Hot Environmental Topics

Finding Mold in Estate or For Sale by Owner

Nov 5, 2024 2:15:00 PM / by David C Sulock posted in Mold Testing, mold inspections, Mold, Mold growth, mold remediation

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We recently had a property that was being sold By Owner and in an Estate.    The sellers inspection observed suspect mold, well the seller said it was dirt.

suspect mold observed by home inspector

The buyer, being prudent, wanted the area tested and 100% mold was present. The buyer upon finding mold, needed a professional assessment of the mold to find the cause and develop the cost for remediation. The seller did not want to do anything regarding the mold and the deal fell through.

mold swab test results

New Jersey has new mold disclosure requirements that place the responsibility of the owner (seller) to disclose if mold is present and to reference it on the required home disclosure statement.  The law unfortunately requires the owner to be ethical and diligent in knowing if mold is present.   Finding mold typically occurs when a buyer does their due diligence and finds mold.   In a usual real estate transaction, finding mold becomes somewhat of public knowledge, as the parties in the transaction, owner, buyer, their realtors, their attorneys, and their inspectors will all know about the mold. This doesn’t even take into account other real estate professionals in the respective real estate office who will inquiring regarding how the transaction is going.   Mold can be a deal killer, from the viewpoint of either side (buyer or seller). The deal killer aspect is concern that the home is uninhabitable (99.99% of the time the mold is 100% fixable making this concern mute).   The seller not wanting to address the mold, well which can be a deal killer but also triggers the responsibility of the seller to update their disclosure statement to future buyers.    The rub is many sellers do not want to disclose that mold is present, and the most common parties are properties that are For Sale by Owner and homes that are in an Estate.   These transaction have the seller believing they do not have to comply with disclosure requires or unaware of successful lawsuits against sellers for not disclosing conditions that can make the home uninhabitable such as mold.

What is the takeaway from mold in real estate transactions?  

Include a professional mold inspection as part of your due diligence. Let the seller side know you are performing a mold inspection. If the seller refuses to allow the inspection, the home is likely not for you.

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How do I get tested for mold in my apartment?

Sep 5, 2024 11:32:00 AM / by David C Sulock posted in mold, mold cleanup, mold contractor, Mold Testing, mold inspections, mold assessments, mold expert

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This is a common request we get from tenants. We have worked for tenants, landlords, and Homeowner Associations (HOAs).  In all cases, the following advice is the best course to address suspect or known mold issues.

First, if you suspect a mold issue in a property you do not own, it is best to contact the owner/landlord, as it is their responsibility to evaluate complaints. Since mold is water-related, unaddressed mold issues that are ignored will continue to cause damage to the property. Stopping the water source that drives mold growth is something any property owner would want to address.

If you rent a property with an HOA, contacting the HOA is prudent. Uniform buildings such as developments with an HOA will have buildings of similar age and construction. Since everything ages and has a life expectancy, it is possible that if your unit has a mold issue, the other units have the same issue.   If you have a water leak from the roof, rest assured other roofs in the complex have the same leak. 

Now there are absentee landlords, that may ignore your complaints.   In these cases, you go to step 2.

Your second approach would be contacting the local board of health and/or the municipality as landlords have to keep properties habitable. It is possible these agencies can evaluate your concern and have the landlord address it.

Your final option is to hire a professional to perform a Mold Inspection with testing.   I saved this option for last because you are spending money on professional evaluation. Budget $300 to $500 to $900 to have your mold problem professionally evaluated with testing.   Why such a wide range of costs?   Because mold problems are unique contingent on the mold issue and concern will dictate what is technique used for evaluation and how much testing should be performed.   There are some considerations before taking this step, will confirmation of mold by a professional be enough to get the owner to address your concern?   Do not spend money if you do not think you will get the result you desire. It is always safe to let the owner know you are hiring a professional as that may cause to owner to address your concern.

FLIR0157-1mold on wood

Lastly, be prepared that you may not have a mold problem.   Curren has completed thousands of mold inspections, and a good portion of mold inspections entail people thinking there is a mold situation affecting their health and this includes renters, owners, and workers in commercial buildings, and there is no mold issue.   If you are having health problems and mold is not a problem, you have other health issues that require professional medical evaluation.

