CEDARVILLE, Ill. (WIFR) – Scott Cooley’s son lifts a blanket and towel covering a doorway into their home’s side room, nicknamed the “rain room.”
“When it rains, it’s like a waterfall in that room,” described Cooley. A consequence of that moisture grows along a sliding glass door and the surrounding wall: black mold. The family covers the fungus, which releases harmful toxins to breathe in, with a plastic cover.
Cooley moved into the home in Cedarville six years ago. The village’s welcome sign — a few minutes north of Freeport along Illinois Route 26 — shows a population of about 600 people…