Moldy home ousting Easley

Mansion's second case since 2001

Mold is driving Gov. Mike Easley and company from the governor's mansion for the second time since he was elected.

Easley's security staff is sounding out a place for the governor and his wife, Mary, to stay while mold is removed from the 50-room home on Blount Street in downtown Raleigh.

"They didn't say I had to move. They just said they were moving out all the furniture, cutting off the water and the electricity and bringing in the jackhammers," Easley told the Winston-Salem Journal this week.

State Rep. Grier Martin said he got "a little sniff" of mold during a meeting at the mansion in July. The Raleigh Democrat joined other Wake legislators in a plea for raising state employees' salaries.

Easley pointed out the mold problem by way of apology for the lingering odor.

"There was a little bit of a not-so-fresh feeling, and it wasn't just from the governor's unwillingness to help out with pay raises," Martin said.

Easley is the 27th governor to occupy the 35,000 square-foot Victorian mansion built in 1891. Its pitched gables and elaborate woodwork make it one of the state's best examples of Queen Anne style of architecture.

The mold is festering in a more recent addition to the house.

A July inspection turned up mold in the air-conditioning ducts, condensation dripping from water lines running to an air-conditioning unit, a leak in the attic and a wet spot in the floor above the second-floor Rose Room.

Condensation often forms on the piping in older homes during warm weather, which gives mold a moist environment in which to grow, said David Lipton, an industrial hygienist with the state Division of Public Health.

Lipton said mold needs warm air, food and water to grow. Since that food can be dirt, plaster or paint glue, water is the variable that's easiest to control.

The same problem prompted the state to spend $1 million to clear mold before Easley, then newly elected, could move into the mansion in 2001.

"If they didn't solve whatever was the moisture problem then, I'm sure it would grow back," Lipton said.

Lipton helped remove mold in several buildings at N.C. Central University in 2003.

The mold might cause a sneeze or watery eyes in most people but can bring on an asthma attack, rash or difficulty breathing in those who are more sensitive to it.

Bernard Allen, a state representative from Wake County also at the July meeting, said Easley raised the subject of mold to be a good host. "I guess he was alerting us so someone who might be allergic would be aware of it," Allen said.

The mold will be removed as part of an emergency measure that doesn't require the legislature to earmark funding.

State representative Deborah Ross, also a Wake Democrat, said the legislature earmarked $5 million from the sale of state property in 2003 to refurbish the mansion, but the properties have not been sold.

"The governor's mansion is in serious need of repair," she said. "The state has not spent enough money on renovations in recent years."

With budget shortfalls, Easley might have good reason to hold off asking for more.

"What would you do? If you spent the money on your own house first, that wouldn't look good," Ross said.