Apartment from hell OR we can't breathe!

[PepperElf]

Make a call to the authority responsible for checking 'building health'.

Don't take the chance it's something minor - let the experts check.

in my old apartment in VA one of the neighbors had a lot of issues that maintenance wasn't fixing. finally she just contacted the local health authorities to inspect - and condemn - the apartment.


The downside however is that you may be required to move out should that happen - although the landlord can't charge you for breaking the lease at least. and they might not be liable for your move-out costs. (but they might be ... not sure on that one really)

So before doing that ... i'd recommend checking all your options and looking up what the local consequences are as well.

[Rapscallion]

Any update?

Rapscallion

[smileyeagle1021]

It's not gas heat. It's steam heat.

Steam doesn't mean no gas, that steam has to be generated somewhere, and most boilers I've seen are gas powered. I've known people who use steam heat that still got carbon monoxide poisoning because they were above the boiler and it wasn't properly vented and it was seeping into their unit rather than venting to the outside... I of course don't know the layout of your building, so can't say that is or isn't the case.
You mentioned it seemed more like mold anyway, but if the management company is as bad as you say they are, it might be worth looking into if you are close to the boiler as a just in case, because just because it isn't a problem now doesn't mean it won't be a problem in the future.

[Cookie]

We spent 2 nights at a friend's place before going on a trip to visit my family for Christmas like we had already planned. We basically told them this needs to be fixed before we get home. I'm sitting on a Megabus home as I type this on my phone.

The mold test kits had no growth. We talked with a friend who just happens to be an HVAC engineer. She told us mold can't survive at the high temps created by the heat, but bacteria is not uncommon.

My poor husband had to go to an urgent care clinic in my mom's town. He was diagnosed with a bacterial infection and the flu. The doc agreed it wa probable given the situation that the bacterial infection was first and made him susceptible to the flu. He even had to have a chest X-ray to rule out pnuemonia. Thankfully, that wasn't the case.

We are hoping like anything they've flushed out the radiators now. They're supposed to a few times a year to avoid this type of thing, but we know they turned on the heat this winter without any maintenance.

[mhkohne]

Even though CO isn't involved this time, do get a CO alarm anyway - these guys are obviously fooling around, and boilers can make CO due to maintenance issues.

[RayvenQ]

I second the CO alarm too, it's not something you even want to take the slightest chance with.

[VicSilver]

The mold test kits had no growth. We talked with a friend who just happens to be an HVAC engineer. She told us mold can't survive at the high temps created by the heat, but bacteria is not uncommon.

I'm no HVAC engineer, but my experience tells me otherwise.
When my husband and I bought this house, I had similar symptoms. My allergies (and asthma) were also terrible when we were in the house. Our mold test kits showed nothing. After a few months, our HVAC system stopped working altogether, and we called someone in to have it replaced.

It was so full of mold that the contractors didn't even want to touch it. I have no idea how I survived it being like that, but all of my symptoms went away withing a week or so of it being replaced.

[bainsidhe]

Is there an update?

[Cookie]

Hey, sorry. Been meaning to update here. Thanks for the nudge, bainsidhe.

We've been home all this time. We have been having more allergy like symptoms than I believe is normal. However, while we were gone for a week, they ran the heat really hard which seems to have essentially flushed it out. So basically, they took a week to do gradually what should have taken 2 hours.

Of course, I'm sure they feel justified in blowing us off now. This isn't good since they're more likely to blow us off in the future. I can't wait until this lease is up. Seriously.

ETA: Thanks for the recommendations of the CO detector. We're going to take that advice.