Mark Sanford’s family moved out of the Governor’s Mansion on Monday — barely three years after a $7 million renovation — because of a problem with mold in the heating and air-conditioning system.

The mold is a greenish-black, slimy substance called stachybotrys; it produces toxins unlike those of regular household mold and can cause allergic reactions.

First lady Jenny Sanford said she noticed the mold last August when the family returned from a vacation. She saw mold coming out of an electric socket in the master bedroom and more than a half-inch of mold accumulating on her family’s clothes.

Sanford said the state’s management agency, the Budget and Control Board, has not paid proper attention to the family’s complaints or to the report of a structural engineer who inspected the mansion at her request.

It is especially unfortunate, she said, since the mansion’s renovation in 2000-01. The cost of repair and who would pay for it was unclear Monday.

“It’s financial mismanagement at best, it’s negligence at least, and it’s a shame,” Jenny Sanford said. “It’s the taxpayers’ house, and it’s a shame that it’s not being taken care of.”

Board spokesman Mike Sponhour said the agency first inspected the mansion in August and adjusted the humidity levels. The board inspected again this spring and developed a remediation plan two weeks ago that is being put in place.

“We’ve had a work plan in place for a while now, and we’re trying to implement it,” he said.

A board study shows the mansion’s chilled-water cooling system is not performing well. Temperatures and humidity have been higher than ideal.

The State Budget and Control Board recommended closing the mansion Monday morning in what Sponhour called “an abundance of caution.”

The family threw some shorts and T-shirts into a bag and headed Monday afternoon to their home on Sullivan’s Island, Jenny Sanford said.

Mark Sanford is in Germany on a trade mission for a week but is aware of the problem. It is not clear where he will stay when he returns.

Mold is a common problem in the Southeast, especially in the humid summer.

The old Lexington County Courthouse closed twice in 2001-02 for a $400,000 repair because of an accumulation of a more common type of mold within the walls.

County administrator Art Brooks, who said he knew more about mold than he cared to, let out a low sigh when told about the mansion mold.

“There are certain types that are definitely the kind you don’t want,” Brooks said. “Stachybotrys is one of those, from what I’ve learned.”

Consultant Richard Bennett of Charleston’s Risk Tech air-quality group led the remediation at the courthouse. The type of mold at the mansion thrives on moisture, meaning that large quantities of water have likely been building up in the mansion, he said.

Research is inconclusive on the health implications of mold, particularly stachybotrys, Bennett said.

“It’s kind of like poison ivy,” he said. “You know people who can roll around in poison ivy and not get the first red mark. Other people can just get in the proximity of it and have a reaction.”

Small children, because of their immature immune systems, and older people, because of their declining immune systems, are especially susceptible to reactions to mold, Bennett said.

Jenny Sanford said she is worried about a series of strange illnesses that have affected her staff and family. One of her sons has developed allergies for the first time. One staffer developed asthmatic bronchitis; one, an autoimmune disease; another, strange warts.

The mansion will be closed indefinitely for tours and formal events. The Caldwell-Boylston and Lace houses, on the mansion grounds, will remain open and available for rent. They have not been affected by mold.

No time has been set to reopen the mansion, although it is likely to be at least a month.

For now, the state is paying for the repair from the State Budget and Control Board’s building maintenance accounts.

“If we determine that some other party was at fault, then we’ll seek reimbursement at that point,” Sponhour said.

However, most of the equipment and systems installed during the renovation were guaranteed for only one year, Sponhour said, so they would not be covered by any warranty today.

Reach Bauerlein at (803) 771-8485 or vbauerlein@thestate.com.