you could buy the items. Insurance will pay for this since it makes financial sense to them.

6. Expect delays, expect insurance problems, and expect the unexpected. The will all happen so you have to take the attitude that slow and steady wins the race. You will need lots of patience and persistence.

What should I take with me?

1. Soft goods - My wife and I took what we thought were the bare necessities of clothes. We took them all to the dry cleaners and thought they were clean (by the way this is charged against your ALE, 6 months). We also took some clothes that we washed three times in a row. We had the industrial hygienist test both after we were done. The dry cleaning process did not remove the mold spores the washing did. Why? Spores don't just die they get knocked off so to speak. Dry cleaning process is a delicate process and washing isn't. Ok so most soft goods are safe if you can wash repeatedly.

2. Hard Goods - Most of you items will be cleaned with one of two things later - a) a diluted bleach solution or something they call microban. Bleach of course does the job but ruins most everything so we used microban (see helpful items). We had items tested after cleaning and although it works not as well as the bleach solution it pretty much did the job. I would clean anything that had a small pieces are items such as children's toys that you could see them putting in their months. A remediation company would charge more to clean it than it would cost to get new anyway. I will discuss this in a lot of detail in a future section.

You need to think of this as just a start to get out of the crisis so you can make clearer decisions later. Don't try to take everything just what you need. This will make it a lot easier later. Trust me.