Mold covers Decatur apt walls, ceiling, beds

DECATUR, Ga. — A Decatur woman called Channel 2 Action News in a desperate plea to rid her apartment of mold covering nearly every exposed surface.

"I'm scared. I don't know what this can do," Iyala Bailey said.

She gave Channel 2's Aaron Diamant a tour of her basement apartment at Kensington Manor in Decatur on Friday afternoon.

Every inch of her carpet was saturated with stagnant water. It was pooled up on the linoleum, and there were holes in the ceilings. Mold was covering walls, ceilings and beds. She also showed Diamant some mystery matter.

"You got the white stuff growing around it. I don't know what that is," Bailey said.

With few working lights, the dark, damp conditions have led to mushrooms growing out of the walls. But Bailey said she doesn't know where to turn.

"This is my home. Where am I going to go? I can't live in my own house?" she said.

A few weeks ago, the hot water tank in the utility room next door flooded. Bailey said repeated complaints to management about the mold since moving in in January have gone nowhere.

Diamant asked a woman at the management office about the problem, but she said she wasn't aware of any issues.

"She hasn't come in here to report anything, so how would I know?" the woman said.

Bailey said that's not the case, and she wants someone to take action.

"These apartments need to be shut down," she said.

Channel 2 Action News is working to reach the complex owner for an update on the situation on the Channel 2 Action News Nighbeat at 11.

WSBTV