Home inspections are the most important thing that you can have done before you purchase a home, since many, many people who have not had them done have thoroughly regretted it. Those who do not have home inspections are typically the victims of problems with their home that cost thousands of dollars to have repaired, even though the seller of the property insisted that there was nothing wrong with it at all. It is important to include a clause in your purchase contract that states that the contract is not valid until a home inspection and if possible, a mold inspection, has taken place. This will ensure that there is either nothing wrong with the home that you wish to purchase or it will let you know every problem that there may be. Home inspections are vital to make an informed decision on whether you want to purchase a particular property or not.
Several areas of the home will be inspected, including the electrical system, plumbing system, roof, basement, foundation, attic, air conditioning system, and any other structural part of the home. If there is any hidden damage to the home that an untrained eye may not be able to detect, then this inspection will reveal it to you. Failing to have a home inspection done before you purchase a property can cost you thousands of dollars, especially if you plan on renovating the property for profit. House flippers have failed to have home inspections done in the past and have gone terribly over their budget due to problems they did not know existed.
Any water damage done to the home in the past that has not been repaired should be reported to you, as well. Mold inspections should always be done whether water damage is found or not, even though mold is more likely to grow in homes that have had water damage. Mold cannot survive without moisture and any problems with the plumbing should also yield clues as to whether mold might be found in the home, especially near the area of the leak.
The price of mold and home inspections is not too cheap, but when you think about the possible money that you could be saving, the cost is pretty negligible. When you purchase a structurally sound home not in need of many repairs for a good price, you will most likely not miss the money spent on these inspections and if you turn down a home due to the inspections revealing problems that could cost you large sums of money, you will be more than thankful for having it done.
Showing posts with label improvement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label improvement. Show all posts
Friday, January 18, 2008
Not All Molds Are Dangerous
No one wants to find mold in their home, but sometimes finding it is the first of our worries. There are a lot of questions that need to be asked after that and most of the time, when a person goes looking for mold in their home, they do not realize this. The questions have to do with what kind of mold it is, what caused it, how to get rid of it, how long it will take, and how much it will cost. This is a lot of headache to deal with, as you can imagine, and while you are dealing with it, the company that you hire to get rid of the mold problem may try to take you for a ride.
What is meant by this? Well, the mold problem that you discover might not be that big of an issue, after all. Cosmetic molds like Ceratocystis can grow in homes and not be a threat to you or the structure of your home at all and yet, some dishonest mold remediation companies will try to convince you that you need a full scale removal done and that this mold is dangerous. This is unfortunate and people get scammed out of thousands of dollars because they simply do not know that cosmetic molds exist.
Ceratocystis is a mold that is a blue-ish color and it will appear on the wooden components of your home and sometimes will even be built into the home itself. This is not a good thing, but it is not enough of a bad thing that you need to worry extensively about how you are going to get rid of it. It will not do any damage to the wood over time and it is not going to harm your health, so why worry?
The only real drawback of this mold in your house is that it is unsightly if it appears in a visible area of your home. If it is outside, you can remove it with sandblasting or pressure washing, but these methods are not recommended for indoors, since they can be pretty messy. You can wash it off indoor surfaces with a scrub brush and a mixture of water and borax detergent. After you finish this, you should remove the water or humidity problem in the area that the mold was found in, if you can, to help slow its return.
What is meant by this? Well, the mold problem that you discover might not be that big of an issue, after all. Cosmetic molds like Ceratocystis can grow in homes and not be a threat to you or the structure of your home at all and yet, some dishonest mold remediation companies will try to convince you that you need a full scale removal done and that this mold is dangerous. This is unfortunate and people get scammed out of thousands of dollars because they simply do not know that cosmetic molds exist.
Ceratocystis is a mold that is a blue-ish color and it will appear on the wooden components of your home and sometimes will even be built into the home itself. This is not a good thing, but it is not enough of a bad thing that you need to worry extensively about how you are going to get rid of it. It will not do any damage to the wood over time and it is not going to harm your health, so why worry?
The only real drawback of this mold in your house is that it is unsightly if it appears in a visible area of your home. If it is outside, you can remove it with sandblasting or pressure washing, but these methods are not recommended for indoors, since they can be pretty messy. You can wash it off indoor surfaces with a scrub brush and a mixture of water and borax detergent. After you finish this, you should remove the water or humidity problem in the area that the mold was found in, if you can, to help slow its return.
Mold Problems in Condos
Purchasing a condominium may be a good option for people who do not wish to be responsible for taking care of the structure of their home; this means that the electrical, plumbing, and general maintenance of the property would be the responsibility of the condominium’s management, not yours. It may depend on your individual agreement to purchase a condo on the property, though.
To protect yourself from being liable for mold damage that may already exist in the condo before you purchase it, you should have a clause addressing that issue inserted into the purchase agreement. This means that if mold spreads to your property from someone else’s or if the toilet overflows in the condo above yours, then the management will take care of any repairs that will need to be done. Before purchasing a condominium, you should always take good care to read all of the paperwork and make sure that you are comfortable with everything included in it. If something makes you uncomfortable or seems unreasonable, you may want to consider purchasing one from somewhere else.
If you discover a mold problem in your condo and it is due to no fault of your own, having it taken care of can be difficult, depending on the honesty and response of your complex’s board. The first thing that you need to do is start a paper trail of complaints and requests that the problem be taken care of. Never do this verbally, because this will not hold up in a court of law. You need written proof of when you complained and sometimes this is best done by sending a certified letter, so you know that the intended party received it.
