My Daughter Is Thinking About Buying A Home That Has Mold?
My daughter is thinking about buying a home that has some mold. It was a house that was once used as a grow house. She is not quite sure how much mold there is but there is some on base boards and over a door in from the garage there is no flooring to be removed. Can a mold inspector remove a portion of the wall to inspect if the house is bank owned. The house to me is priced to high for the damages in the home. Will the bank take offers on homes and will an insurance company insure a house that had mold (after removal of course). Does anyone know if in the walls, what has to be done and how costly. Thank for help or advice.
Posted in Q & A | 
Tags: About, Bank Owned, Base Boards, Buying, Buying A Home, Company House, Damages, Daughter, Garage Flooring, Home, House Mold, Insurance, Insurance Company, Mold, Mold Inspector, Mold Removal, Thinking
Tags: About, Bank Owned, Base Boards, Buying, Buying A Home, Company House, Damages, Daughter, Garage Flooring, Home, House Mold, Insurance, Insurance Company, Mold, Mold Inspector, Mold Removal, Thinking
Here are mold-related symptoms, including death…https://moldrx4u.com/Symptoms.asp
Look in yellow pages for something like environmental professional, environmental engineer, industrial hygienist, or indoor air quality specialist. They can tell you, with air samples, exactly what you are dealing with. If toxic mold, bank should come down dramatically on price and they may be held liable if they don’t disclose to others.
At that point, it’s an interesting decision…
Check out the remarkable research on toxic mold removal done by environmental expert Dr Ed Close. Simply diffusing Thieves essential oil regularly will likely result in an environment very hostile to mold.http://www.secretofthieves.com/mold.cfm
Cost of the Thieves Household Cleaner, a diffuser and a couple bottles of the Thieves oil that Dr Close recommends to his remediation clients: about $250.
I’ve always felt this knowledge would open a huge opportunity for investors that can stomach the risk. Buy homes at remediation-required prices, see if the Thieves trick will solve the problem before traditional remediation techniques, make a huge and honest profit because you know something that is not yet common knowledge.
she shouldnt knowingly buy house w/ a bad mold problem. every house has mold, whether you see it or not, but if you can see it as you’re descibing it, she should reconsider. mold is dangerous and it’s not cheap to take care of, but if she decides to buy it anyway, make sure she has insurance that covers it.
Mold abatement is pretty cheap and easy. You cut away the drywall that was growing, scrub the studs with bleach water, let it dry and hang new drywall. We did that in a house we bought a few years ago and have not had a recurrence. We fixed the source of the moisture, too, of course. Since I am guessing your daughter doesn’t plan on a new grow operation, she should be good to go.
Insuring it shouldn’t be a problem.
Good luck to her!
I don’t think cost is the issue, some molds have the potential to be life-threatening and fatal, especially those that have been dormant, the worst part is, those molds are the hardest to find, a simple mold inspector won’t just do the trick, I wouldn’t live there if they paid me let alone me having to pay serious money to endanger my health.
Difficult issue. You should not bid on the house unless you know how much it will cost to clear the mold — which means that the bank would have to allow intrusive inspection. If they won’t do this, look for another house.
Toxic mold will kill you. Tell her not to buy it
If she is thinking of buying this simply because she thinks its gonna be a cheap fixer upper-tell her to think again.
Mold is nasty. It can be dangerous as well. When you think you have gotten rid of it all you find it sprouting up in another room elsewhere. if she has children she certainly would not want to expose them to this.
On the other hand if she is the kind of person who likes a tough project – enjoys getting her hands dirty-doing a little hard work to make something old new again then it might be for her.
But whatever she does she really needs to get a 3rd party – someone familiar with construction to come in and check things out before she buys. Just like with buying a used car, you always want to get it checked out first.
Was the mould caused by the marijuana growing within the house? If it was, I think that after cleaning it and repainting she should be fine.
If the mould wasn’t caused by the marijuana, can she ask the Realtor, who’s handling the sale of the property, for a detailed report about the mould and its health hazards? I think it’s a little odd if an honest company refuses to divulge information about potential health risks and how they’ve been caused (marijuana, rising damp, other), especially as if, in the future, they’ve been proven to of been negligent, they’re at risk of being sued by the new home owner.
I don’t understand much about this and what to do, so I hoped I’ve helped. My first stop would be the sellers themselves, they may prove to be helpful.
Good luck,
- Pepper.
Mold is like an iceberg… you’ll see 10 percent of it on the surface, and the other 90 percent is hidden.
The first thing to do, is INSIST on an independent inspection, and estimate, specifically for mold abatement. (Even if she decides to do the work herself later on, she will be better off having a professional come in and take a good look at the place, check walls, ceilings, under floors, etc. If the bank protests… then you can bet they know there is a problem, and she should steer clear of that particular home, hehehe.
Worst case scenario, the home will have to be taken back to the bare studs and joists — that can get expensive — and the framing would have to be treated.
Companies that specialize in mold abatement will be able to kill the mold, and encapsulate it, to prevent future growth. Encapsulating the mold spores is important, because even when it looks ‘clean’… you can still have microscopic mold spores, which can regrow, if left untreated.
If she has to replace any sheetrock, tell her to think seriously about using a mold resistant sheetrock. One popular brand uses fiberglass sheathing, instead of paper. (The paper wrap found on most sheetrock is food for mold… no paper, no food, heheh) It costs a bit more than standard sheetrock, but it works great.
Insurance companies will insure the home, but you’ll have to read the fine print. They may put a disclaimer in the policy, and refuse to cover any future mold damage. You’d have better luck getting a full coverage policy, if the work is done professionally, and inspected. I would be asking my insurance agent ahead of time, before I even put in a bid on the home, and not wait til after the fact.
It is always better to go into this type of situation fully informed. Don’t guess. A buyer should insist on the inspection and estimates, get insurance quotes and policy coverage information ahead of time, etc. This information will not only help you make a good choice, it can be used at the bargaining table.
Good Luck to her!
Please tell her NOT to buy this house. Living in New Orleans after Katrina, I have seen plenty of homeowners fight mold problems.
If she has her heart set on purchasing this house, have a good inspection done (she will have to pay for this) by a licensed professional who has had experience in mold remediation. Mold can grow on just about everything used to build a house, sheetrock, sub-floor and studs. Anything that has mold growing on it should be removed and the area around it treated. My sister had a similar problem, there was a little mold growing near her washer and dryer, when the sheetrock was pulled away the mold was everywhere. Often when you see a little mold there is a lot more that you can’t see. For her health, she needs to make sure all of the mold is removed and the house is treated before she occupies the house.
Another concern, if it was used as a grow house, obviously it wasn’t being maintained. There may be other problems that you can’t see; definitely have a general inspection done before she makes an offer. Often bank owned properties are sold “as is” and upon closing everything will be her responsibility.
As for the insurance company, any broker will be able to give you a quote, although her payment might be higher if the mold is there, but once it is removed the rate might go down if you can prove that it was taken care of and treated. Again, the broker should be able to answer that question for you.