RIVERVIEW, Fla. -- It was supposed to be their dream home.
But one Hillsborough County family says their Riverview house has been a total nightmare after mold was found growing on their walls.
“This is our family room. This is where photos were hanging when we noticed water damage and where the mold started,” Kelli Dunn said.
She says their picture-perfect home began to fade away -- literally -- in July. They noticed their children’s portraits on the living room wall were soaked and the water damage didn’t stop with the pictures.
“My husband, Chad, put his hand on the wall and that’s when his hand went through the wall,” Dunn said.
The Dunn’s says they paid $400,000 to build the home of their dreams.
“It took them a little over five months to build this entire home from the ground up and now it’s taken them this long to try and rectify the problem,” Dunn said.
The problem started in the living room, but soon the family realized the problem was bigger than they initially thought.
“This is our family room and second room they tore the wall out of,” Dunn said.
And up to the second floor, where their children spent most of their time in the playroom.
“I can’t have people here because I’m afraid they’ll get sick,” Dunn said.
The Dunn’s home isn’t the only house in the neighborhood with problems, their neighbor next door, Anthony Trzeciak, a Marine Corps veteran received his home for free through a program that donates homes to wounded warriors. He says it’s been one problem after the next.
“He put a hammer through and we saw all this water come down. He took the wall down and there was water everywhere,” Trzeciak said.
Not wanting to seem ungrateful for the mortgage-free home, Anthony says he paid a contractor $10,000 to fix the water damage to his bathroom and garage.
But he says his problems weren’t just confined to the inside of his home,
“I have fire escape that goes around the house, pavers falling apart,” Trzeciak said.
Those pavers create a dangerous path for him and his wheelchair, the only path he can take if there is a fire inside his home.
“I didn’t think I’d have to jump in my life savings in two years to fix house,” Trzeciak said.
He says to fix the pavers it will cost him thousands.
We reached out to the builder of both houses, William Ryan Homes, and they sent us this statement:
“It’s a top priority to fix the problems in these two homes, as it is to address issues with any of our homeowners. We take this very seriously, and are using a forensic architect and mold remediation experts to get the issues resolved," said Jeff Thorson, division president of the company.
William Ryan Homes tells us its leadership met with the Dunn family Friday and is making progress. The homebuilder has made this a top priority and will continue to do so until the problems are resolved.
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