Horrible Mold In Basement
I've read many of the posts on mold, but I'd like to see if anyone has dealt with a problem as bad as the one I'm thinking of dealing with. The house I'm looking at purchasing has been vacant since August of last year. Since that time the basement has flood a half of dozen times and was actually wet when inspected a few weeks ago. There is debris all over the floor like paper/cardboard making the mold have a nice environment to grow in. THERE ARE ACTUALLY MUSHROOM LIKE GROWTHS GROWING ON THE CONCRETE FLOOR. It's really gross! Good news is that it's confined to the Basement (there has been a shut basement door), the basement is unfinished, and we know what the water issue is. Is this possible to fix or should I just turn and run. This is my first investment property, but I stand to make about $75,000 after all costs.
My other concern is that after it's remediated will I be able to sell the home? I'm assuming I will have to disclose the mold problem, and will the new owner be able to get homeowners insurance with this previous condition?
Thanks for your help
I'm in the same boat - the house I'm looking at has the Entire interior completely coated with mold. It's bad - I've never seen anything like it...but for a short sale, I'm kind of licking my chops. This will give me some beautiful bad pictures to send in my photo journal to the bank!
However, due to the extreme amount of mold - do I need to tear the house down completely or just gut it?
I promise you guys have never seen anything like this - almost every square inch of the interior is covered with mold!
What do you think?
Just my personal opinion here...
wchaillet, you know the cause and the basement is unfinished, I like the sounds of it alot.
nwms, sounds scary to me. What is the cause?
Speaking as a biologist (I am a biology teacher)....Mold needs 2 things to grow. Moisture and organic substrate (paper, trash, bags anything made of wood or vegie matter). Get rid of all of the organic material, drywall, cardboard. Replace or seal all wood with Kilz or simular paint. Stop the water. Stop the mold.
[ Edited by nwms on Date 07/10/2004 ]