Military families battle mold, rodents and more at Washington base
By Kaylee Tornay, InvestigateWest
Jun 20, 03:17 PM
Editor’s note: This story was first published in InvestigateWest, an independent news nonprofit dedicated to investigative journalism in the Pacific Northwest. Subscribe to their newsletter.
Amanda Klinksiek knows that when she breaks out in hives, she likely has another problem: mold.
Hives tipped Klinksiek off to mold in a previous home. And in September, when she moved into a two-bedroom townhouse at Joint Base Lewis-McChord with her husband and two kids, the itchy red bumps appeared again.
Klinksiek, 30, tried to get the company that manages on-base housing — Liberty Military Housing — to do a comprehensive inspection for mold. She had reported mold in the toilets the day they moved in and later found mold growing under the kitchen sink. But Liberty did not respond to her repeated requests for an inspection, she said. Finally, in January, after Klinksiek paid for her own mold inspection, maintenance staff pried open a locked closet and found patches of dark mold coating the ceiling.
“I was livid,” Klinksiek said. “It was also devastating to know that I had been gaslit and misled for so long and it could have been prevented by them opening the closet to start with.”
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2023/06/20/military-families-battle-mold-rodents-and-more-at-washington-base/
