Should You Have a Mold Inspection Before Purchasing a Home?

2/2/2017 (Permalink)

The spring time is often when the real estate market gets busy. Are you in the market for a new home? Are you worried about existing problems you may find after moving in? Will you have your new home inspected before purchase?

You may want to also consider having a mold inspection before buying a home. Mold can be found behind walls under flooring materials, hidden by furniture and wall coverings and in out of sight locations such as crawl spaces and attics. Therefore, you may not see the mold before buying the home. Mold remediation can be very a costly process.

It has become popular to make homes as energy efficient as possible. The advantage to an energy efficient home is that the utility bill is much lower. Everyone can appreciate that! The disadvantage is that mold flourishes in a sealed environment. Water gets trapped and doesn’t evaporate as quickly. This diminishes the indoor air quality.

Do not think that because you are buying a new or newer home, that mold does not exist in that home. Lack of proper ventilation, construction errors and the time of year the home was built could be a factor as to whether or not mold exists.

A home inspector may be able to find visible mold in the home. However, it is likely that they are not a mold expert. Mold cannot always be seen, therefore, sometimes it is necessary to take air samples and submit them for testing to truly know if there is mold in the home or not. An indoor environmental quality consultant would be able to perform this type of testing for you.