What should you not do if you think you have a mold problem?

One, do not do any testing yourself, you are not qualified and will not understand what the test results mean.  It is a waste of money.

Two, do not declare you have black mold, as it is a fictitious mold, it does not exist, and no mold is named black mold.

Lastly do not claim to be a medical or mold expert, you are someone who may have a mold problem that you want evaluated and if present addressed.  It is our experience the vast majority of landlords want tenant issues addressed, so be calm and understanding.

 

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How do you successfully remediate mold?

Jun 24, 2024 12:17:00 PM / by David C Sulock posted in mold, mold remediation, mold cleanup, mold contractor, Mold Testing, mold inspections, mold survey, mold assessments, mold consultant, mold professional, mold expert, Mold, Mold growth, mold remediation

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Mold is a byproduct of water or moisture.  Fixing the source is step one in remediating mold.  

Mold Remediation is a multi-step process that includes the removal of the mold from impacted surfaces (Hepa Vac), the application of a post-cleaning fungicide, and lastly application of a fungistatic coating on organic surfaces.  

IMG_1313

The fungistatic coating is typically white or clear and applied to organic wood surfaces to allow the treated surface to resist mold growth.  The coating can also stop the wood from absorbing moisture, which is what allows mold to start to grow.

 

P1090444

 

 

 

This is all performed in a manner to try and contain the mold spores, so they are not spread to other rooms in the building.  You must also be diligent in looking for additional sources of water/moisture that fueled the mold growth.   Commonly, there are more than one cause of the mold growth.

caveat emptor

Since only 11 states have mold regulations, the work performed in all other states is questionable as you have no specified quality of service.   Meaning what should be performed to remediate mold is not always completed.  If the white coating is not a mold-resistant coating i.e., paint, mold would be expected to grow as paint contains organic material that can foster mold growth. Mold-resistant coating (fungistatic) costs significantly more than paint, and many people will use paint to save money.  

Mold Remediation Failures

If the company performing mold remediation is unlicensed, which most are and they do not follow industry protocols, expect corners to be cut and your mold remediation to be a failure.   Mold remediation failures come from a lack of clear objectives and protocols that the company should utilize to remediate the mold.

The photo below shows areas that were missed when applying a mold-resistant coating which allowed mold to grow.

New Jersey mold remediation

 While a remediated space does not necessarily have to appear like a freshly painted room, the area should visually indicate that treated surfaces are coated or covered. As the name implies “fungistatic coating” must coat all organic surfaces to be effective. The better coatings come with a 10-year warranty to prevent mold growth.

Expert Mold Advice

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Mold Myths

Oct 25, 2023 2:44:00 PM / by David C Sulock posted in Mold Testing, mold inspections, mold survey, mold professional, Mold, Mold growth, mold remediation, black mold

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How often do I hear ......"You have the black mold"!

Mold is a four-letter word you don't want to utter or hear.   Mold is alleged to be the cause of so many health issues and typically by people self-diagnosing themselves.

If there was black mold, you would also hear about brown, grey and white mold.  Black mold was invented by the media and is only the color of a mold, just like brown and grey, and white colored mold. 

Black Mold

Most all molds have names that are very difficult to pronounce and many types of mold are black in color when you see a black-colored mold you could be seeing over a hundred possible types of mold. 

The list below is a snip of a fungal library, you can see molds under A, B, F S, what you can't see under the B list is a Black Mold or any molds in the list that are named for a color. Naming a mold for color is not performed.

 

Is black mold real

Pro Tip

If you have mold you have a water problem which caused the mold.  Bottom line you don't have mold unless you have excess water. If someone says you have black mold, you are being scammed.

True Story

A guy built his own house, that had a crawlspace.  He installed vents in the crawlspace, as was required by code.  He also opened the vents in warm weather and closed them in the cold weather, as he was told to do.  Fast forward 10 years, he is selling the home, and the buyer's inspection process finds mold in the Black MOLD crawlspace.     He became our client and we had to explain to all parties that black mold doesn't exist and that there was indeed mold in the crawlspace, from moisture in the air caused by the opening and closing of the vents.  Had he sealed the vents and operated a dehumidifier in the space, he would have removed moisture because moisture is the fuel that drives mold growth, but that is not what the construction codes say.

