Roof leak forces family to leave their home

Times Reporter 

 

A home improvement project gone wrong is seeing one Strathmore family lose their home and all of their possessions. The Olfert family made some roof repairs last year on their home, and that’s when the trouble began.

“We made the mistake of do-it-yourself and it didn’t get done quite right and it started leaking. We knew that it was leaking but we didn’t realize how quickly it went from a little bit of water to a lot of mould. Then we started to smell it, and then we could see it,” said Jennifer Olfert. 

The roof was flat and it should have been peaked, so the craftsmanship itself was good, but the original design of the roof led to the problem. When the snow started to thaw the leak started, and it began with one leak, then another and then along the whole wall and it quickly got beyond the point where they could just pull it out.

She said there was a burst in the one bedroom, her son Mitchell’s room, and he went down really fast health-wise, with the mould affecting him right away. She had a mould specialist come in and they told her she should be leaving the property with them and that’s when they borrowed a trailer from a friend. 

The family of four had been living in a trailer in front of their home but have had to return it to the friend they borrowed it from. The Olferts have bought a new mobile home and now need to find a way to remove the old one. The cost of moving their old home is approximately $3,000, which won’t replace everything, but Olfert said it would give them basically everything they need. The plan for now is to come up with the money to remove their old home. They have found a farmer who has agreed to let them move the home to the fields to be dismantled later. 

The big problem now for the family is coming up with the money to move the infested home so that the new one may be brought in. An account has been set up at ATB in the Olfert’s name to collect donations for them.

“I know the community is already doing so much but if they could help one more family. My husband and I talked and when it’s all said and done if there’s money at the end then we’ll just donate it back,” said Olfert. 

Because of the mould outbreak the family is unable to take their things with them. Olfert is going to research if she can bleach hard surface items like dressers and dishes. She said if she brings anything with her, things like furniture, clothes and even some childhood toys she could risk bringing the mould spores into the new home with them. 

“If I can’t I can’t, we do what we need to do to be healthy, because this is affecting all of us in different way. Three out of the four of us have asthma and definitely it showed,” said Olfert. 

A friend of hers had called CJay 92 Make a Wish and on Friday, June 21 CJay was at her door lending them a hand with gift certificates and some money. 

“That was absolutely huge for our family, it helped out incredibly. They replaced Mitchell’s Xbox, it got wet when the water came through his room so they gave him a new Xbox so he was pretty stoked and they gave Keleigha (her daughter) a $100 to go to Chinook mall to make herself feel good,” said Olfert. 

“It’s so sad to think we were almost homeless and not because we couldn’t pay our bills but because we couldn’t live in our home. To pay a mortgage on a home you can’t live in is heartbreaking.”

The tentative date set to have the new house brought in is July 6. However, if the family cannot come up with the funds to move the infested home before then the date will be delayed. Since returning the trailer the family, and their dog, have been split between friends and family’s homes until they can move into their new home.