Comments on: Black mold? I’m buying an older house and there is signs of water damage?

By: spmohio

spmohio — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 18:57:34 +0000

Get a home inspection by a certified home inspector if you can. They check for dampness which is what black mold loves. If their is no visible signs of it I think thats all that you should be concerned about. Make sure you check the bathrooms though. Around the tub and in the subflooring if there is any signs of water seepege this can create black mold. It is unhealthy to breath but it doesnt sound like you are going to be doing any rehabing so you should be fine. Get the home inspection.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 19:53:01 +0000

We found mold in our home this summer, and I can tell you from experience that where there’s a little mold there’s a lot of mold. Mold is alive, and the only way to get rid of it is to kill it and then treat the areas where it was with a preventative. This can only be done by professionals, and if the job doesn’t get done right, the mold will grow back. Surface mold is mold is black mold, it doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t buy the house, and I wouldn’t even bother with an inspection. With the subprime mortgage market collapse, you can find plenty of good rental properties that are in fine condition. There’s no need to buy a money pit.

In our home we saw just a little bit of mold on one wall, but the mold itself was all over our first floor and had started growing up to the second floor. When we tore out the drywall, it was wet and moldy through the walls, under the carpet, under the cabinets and under the tile floor in the kitchen. Our insurance adjustor told us that it appeared that the mold had been growing for about six weeks, and it had already done that much damage, but we didn’t even know it.

Our insurance company spent a lot of money and a lot of time and did a great job of fixing our home, but like I said, I would never even think about a home where there had been a mold issue that was not properly remediated.

By: mbrcatz17

mbrcatz17 — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 16:41:03 +0000

Black is a color. Just because there’s black mold, doesn’t mean it’s the TOXIC kind. Mold grows in MOST houses, and MOST of the time, it’s harmless (well, if you don’t have allergies).

If you’re worried that this might be the toxic kind, hire a mold specialist to go out and get some samples to test. There’s no insurance that will cover it, so you’re better off paying BEFORE you buy the house.

By: mstrobert

mstrobert — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 07:24:34 +0000

you need to hire a professional to evaluate the property.

You really need to get in the crawl space, not just for mold, but for other problems like termites.

By: frankie b

frankie b — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 00:02:57 +0000

Have a mold test done by an inspection company, then you will have proof its either there or not.

By: Rick B

Rick B — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 10:29:26 +0000

When you get it inspected, the inspector will look for problems like this.