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I just signed a home purchase agreement for a house built in 2005. But our inspector found mold in the garage ceiling (the sprout above the garage is broken and may have caused this problem) The mold might exist in the bonus room above the garage as well ( although our inspector didn't find it there, he said mold might hide there.
Also, there is a loose joint of water pipe in the attic and that caused leaking and mold there. Our inspector told us he didn't check all locations in the attic for mold since the attic is covered by insulation. How likely will attic have mold somewhere else too?
Given the above factors, do you think it might be better for us not to buy this hous? Or those problems can be fixed easily and won't be a problem (as our realtor argued..) and, therefore, we can still keep this house in consideration?
You may suspect hidden mold if a building smells moldy, but you cannot see the source, or if you know there has been water damage and residents are reporting health problems. Mold may be hidden in places such as the back side of dry wall, wallpaper, or paneling, the top side of ceiling tiles, the underside of carpets and pads, etc. Other possible locations of hidden mold include areas inside walls around pipes (with leaking or condensing pipes), the surface of walls behind furniture (where condensation forms), inside ductwork, and in roof materials above ceiling tiles (due to roof leaks or insufficient insulation). Investigating hidden mold problems may be difficult and will require caution when the investigation involves disturbing potential sites of mold growth. For example, removal of wallpaper can lead to a massive release of spores if there is mold growing on the underside of the paper. If you believe that you may have a hidden mold problem, consider hiring an experienced professional.
Mold problems in a home should be taken seriously. Buy a different home without leaks or mold.
I would not even consider a home with mold...just asking for trouble. It's odd that such a new house would have so many issues, just imagine the problems you don't know about. Walk away..
I bought a house with mold. There was some in the attic on the trusses where it looked like they had maybe put the roof on while they were still wet from a rain. There was also mold in the ceiling of the garage where a soffit had leaked or maybe it was an errant gutter. ANYWAY... we bought the house about 3 years ago, and it was built in 1999.
We called in an environmental/ mold remediation group who sprayed it all with some sort of mold killing spray, then they covered all the areas with the white stuff that looks kind of like paint. I don't know how much it cost, because we just had the seller pay for it, but it was under $1000. Then, we replaced the drywall in the garage to make it all look good again. We have had no problems at all ever since, it was recommended that we have it checked once in a while but I don't think we have yet.
There is a house down the street from me that was abandoned, and there was a broken window. Of course, it rained into the broken window and it became known as "the Mold House" once it started growing up the walls and across the ceiling. The people who bought it got a great deal, then ripped out the old drywall that was effected, sprayed the stuff all over it, new drywall, and they live there happily now.
If it is taken care of, it is fine. You do NOT need to completely write off a house just because of mold.
Like with everything else, I think the media has made the word "mold" strike fear into every homeowner.
In our case, the mold was everywhere in the basement - 1/2 way up the walls. (Electricity had been off for months, the sump pump never worked and the basement flooded.)
We fixed the problem. (Turned the electric on.) Removed the drywall where the mold was - and the mold's "food". And voila - mold problem solved.
Finding mold in a home shouldn't necessarily be a deal-breaker. Mold is everywhere - every house will produce a positive result if tested for mold spores.
According to everyone on this forum, it is a buyer's market. The buyer should be able to find another house very easily. Why go through all this trouble? It is not like the houses are flying out of inventory with multiple bidders. In this market, the buyer should not have to go through all this turmoil and always worry about it especially if they have kids or plan to have kids.
If the OP has other choices, I would explore all of those first.
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Mold problems in a home should be taken seriously. Buy a different home without leaks or mold.