You see at Curren Environmental, we are environmental professionals, we provide advice regarding a variety of Environmental topics, mold being just one of them.  No hype, no trying to scare you, science-based assessments of problems and their associated solution.

Want Expert Mold Advice?

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Mold expert NJ PA DE

 

 

 

 

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Buyer Beware when it comes to Mold & Oil Tank

Oct 5, 2022 3:00:00 PM / by david sulock posted in Mold Testing, mold inspections, mold assessments, professional mold remediation, tank sweep with gpr, tank sweeps with GPR, tank sweep, gpr tank swep

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Buyer Beware when it Comes to Mold & Oil Tank

Mold Growing in Crawl Space

If you are buying a home, it may be your first or may be your third.  Either way the internet has no doubt made you a sharper consumer. You can assess the property online by evaluating photos, sometimes 3D tours of the home, school districts, past sale prices for the property and the neighborhood, property taxes, the list goes on.  No doubt you know how to google information. So you find the home, make an offer, it goes under contract and now your due diligence happens.  A home inspection, etc.  You are a savvy buyer so you look into other inspections you can do, Roof?, Mold? Oil Tank Sweep?  Yep, you do them all but guess what the seller has access to the internet as well, they may even be buying another home so they have concerns with inspections of their own.  But since they are selling they are also concerned with what you might find and the cost.

Be fair, if you had a buried tank at a home you were selling and you googled oil tank leak and the following photo popped up, how forthcoming would you be about the tank?  

Oil Tank Leak

True statements:

Sellers don't want to have to spend money to sell their homes.

Buyers, don't want to spend money on unexpected repairs, mold and oil tanks are top of the list. 

Both items are not covered by a home inspection, so while a home inspector may flag that the hot water heater needs to be replaced, they are not going to point out a $4,000.00 mold remediation.

The best advice we can provide is to be aware of what inspections are prudent during the home buying process.  

Regarding tank sweeps, they can be a lifesaver.  Tank Sweeps

Tank Nightmare aka property listed again with no mention of the oil tank

The contract of sale falls apart due to the oil tank.

The story goes that the owner selling their home finds that their old unused oil tank is not a selling feature so they decide not to mention it on the listing information.  Home goes under contract and out of guilt, sellers admit to an oil tank when asked.   Curren quotes the removal and the seller wants to know what happens if the tank leaks.    The seller decides not to remove the oil tank, this killed the deal.

Fast forward a few weeks, and the property is relisted, again with no discussion of an oil tank.    So now a seller is flat out forgetting a tank was known to exist (I don't say lie) and we get a call from a new buyer for the home and they want us to do a tank sweep.

oil tank sweeps find tanks

Really, must we be the only straight-talking people?  Hey, this situation is easy to resolve, we remove the tank.

oil tank inspections

But how about the person who buys the house with a tank that was not disclosed (we found it for another buyer) and they get transferred with their job in a year and have to sell the home?

The anger, the lawsuits, heck the only happy people are the attorneys.   Happens again and again. Realtors if you are reading and if you know the listing has a tank and the buyers are not disclosing, you better disclose, I have a few realtors getting sued for this.  Email can be forever, people talk, buyers share bad news (ever hear of social media?), I am not going to say how each attorney researches facts,  to trace how someone knew something and didn’t disclose it or blankly fabricated an untruth, but it's much easier than you think.

Ground Penetrating Radar

Now to be fair we have been around for over 20 years, we touch thousands of sites a year and every so often we get a boomerang.  What is a boomerang?  A project we were involved with stopped dead in its tracks, Curren finds a tank, finds mold, finds contamination, the deal falls through, owner cancels the contract for tank removal/mold.  Ok it happens, we aren’t pushy, if the owner changes their mind they have our number.

Why talk about this, because buyer beware, I would rather consult for a buyer to interest BEFORE they buy a problem.

