Potential buyer may benefit from hiring mold inspector

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Potential buyer may benefit from hiring mold inspector

Gleaner - ,KY*

By C. Dwight Barnett (Contact)

Sunday, July 1, 2007

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2007/jul/01/potential-buyer-may-

benefit-from-hiring-mold/

My wife and I are purchasing a house, and we had the inspection

recently. This turned up evidence of mold in the crawl space and the

attic. I know that the crawl space lacks a vapor barrier on the

ground, the furnace condenser drains to the crawl space and the

clothes dryer vent potentially vents down there. There is also

insulation tacked up between the floor joists, so I don't know the

situation under that.

Our Realtor recommended someone to check the mold. Isn't that a

conflict of interest? What sort of testing/inspection should I

expect from a mold inspector? We don't want to be alarmists, but we

do have a 6-month-old son we want to keep healthy. Is there a point

at which we just walk away from the deal?

Your question is not all that difficult to answer. Regardless of the

age of the home, if molds are visible and there is a high incidence

of humidity and water problems, it is likely additional problems

will be discovered in areas that were not accessible to your home

inspector. A mold inspector might use a vacuum pump or other device

to sample the air inside and outside the home, or a cotton swab or a

tape strip to lift a sample of the mold, or he might simply remove a

piece of mold-infected paper from the drywall to send to an

accredited laboratory. In some cases all of these methods might be

used.

On the other hand, if you see mold, then you know you have mold,

either allergenic or toxic, and there may be no need for expensive

sampling.

The mold-infected items need to be removed from the home and taken

to a landfill. Items that cannot be removed can be sampled, then

cleaned and treated by a qualified contractor and sampled again to

make sure the molds have been contained.

There are four factors inside the home that lead to mold growth.

Remove any one of them and the mold will either be destroyed or

become dormant.

First, mold spores must be present in the right place at the right

time for mold to grow. Once the spores latch onto a food source

where there is also a source of moisture and a warm environment, the

molds can grow into a major problem. Normally the food source is the

house or items affixed to the house, so we generally rule out

removing the food source. A warm environment is necessary for our

comfort, so we can't take away the heat.

Now our problems have been reduced to dealing with the water source

or the mold spores. On planet Earth mold spores are present almost

everywhere you go and in the air we breathe. A good furnace filter

and tightly sealed ducts can reduce the amount of mold spores inside

the home.

We have reduced the problems to just one: Remove the amount of

moisture from the air inside the home. An air conditioner or

dehumidifier can reduce moisture levels, and vented bath and kitchen

fans should be used when family members are bathing or cooking.

Try to maintain humidity levels between 40 percent and 70 percent

with room temperatures close to 70 degrees.

In Part Two of this article, I will offer this recommendation: " Run —

don't walk — away from this home. "