[GSBN] A question about mold and insurance

Sat Oct 3 15:00:11 UTC 2009

I think there is value in challenging the underwriters to produce 
evidence for their assertion.  It may or may not lead to approval by 
that underwriter.  There is a fair possibility that this assertion 
and denial is coming from one person in the company.  Moving the case 
to a different person might have some effect.  On the other hand, 
lots of insurance companies are trying to cover their losses in the 
financial markets by dropping lots of policies, and avoiding anything 
slightly abnormal.  So this could be a pretext.

CMHC and Don Fugler might have some useful information.  I know that 
they have investigated mold in many kinds of houses, but I don't know 
if they have tried to compile relative frequency data.  It's hard, 
since the sample size for SB houses is small, and each house is 
different.  John Straube, of course, is likely to be a valuable 
resource, as David mentioned.

On the theme of challenging unsubstantiated assertions, I am saddened 
to read in Bill's quoted letter, "It now has 21 tons of stucco on it 
and all have assured me that mold can not grow in this dry alkali 
environment of a closed stucco encased wall."  I only hope that the 
stucco in question has good vapor permeability, or mold is likely, as 
we know.  This homeowner might benefit from some additional 
information on stucco and permeability, from someone other than the 
"all" that have been assuring her so far.

Derelict

--On Friday, October 2, 2009 9:39 PM -0500 Bill Christensen 
<billc at greenbuilder.com> wrote:

> I received a similar plea today.  Perhaps the additional details
> will help frame an acceptable (to the insurance folks) answer.
>
> Help! I am finally nearing completion of my post and beam SB house
> in Spokane Wa. I have been with Country Insurance Farm Bureau) for
> 4 years and they have underwritten the construction of this house
> until now. As we were planning to convert to a homeowner/residence
> phase of the policy. The underwritter has suddenly stated that she
> will not cover the house due to mold! We live in a relatively dry
> climate and have worked hard to place only dry mold free bales in
> the house. It now has 21 tons of stucco on it and all have assured
> me that mold can not grow in this dry alkali enviornemt of a closed
> stucco encased wall. The sweeping statement of denial is that all
> strawbale houses mold and they do not cover them. I am having
> difficult time finding the source of this vicious rumor. Can you
> help? Are there hard science studie s to support either they mold
> and are unreliable construction or that they do not mold. I can
> sight mult stories of homes over 100 years old that still have
> bright and dry straw in the walls, and know they are being built in
> the san juan islands without difficulty and also in Ireland.
>
> At 6:53 PM -0400 10/2/09, strawnet at aol.com wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> This came to us at DCAT and I wanted to share it here to see if
>> anyone has information that might help resolve this issue.
>> Obviously  the insurance underwriter has the opinion that sb
>> houses are prone  to mold, so one question is, based on what
>> evidence or documentation  or studies? Of course they are in the
>> driver's seat on this - they  can make unsubstantiated claims and
>> the burden is then on us to  disprove them if we can. It would be
>> good to hear from John Straube  on this, as well as anyone else
>> with information that could help.
>>
>> I have told her about the GSBN archives but will try to pass along
>> your responses to her as well. And I have also copied my reply to
>> her, asking if it was OK with her that I post this here, to Joyce
>> at  The Last Straw. Thanks for sharing what you all know...
>> David
>>
>> ------------------
>> Question: Have you or do you know of anyone who has researched
>> mold  in strawbale houses. I have just been denied insurance
>> because the  underwriter states that sb houses are prone to mold.
>> All my research  over the past 10 years and during the building
>> process is quite the  oppisite, but i need facts to persuade the
>> ignorant. Also my motgage  co would love to cancel my loan if the
>> insurance does not come thru.  We have been with this company for
>> 4 years and 3 of it during the  building process. Are you able to
>> help?
>> Thank you Wendy
>> ------------------
>>
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>
>
> --
> Bill Christensen
> billc at greenbuilder.com
>
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Derek Roff
Language Learning Center
Ortega Hall 129, MSC03-2100
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001
505/277-7368, fax 505/277-3885
Internet: derek at unm.edu