Why are we happy when we find a tank, find mold, or contamination for a buyer?   Because our client doesn't own the property yet, we did our job we found a problem and now this problem can be presented to the seller for correction.  Surely the seller doesn’t want to sell you an environmental problem costing thousands of dollars?    Sadly there is a % of people that will, many step up, but some sellers do not, hence you need for proper due diligence.  

When buying a home a home do your due diligence.

Tank sweeps?  Click here  Tank Sweeps

Mold Inspection Click here  Mold Inspections

Expert advice you can rely upon, that Curren Environmental.

 

Call Curren Today

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Are free Mold inspections scams?

Sep 23, 2021 2:33:00 PM / by David C Sulock posted in mold remediation, mold cleanup, mold contractor, Mold Testing, mold inspections, mold survey, mold professional, Mold, Mold growth, mold remediation

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It is not uncommon for mold to be found at a residence. Mold will grow silently over years in areas of your home that you may not even go in. 

Free mold inspections
During the home inspection or a mold inspection, mold  will show up during a real estate transaction. The rub with mold is that someone may see staining and call it mold or during a  home inspection, the inspector may test a surface for mold and confirm mold and then you are left with the knowledge that mold is present. What you won't know is why it grew, how to prevent it in the future and to what extent the mold is present.

The mold dilemma is there are only 11 states that have mold regulations so the industry lacks real mold professionals. If you are in NJ, PA or DE there is no mold licensing so in theory you can't find a mold professional or you can't find a state licensed professional.

The lack of mold regulations create no barrier of entry for someone wanting  to do mold work.  If you don't need a license  that saves you a lot of time and brain power.

Companies try and drum up work by offering "Free Mold inspections".   Are mold inspections truly free?    The time to give professional advice is not free,  as there has to be a cost involved to evaluate a property and provide professional advice. Free mold inspections, should read, "You are going to pay me to remediate mold if you need it or not". In the photo below, an inspector said that was mold and recommended remediation. 

Mold or water damageProfessional mold inspections can average around $500, plus or minus depending on size of property and if surface or airborne sampling is performed.  (It was not mold)

mold inspectionsLet's be clear we have given thousands of 2nd opinions over the years and there is always three common threads we find with mold advice.

  1. Many owners of properties that are told they need mold remediation, do not actually need mold remediation.  Or the remediation they need is not the ENTIRE basement or attic.
  2. Mold often grows back when the mold was inadequately addressed. Read, consultant never stopped the actual cause of the mold. (Leak, moisture intrusion, humidity, etc).  In short there was never a professional evaluation for mold.
  3. The mold testing person doesn't understand the results of the mold testing, the cause of the mold growth or the actual extent.  Case in point inspector sampled a crawl space and a basement that were connected. We were asked to provide a cost to remediate the crawlspace, when in fact the basement had the bigger mold issue and people used the basement to exercise, so the mold exposure was greatest in the basement, but that is not what the consultant recommended.    The problem with non-mold professionals is they like to take a samples because they will get a really long, slick looking report of lab data, which is all pretty boilerplate, but it looks nice.  Because the lab gives such a nice package the actual mold consultants feel they do not have to provide an opinion in writing, it happens all the time.    So they find mold but they can't say it doesn't have to be remediated, why it would need remediation, what would be the difference or really most important what is the cause, causes or even likely causes for the mold.  

Regarding the "report".  A mold inspection report isn't the lab data from the lab, it should be a written report detailing the inspection, what was found, what wasn't found, and most importantly is why was there mold in the first place.  The report should also go over, in detail, what the lab data means, along with photos.

The bottom line is many mold companies work in their best interest not that of the owner or client.  This is particularly true if you are being offered free advice.  Conversely Home Inspections are not mold inspections, so while an inspector may say mold was noted in the basement in attic, it does not define the extent or the cause.  Both of which you need to properly remediate the mold.

 

Expert Advice for close tp 30 years

 

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Seller and Buyer’s perspective differ on “as is” property sale.

Apr 21, 2021 1:31:15 PM / by David C Sulock posted in mold inspections, tanks weep

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Seller and Buyer’s perspective differ on “as is” property sale.

