Purchasing a new home is a significant investment. To ensure that you’re making the most out of your money, you need to get a home and mold inspector to assess the property. If they see mold colonies or signs of mold, turn down the deal.
If you’re thinking about using the mold as leverage to sway the negotiation towards your preferred price, don’t do it. Here are a few perfectly good reasons why.
Mold Can Cause Respiratory and Other Health Problems
Mold exposure can be detrimental to people’s health. Some are too sensitive to molds that they will show signs of an allergic reaction regardless of the mold species present.
The most common allergic reactions to mold include nasal congestion, irritated eyes, inflamed skin, and wheezing. Worse still, some people experience all these reactions together with asthma.
Overexposure to damp and moldy spaces can cause more severe reactions. It includes fever, shortness of breath, and the inflammation of the lungs due to an intense allergic reaction.
Mold Is Easily Dispersed Through the HVAC System
The majority of known mold species disperse through spores. Outdoors, the wind carries the microscopic spores. Indoors, your HVAC is the unknowing accomplice.
A home’s HVAC system makes the property more comfortable because it circulates cold during the summer and warm air during winter. With a mold infestation, the airflow that keeps you comfortable will carry spores that can cause a plethora of health issues.
Additionally, encountering molds like dust and moisture can be bad for your health. As spores travel through the ducts, some will inevitably be left behind. Your HVAC ducts are prime locations for moisture and dust, making a bigger mold problem.
Mold Can Ruin the Property
As the spores circulate in the house through the HVAC system, they will attach to any object and grow if the conditions are right. This includes personal belongings like clothes, shoes, bedding, books, albums, and more.
In addition, mold can also damage furniture and breed in your appliances. It can destroy built-in carpeting and other large sections of your home, requiring all sorts of repairs.
The mold can even eat away at the home’s structure. When left untreated, mold can wear down drywall, ceiling tiles, floorboards, and more.
Mold Removal Can Be Costly
The kind of mold inspection home inspectors perform is non-destructive. They will report mold colonies they spot or indicate signs of a potential mold infestation. They will not take parts of the wall to check.
On the other hand, mold removal experts may need to make big holes in the drywall or take out some of the insulation to check the extent of the damage. Replacing parts of the wall and insulation will cost you money.
When you want to have the mold removed, you are looking at a few thousand dollars on average. On top of that, you may need to replace any structures that the mold destroyed in the walls. There could also be instances where the only course of action is to knock down the whole wall.
Worse still is when you find out that the mold is toxic. This means that the government can and will condemn your property for health and safety reasons.
Conclusion
Before you buy a home, mold testing is essential. Unknowingly or knowingly purchasing a home with mold is a recipe for disaster.
You don’t have to call a mold removal company to inspect a potential home for mold infestations. All you need is experienced home inspectors. They are professionals who can spot signs of mold and other hazards your prospective new home may have.
Let’s Do It Home Inspections are professional home inspectors that offer excellent home and mold inspections in Birmingham, AL. We are a proud member of the American Society of Home Inspectors, so you can rely on us to provide accurate, impartial, and professional home inspections. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you!