The next thing that you need to have is hard proof that there is a problem. Hiring a mold inspector to look at the condo and do a report on it first is something that you will need to have if you want to prove that there is an issue with the property that needs to be taken care of. The unfortunate burden of proof is on you, since it is not the responsibility of the complex to prove that there is not a problem.
Small mold issues can be taken care of by you at not much expense and this is often better than trying to get the condominium board to do it for you. Inform them that there is an issue, though, if the mold returns after you cleaned it up. The source of moisture needs to be removed.
Remember, mold problems that originate inside the unit are your responsibility, but if the mold or source of moisture comes from outside your unit, it is their responsibility to have it taken care of.
To protect yourself from being liable for mold damage that may already exist in the condo before you purchase it, you should have a clause addressing that issue inserted into the purchase agreement. This means that if mold spreads to your property from someone else’s or if the toilet overflows in the condo above yours, then the management will take care of any repairs that will need to be done. Before purchasing a condominium, you should always take good care to read all of the paperwork and make sure that you are comfortable with everything included in it. If something makes you uncomfortable or seems unreasonable, you may want to consider purchasing one from somewhere else.
If you discover a mold problem in your condo and it is due to no fault of your own, having it taken care of can be difficult, depending on the honesty and response of your complex’s board. The first thing that you need to do is start a paper trail of complaints and requests that the problem be taken care of. Never do this verbally, because this will not hold up in a court of law. You need written proof of when you complained and sometimes this is best done by sending a certified letter, so you know that the intended party received it.
The next thing that you need to have is hard proof that there is a problem. Hiring a mold inspector to look at the condo and do a report on it first is something that you will need to have if you want to prove that there is an issue with the property that needs to be taken care of. The unfortunate burden of proof is on you, since it is not the responsibility of the complex to prove that there is not a problem.
Small mold issues can be taken care of by you at not much expense and this is often better than trying to get the condominium board to do it for you. Inform them that there is an issue, though, if the mold returns after you cleaned it up. The source of moisture needs to be removed.
Remember, mold problems that originate inside the unit are your responsibility, but if the mold or source of moisture comes from outside your unit, it is their responsibility to have it taken care of.
Mold on Wood Paneling
For some people, the threat that is feared the most is the threat that they cannot see. This is understandable, since if you can see your threat, you can assess how you can best deal with it. Something that tends to be a threat to the health of the people in your home is mold growth and if you have this in your home, you may or may not realize it. Sometimes mold is hidden inside the walls, ceiling, or floor, and we will not know without having a mold inspector come to the house and do some testing.
You can do an inspection of your home for visible mold growth, though, fairly easily. Sometimes you will run across a splotchy patch of drywall in your bathroom or other moist room in your home and you will instantly be able to identify that there is a mold problem in the house. Other times, finding the mold will not be this easy, because the mold is simply invisible. At least, when you look at it the wrong way. Finding mold takes a little detective work sometimes and this is best done with a flashlight.
If your home has wooden paneling anywhere inside it and you have a problem with mold in one area of the house, turn the light off in the room with the paneling and shine the flashlight along the surface of the wood. This will give the mold a little bit of depth and it will show up much better than if you shine the light directly onto the surface at a 90 degree angle. These molds usually belong in the genii Aspergillus or Penicillium and are very easily overlooked if you do not use this flashlight method.
You can clean the mold off the wood paneling with chemicals that are advertised as being able to kill mold, but you may want to be careful just what you put on the surface if it is real wood and not imitation of any kind, especially if you plan on keeping it as a part of your home. If the growth returns after a few days or weeks, though, you may want to consider removing it completely, since the growth may be embedded into it.
The reason for wood paneling in some homes is that they have been flooded and the previous owner could not afford to put drywall back in the damaged areas. If you can afford to remove wood paneling that has no drywall behind it, you really should do this. Replace the paneling with paperless drywall, since mold has a harder time growing on these slabs of drywall than others.
You can do an inspection of your home for visible mold growth, though, fairly easily. Sometimes you will run across a splotchy patch of drywall in your bathroom or other moist room in your home and you will instantly be able to identify that there is a mold problem in the house. Other times, finding the mold will not be this easy, because the mold is simply invisible. At least, when you look at it the wrong way. Finding mold takes a little detective work sometimes and this is best done with a flashlight.
If your home has wooden paneling anywhere inside it and you have a problem with mold in one area of the house, turn the light off in the room with the paneling and shine the flashlight along the surface of the wood. This will give the mold a little bit of depth and it will show up much better than if you shine the light directly onto the surface at a 90 degree angle. These molds usually belong in the genii Aspergillus or Penicillium and are very easily overlooked if you do not use this flashlight method.
You can clean the mold off the wood paneling with chemicals that are advertised as being able to kill mold, but you may want to be careful just what you put on the surface if it is real wood and not imitation of any kind, especially if you plan on keeping it as a part of your home. If the growth returns after a few days or weeks, though, you may want to consider removing it completely, since the growth may be embedded into it.
The reason for wood paneling in some homes is that they have been flooded and the previous owner could not afford to put drywall back in the damaged areas. If you can afford to remove wood paneling that has no drywall behind it, you really should do this. Replace the paneling with paperless drywall, since mold has a harder time growing on these slabs of drywall than others.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