People think when they advertise “as is”, buyers will understand that “you get what you get, and you don’t get upset” and the buyer will in turn, not to ask for repairs. Truth be told every sale is “as is” until the buyer has professional inspections performed. Buyers pay for professional inspections of the home and want things repaired, termite, electric, HVAC, mold you name it. Curren receives phone calls regarding an “as is” sale because the buyer wants the mold remediated or the tank removed.   Bottom line an as is sale means different things to different people.

As consumer we are conditioned to receive good service and not buying a headache. If your restaurant meal is not up to expectations, you say something. You buy cars with warranties and will still be miffed if you have to take the car in for warranty repair. Your new technological device not working? You call the help line. Sorry we are used to a certain quality of service (QOS) and products that don’t need repairs in most everything, and buying a home is no different.

An As Is buyer will ask for repairs

On a level playing field a buyer walks through a home with their eyes open, looking to see if the home and property are what they are looking for.  When an offer is made the buyer has not Kicked the Tires, so to speak, that happens with inspections.   A buyer can see the kitchen is outdated, yard needs a fence and a patio, they will not ask for these items to be addressed because you don’t need a trained eye to see those types of flaws during the walk through of the home.   What the buyer cannot see or is not looking for will turn into a request for repair. Once the buyer pays for a professional inspection, such as a home inspections, mold inspections, termite, tank sweeps, and radon, the buyer decides that “as is” is not acceptable. This happens time and time again. The bottom line is that the seller will get the mold and/or tank addressed but will bemoan that they had to fix termite damage, install a radon system, replace the sub pump, fix the leak in the crawl space.

mold found in a house

Pro Tip    Disclose What you know

Let’s explain the best “as is” situation. The seller decides to pay for their own home inspection prior to putting their house on the market. This report is to share with the buyers. This makes a situation where it is tough for a buyer to dispute the “as is” sale. The seller is not hiding the flaws of their property, but instead, letting the buyers know exactly what they are purchasing in terms of problems. Now, many buyers will still do their own home inspection and reply with their list of repair items that may or may not have been on the seller’s report. Environmental issues such as mold and tanks are not covered under a typical home inspection so can be a surprise to the seller. What you do not know will hurt you as a buyer when it comes to mold and tank environmental issues on a property. By hurt I mean an expense not in your budget.  

as is home for sale

 

Pro Tip Negotiating As Is Repairs

When negotiating the repairs, Curren Environmental has seen mold remediation costs split between the parties or a credit provided to a buyer. Oil tanks on the other hand, would normally be removed by the seller since there is a chance that the underground oil tank leaked which can add thousands of dollars to the cost. Bottom line when tanks leak, it may be a costly problem to remediate the contaminated soils.  Mold could cost you a few thousand dollars not tens of thousands of dollars.

The term “as is”, when it comes to selling a property may have two different definitions, one for the buyer and one for the seller.

 

as is sale

 

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Mold Removal vs. Mold Remediation

Feb 16, 2021 9:00:00 AM / by David C Sulock posted in mold remediation, mold inspections, mold consultant, professional mold remediation, black mold

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If we didn’t have mold, the leaves, mulch and grass clipping would never decompose, so mold is an essential part of our ecosystem.   Since minuet concentrations of mold spores can be expected to be found almost everywhere, indoors and outdoors, removing all mold from a home or business is just not impossible.  Since mold is only regulated in 11 states, you will see many businesses advertise “mold removal” and may even guarantee to remove all mold, which is really just not possible.

Visible mold is a sure sign that there is a mold problem. When we say mold is everywhere, it’s not visible to the naked eye. Your ultimate objective of addressing mold is fixing the source that fueled the mold growth and  then removing (remediating) the mold. In truth, you are going to aim to getting mold levels back to normal, natural levels (background, nothing visible, no odors).

Ever buy anything from Amazon?   Probably, they grew from an online book seller in the 1990's to a superstore, movie studio and video channel to name a few things.   An underlining mantra at Amazon is when a problem is found, they will "walk backwards" to find the cause so it can be fixed and the problem will not reoccur.   Mold remediation requires you to "walk backwards as well to diagnosis the cause and prevent it from reoccurring.

