Published: Tuesday, Nov. 03, 2009

Updated: Tuesday, Nov. 03, 2009

Mold turns man’s castle into house of health horrors

ORLANDO

When he moved into his lakefront dream house, Ronald Brooke was hale and hearty. One year later, he was a sick man.

“My castle ended up being a house of horrors,” said Brooke, 65, founder of Brooke Enterprises, a money-management company in Orlando.

He bought the two-story house near the University of Central Florida for $245,000 in June 1997. His nightmare experience began that December, when storm water cascaded through the roof into the family room. Soon afterward, leaks were found in the upstairs shower, around several windows and behind the front and rear gutters. Brooke had the roof repaired and the rotted windowsills replaced. But a fertile breeding ground for mold had already been created in the damp, dark spaces behind the walls.

Several months later, Brooke started having trouble breathing and concentrating. “I was writing a letter one time and couldn’t remember how to spell why — W-H-Y,” he said.

In the summer of 1999, he had two episodes of vertigo and often could not walk unassisted. His doctors blamed stress. His friends urged him to build a pool, lie out in the sun and relax.

Before starting pool construction, he decided to remodel the back porch. The pillars, he discovered, were riddled with rot, so he had the whole house inspected. Extensive water and termite damage was found, but the inspector’s report made no mention of mold.

His health problems persisted. During the next three years, he worked mostly from his home office, doing a little woodworking in his garage when he felt up to it. It was not until 2003 that a pulmonary specialist determined mold was causing most of his ailments.

“The doctor told me to move; my house was killing me,” he said.

Another inspection discovered moderate levels of mold throughout the house. Ironically, the concentration was highest in the two places Brooke spent most of his time: his office and his garage.

That summer, the house was condemned. Brooke’s insurance covered “not a dime” of the loss, he said.

To demolish the structure and rebuild would be prohibitively expensive, Brooke learned. Instead, he plans to tear out everything but the concrete slab and wood frame.

The new walls will be built of closed-cell foam, which will encapsulate any remaining mold on the timbers. The new air-conditioning equipment will include an electronic air-filtration system.

After he moved out of the house, Brooke’s health slowly improved, although his lungs remain congested and he suffers occasional memory lapses.

“At age 50, I was hunting in Alaska. I was a hot-shot businessman,” he said. “But since age 54, I haven’t been able to draw a clear breath or walk a straight line. I will never be truly healthy again — and the main reason is mold.”