Realtors, Real Estate Agents,
Real Estate Sales & Mould Problems
[May
14, 2003]
Q.
I am a Real
Estate Agent in Michigan, and a home that I showed was found to
have toxic mould in the basement mostly, and some upstairs. My
client would like to buy the house "As Is" and do all the mould
remediation with his own contractors. There are a difference of
opinions in what all the Mould removal companies say needs to be
done. Question: #1 With mould remediation/removal, is it necessary
to replace the furnace and all the duct work? Or, is there a way
to just clean the duct work and is this always done in homes with
toxic mould. Question #2 If there are several sources of the water
problem (bad roof with no venting, poor grading around foundation,
poor foundation, etc), do mould removal/remediation contractors
usually attack the source of the problem too? So would this
possibly need a new roof w/ venting, grading etc to make sure the
mould does not come back? Or is it safe for Mould removal
contractors to just remove the mould and not really correct the
source?
A.
Only about 70% of the
surface areas inside hvac equipment can be reached by mould
cleaning and decontamination, leaving a serious pocket of possible
mould infestation to re-contaminate a home. As to the duct work, if
it is sheet metal with no insulation INSIDE the ducts, it is
possible to clean and disinfect such duct work. Because the hvac
equipment and ducts easily get contaminated if there is a serious
mould problem in a building, and because hvac mould contamination
can re-infect a house with a big mould problem, mould remediation
needs to simultaneously take care of the building's overall mould
problem AND the hvac equipment and ducts mould problem. The
standard of care for effective mould remediation is to replace with
new all hvac equipment and ducts. As to your second problem, mould
remediation companies are not trained and licensed to fix water
intrusion problems such as roof leaks and water leaks. The
appropriate licensed and trained contractors need to fix such
water intrusion problems BEFORE the mould problems are taken care
of. Otherwise, the mould remediation efforts are wasted due to
fresh water entry into building materials.
Home Builder Mould Question & Answer
[Jan.
25, 2003]
Q. We are in the process of building a new home and on two separate occasions the house has been flooded. The first time there were fans through out the house. The water came into the house from incomplete plumbing in the master bath. The second time
the flooding water came through the den because the dry
wall worker had put a screw through the pipe in the master bath shower. When they turned
on the water to the new plumbing, the house was flooded again. What can we do to assure we have no water damage or mould?
A.
You should hire a
Certified Mould Inspector to completely inspect your
new home under construction for hidden
water problems and mould problems. One important inspection point is to drill one-half inch inspection holes in several areas along each wall,
ceiling, and [wooden] floor area that was actually flooded to insert a fiber optics inspection tool to look for
water damage and mould growth inside the walls, ceiling, and floor. Next the inspector should test the air in the various rooms,
basement, crawl space, and attic, plus the heating, ventilating, and air
conditioning [ hvac] equipment and ducts, to determine if there are elevated levels of dangerous airborne mould spores. It is very likely that your home has a serious mould infestation problem, but only thorough inspection and testing can establish
whether or not your home has become a sick house because of mould
contamination. If you want to do your own mould inspection and testing,
please follow the directions provided in mould expert Phillip Fry's book
Do
it yourself Mould Prevention, Inspection, Remediation, & Testing Guide. You may want to consider hiring a
mould-oriented attorney to pursue any legal rights you have for damages
from the home builder and/or contractors that have put your home into mould
jeopardy. For help in pursuing a home builder mould liability claim,
look for environmental attorneys in the lawyer reference
book Martindale Hubbell Directory of Attorneys, often available in
the reference department of large public libraries.
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