Clearly you want to remediate the mold in the photos, but you also want to fix the cause.

     2018-11-01 08-58-41-jpg-1        image1

Understanding what caused the mold is the key to the remediation of mold. Case in point, the photo below is an excellent example of selective mold growth.  Look at the ceiling, some beams have a light brown wood color (no mold growth) and some are a greyish color (mold growth).  Mold Remediation is needed for sure but you have to also fix the cause.  I am not going to explain the cause, but we see it a lot, it always gets addressed during remediation.

mold on basement ceiling

New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware do not regulate mold businesses, so hiring a competent ethical company that understands the science behind mold and mold growth is harder than it should be.  Curren Environmental is a full service environmental company and has been for over 20 years experience with mold.  Let’s explain what you can expect to address your mold problem either in your home or business. Even though every project has some unique attributes there is a foundation that you follow to successfully address the mold.

  • Step 1: Mold inspection with emphasis on the cause of mold. You have to find the cause so it can be fixed and the mold will not return.
  • Step 2: Develop remedial plan and make repairs to cause of mold. You need a plan to ensure you address the mold issue thoroughly. Most likely the person inspecting the mold will not be remediating so you need a clear set of steps (instructions) for the mold remediation crew.
  • Step 3: Mold Containment of work area from non work area. As bad as any area with mold is, mold spores will get airborne when demolition or movement of mold impacted items from the space. You need to be able to maintain clean areas outside the mold work area.
  • Step 4: Air Filtration of area to contain spores. We use industrial grade air filtration to clean the air during remediation to prevent cross contamination.
  • Step 5: Clean and save items as possible, wrap fixtures in space if present.  Trust us the mold on the treadmill in your basement can be cleaned and saved.  That box of old magazines, probable not. 
  • Step 6: Physical remediation, hep vacuum to clean mold growth, fungicide application and apply fungistatic coating of remaining porous surfaces this prevents future growth and comes with a 10 year warranty. This is the meat and potatoes of the project.
  • Step 7: Final walk through, what should you expect? You should expect any space that had mold remediation to be cleaner than before remediation.  Expect that organic wood surfaces are now treated with a fungistatic coating. You may have also found other sources/drivers of the mold during the remediation and this would need to be expressed to the client. (Finding hidden water leaks or termite damage is not out of the ordinary.)

Mold remediation atticattic treated with anti mold coating - fungistatic coating

You have mold because you have moisture and possible from more than one source. We have completed thousands of mold inspections and mold remediation.  Our crew is trained to find problems and provide solutions.

mold remediation vs mold removal

Signs of Mold? Call Today 888-301-1050

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Bank Owned Homes & Mold

Jun 19, 2020 8:45:00 AM / by david sulock posted in mold, mold remediation, mold cleanup, mold contractor, Mold Testing, mold inspections, mold survey, mold assessments, mold consultant

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The recession of 2008 can still be felt today in the form of foreclosed properties that have been flipped.    These flipped homes look nothing like the home when it was bank owned.   Flipped homes certainly hold appeal for homeowners who want move in conditions homes.  The photo below shows a house that went through renovations.

flipped home-1

This is a photo of the same home same area pre renovation.   Note the mold on the wood furniture on the left hand side of the photo.

mold in home before flip (002)

Bank owned houses due to no occupancy, have wildly ranging temperatures and humidity fluctuations.  In short, the house gets hot and humid in warmer months, which allows mold to grow.  We have done homes where we come across mold on walls, trim, furniture, attics, basements and crawl spaces due to the house not being heated and cooled.  These homes also may be like this for years.  This certainly makes for homes that are in desperate need of rehabilitation, the question you have to ask is was the mold addressed?

Almost certainly mold in attics and crawl spaces are typically not addressed as these are not areas where the flipper will get bang for their buck or even look for repairs.

Basements typically get partially redone because it creates a living space that was not present before.  The problem is mold that has grown during the foreclosure process gets covered over by clean sheetrock, concealing the mold.  We have seen cracks in foundation walls covered by fresh sheetrock.

Basement mold

 

Basements in bank owned homes typically will have some levels of mold growth.  Again, when these homes are not occupied, there is a high possibility of mold growth.  

Why Mold Test a Flipped Home?

Many house flippers tend to look over the mold growth in basements, one because they are not aware it is mold growth and two, they are unaware of any water issues.  It is Curren's recommendation to always do  Mold Testing in basements of those homes that are being flipped, especially if they were once not occupied and a Foreclosure, sheriff sale, tax sale or bank sale property. There are times when basements are finished or re-finished and the mold growth is covered up, but not specifically remediated.  Meaning, mold will continue to grow and fester in these areas and will not just disappear.  

Attics are yet another area that are not in the realm of a house flipper.  When an house is not occupied for a period of time, humidity and moisture builds up, especially in an area that has no air flow.  Non-occupied homes do  not always have electricity and whole house attic fans, attic fans and humidistat attic fans will not turn on when necessary.  These situations lead to mold growth in attics.

mold can grow in an attic

Curren Environmental suggests Mold Inspections and testing in homes that have not been occupied for a period of time.  Mold growth will occur within 72 hours in the right environment.  Its not to say that home flippers are hiding the mold, they may just be missing that what they see is mold growth.  They are not mold experts.

Questions?

Call Curren Today

or email at info@currenenvironmental.com

 

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Will mold be an issue in my home sale?

Jun 4, 2020 10:30:00 AM / by david sulock posted in mold remediation, Mold Testing, mold inspections, mold survey, mold consultant, professional mold remediation

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Will finding mold growth hurt my chances of selling my home?   This is a common question we are asked when a home buyer finds mold during a real estate transaction.   Mold is a known health hazard, from inhalation of mold spores to the generation of MVOC and mycotoxins, which are generated by mold growing can adversely affects human health. And although you may be living with the mold without incident, you can guarantee that the new owner will not want mold in their new home

In states like New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware where the housing stock is older, building materials have had more time to degrade which allows mold to grow.  Heck a 50 year old home has had plenty of time to have plumbing issues.  If purchasing an older home, expect mold during a sale.

attic mold

Finding mold and having to remediate mold is not driven by laws like a leaking oil tank would dictate remediation. Rather remediating a mold problem is going to be on the top of the buyers "To Do List" prior to purchase. Buyers can overlook the worn carpet, older windows and out-dated bathroom, but buyers can not overlook mold that tends to have buyers draw a line in the sand.  For one, buyers have plans for new paint, replacing the windows and carpet but not having to cleanup a mold problem.

basement sheetrock mold

Clearly visible mold is not a desirable feature of a home, we have never seen someone promote the presence of mold to sell a home. Sure we see homes that are being sold as is, which is a clear indication the owner knows there are defects in the home somewhere. But to say you have large walk in closets, newer kitchen and mold in the basement, yep we don't ever come across that statement.

Fretting over the type of mold and hazards associated with mold are a mute point, you won't see someone allergic to nuts try and differentiate the dangers between a peanut, walnut or cashew. 

Level heads prevail when managing a mold issue, you have to address mold on a molecular level.   You have mold growth in a home because the environment was conducive for the mold to grow.   Arguing that only a little water seeps into the basement after a heavy rain will not get a buyer to stop crowing about wanting the mold fixed. 

A competent mold company that is looking out for everyone's best interest is harder to find than you would expect, this is directly related to the fact that there are no mold regulations in New Jersey, Pennsylvania or Delaware.  Without mold regulations, you have no licensing, without mold licensing you have no competence hurdle for someone to perform mold work.   Any "Chuck in a Truck" will proclaim to be your mold expert.

At Curren we have completed 1000's of mold inspections and remediation and while each one is similar (they have mold) there are nuances to the project.  See the photo below, mold was caused by a disconnected dryer vent which exhausted moist air in the ceiling.  

mold in ceiling

We have seen a few things when it comes to mold.  We have a team of experienced inspectors and our crews are trained from the top down to do your mold job right.  This starts with finding the cause, fixing the sources and removing the mold.

mold inspections mold remediation

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