Moldy homes are a major problem. Moldy, a documentary released in 2015, reports that over half of the homes in the United States have some sort of mold problem.
This statistic is startling in and of itself. It's outright alarming when you consider that the presence of mold in a home is responsible for over 4.6 million asthma cases.
Mold isn't just bad for your health. It's also bad for your wallet. It can be prohibitively expensive to treat a home for a mold infestation. It's best to be avoided if at all possible.
Here are five more dangers of buying a house with mold.
1. There Are Lots of Kinds of Mold
One of the dangers of buying a house with mold is there are so many different kinds. Researchers have identified over 300,000 different varieties of mold. Many of them are routinely found indoors.
The trouble with there being so many different kinds of mold is that not every home inspector is properly certified as a Hygienist/Home Inspector or going to know how to identify each one. Some might potentially evade even a trained eye. Someone who doesn't know anything about mold might simply not recognize the signs even if they were to see them.
2. Mold Can Spread to the HVAC System
A mold infestation is bad news at the best of times. That news gets exponentially worse if the mold should happen to spread to a house's heating and air conditioning system.
Mold often feeds on dust, which is plentiful inside of HVAC systems. This increases the likelihood of mold spores circulating inside of a home. This is one of the worst-case scenarios involving mold that can happen in your home.
Having mold around is never healthy, at the best of times. It's exponentially worse when that mold is breathed in. This is one of the major causes of the health risks most often caused by having mold inside of a home.
3. Mold Is Unsightly
It might be a minor problem in the scope of all of the issues that mold can cause, but mold infestations can be extremely visually unappealing as well as bad for your health.
At best, mold can be a slightly sickly green or yellow color. That's not the end of it, though. Mold can even be blue, black, or white, leaving a truly unsightly stain on your walls or wherever the mold infestation has taken hold.
Once it's taken root, mold stains can be very difficult to get rid of. Sometimes not even repainting will fix it. The mold just shows through the new layer of paint.
If you do need to cover a mold stain, you should check with your local hardware store about antifungal paints. These will help kill the mold while simultaneously covering the stain, removing unsightly blemishes in the process.
4. Mold Is Bad for Your Health
We've already mentioned how mold infestations can cause asthma. But that's just the beginning of it Mold can have a number of detrimental effects on human health.
Asthma is just one respiratory condition that can be caused by exposure to mold. It's also been associated with other upper respiratory infections. These can range from sinus infections to soar throats.
Mold can cause infections of the lower respiratory system as well. The symptoms can range from shortness of breath to wheezing to whooping cough.
As if this all weren't enough, mold can also help trigger allergies. Sometimes these allergies can even develop into more serious illnesses. These can include pneumonia and bronchitis.
Mold has even been linked to fatal diseases at times. In the 1990s, several children from Columbus, OH developed pulmonary hemorrhages. One of these cases proved to be fatal.
5. Treating Mold Can Be Expensive
Once a mold infestation's taken hold, it can take quite a bit of money, time, energy, and resources to get rid of.
First, you'll have to hire a specialized mold inspector. Like we already mentioned there are over 300,000 different species of mold. You'll need a trained specialist to be able to tell the difference between them all and identify potential health risks.
Once you've determined what your mold problem is, you'll need to get rid of it. This can sometimes involve major structural work to get rid of the problem. It often involves cutting into drywall, even just to identify the problem and the different types of mold.
Once you've discovered a mold problem, you may have to treat it using special mold-resistant solutions.
This can be something like anti-fungal paint, as we already mentioned. It can also involve special seals and curing the trouble area. This can get very expensive, at times. It can also be rather time-consuming and can restrict you from using your house to its fullest capacity.
Mold can majorly impact your life in every way you can imagine. If you're thinking of buying a new home, it's best to avoid any properties that have mold if at all possible. It can end up costing more to fix the mold problem than it would to buy a perfectly functional house.
Of course, sometimes homes with a mold problem can be a fabulously good deal. Or maybe you've just got your heart set on a particular house. A certified mold inspector can identify the problem, present you with a written report and scope of necessary work for remediation/removal of mold, and put you in contact with a properly certified mold remediation company to give you an estimate for the mold remediation. You can take that estimate to your real estate agent or the sellers and ask them to either address the remediation prior to the close of escrow or to give you a price reduction on the purchase price of the property.
Here is what one of our customers has to say on buying a house with mold:
"I was in escrow and had them inspect the new home for mold. Many forms of mold were found in all bathrooms and kitchen, including airborne black mold. We were able to negotiate a $10,000 price reduction on our home as a result. Dorsaye was very attentive and thorough. She always picked up the phone and inspections were scheduled without delay, which was critical during our 14-day escrow. They also provide recommendations for remediation companies, one of which I used and did a great job. Guaranteed came out and did the final inspection and cleared the house for mold. Great experience during a stressful time."
Considering Buying a House With Mold?
Don't worry, buying a house with mold isn't the end of the world. Our certified technicians can identify and solve nearly any mold infestation imaginable.
If you think you might have a mold problem, contact us today and let us help you!