The Sanfords have moved out and cleaning crews have moved in at the South Carolina Governor's Mansion. After First Lady Jenny Sanford complained about mold growing on the family's clothing and on electrical outlets, tests have found extremely high levels of stachybotrys mold in the air.

She says the mold has caused health problems for the family and the mansion staff. "We've had incidences of asthmatic bronchitis in people that've never had asthma before, for example. We have had some mysterious warts. We've had skin rashes. We've had lots of sinus trouble, lots of headaches," she told News Channel 7 from their home on Sullivan's Island.

Gov. Mark Sanford is out of the country on a trade mission. There's been no decision on where he'll stay when he gets back.

The state has chosen Risk Tech to clean the mold and fix the problem. The Charleston-based company has international experience in mold remediation.

Microbiologist Richard Bennett is leading the project. He says normal outside air has 1-5 stachybotrys mold spores per cubic meter of air. Inside the governor's mansion, there are 500 spores per cubic meter of air.

Mold is a problem that can affect any home, and he says any mold in a building needs to be removed.

"There's two main things homeowners need to know," he says. "One is, keep your relative humidities between 30 and 60 percent. Humidities above 60 percent, there's enough moisture in the air to initiate and propagate mold growth in an environment. Second is, if you've had water intrusion into the structure by virtue of a plumbing leak, a roof leak, that needs to be addressed very quickly, dried by professional drying companies and not allow the wet building materials to sit for more than 12 to 24 hours." 

He says high humidity caused the mold in the governor's mansion, but he doesn't know yet what caused the high humidity. The mansion just underwent a $7 million renovation in 2000-2001.

After further testing he says he'll have a better idea of how much the clean-up will cost and how long it will take. He estimates now four to six weeks.

The cause will probably determine whether one of the renovation contractors will have to pay for the clean up or whether taxpayers will foot the bill.

So how can you tell if your home has mold inside? He says in many cases you'll be able to see it. However, it can grow behind walls where you won't see any evidence.

"If you're experiencing symptoms when you're in the home that go away when you're outside of the home, then you know there's probably something in the home that's causing that reaction," he says. In that case, professionals can do test cuts on the walls and take air samples to determine if you have mold.

He says mold is most dangerous for young children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems.