How bad is mold, really?

It’s an annoyance for many and a health risk for some.

By Sophia Boyd-Fliegel

Melissa Lyn moved into a brandnew unit in the Sagebrush Apartments in 2021.

Despite a rent cost that made her brow furrow every month, $2,050, the workforce deed-restricted studio apartment allowed for her dog and was conveniently located near downtown Jackson.

The apartment was good enough for Lyn — until January 2022, when her unit flooded.

A sprinkler broke, inundating her apartment and a few others with water. The worst of the damage was fixed by a restoration service, but soon after, Lyn started to notice puddles on her floor.

After contacting management, Lyn said, she got a humidity monitor. Problem was, there was no process for collecting data. Fortunately, the puddles didn’t reappear. ... until the next winter.

In December 2022, Lyn pulled back her couch and found a generous amount of mold growing along her wall.

She immediately contacted management with frustration, as this was her sixth Jackson apartment in eight years. She was determined to find a fix.

Management gave Lyn a dehumidi-

Dr. Lisa Brady Grant

fier to help with the mold, which they said should have arrived 11 months earlier. Regardless, she would go on to have to pay $11 extra dollars a month for the dehumidifier’s electricity cost, as well as new bathroom fans to help with condensation, another $2 a month.

She was also encouraged to clean her walls with bleach.

Sitting in her apartment in January, Lyn said she wasn’t sure the mold was gone.

“This isn’t a fix,” Lyn said, “this is a Band-Aid.” Mold is common across Jackson

Hole, even in new construction.

Another tenant in the same apartment complex as Lyn said that after reporting that mold had grown onto her pillows on her bed, she was told she would be getting new bathroom fans and was to clean up with a chlorine-based cleaner.

Three other renters who spoke with the News&Guide and did not live in Sagebrush said their landlords were unwilling to pay for professional mold remediation, even in much more extreme circumstances with mold that