I inherited part of a house. It’s been unoccupied, so we haven’t had the AC on this summer. The neighbors went in this afternoon, and said mold is growing on the walls in the basement, and it looks bad. We are all guessing it’s probably behind the walls too, but that’s just a guess.
What do I need to watch out for, etc. as we work through this issue.
This mold issue is in addition to finding out, just today, that the people who were supposed to buy the house don’t qualify for the loan, so it’s a bad house day,
Ooh, thats bad.
Thats why you still have to heat and cool a building, even if it is unoccupied.
May have to have professionals remove and replace drywall, depending on how bad it is.
http://www.hgtv.com/remodel/interior-remodel/how-to-remove-black-mold
Thanks. I will be calling in pros for this job, not trying to do it myself. But i have no knowledge of this area. All I know is we had a flood once, and they sprayed something like bleach over the walls, so we wouldn’t get mold. Sounds like this could be very expensive.
ETA… That’s not a new puppy is it?
We found mold in our basement recently. We had to call in a professional remediation company. It cost about $3,000 to pull off the insulation and remediate a space about 25 x 15’.
Because you had no air circulation for so long, you’ll need to have the whole house checked, though. Good luck.
I suspect it will be thousands of dollars. Tried to save a little money on AC, and here we are. It smelled funny while the person was alive, so we guessed there was probably mold somewhere. But once we got ALL of his STUFF out, the smell went away, so we were hopeful.
FWIW, when you redo the basement, follow the advice of the building science guys: Lots of really excellent information here: http://buildingscience.com/document-search?term=mold&field_doc_topic_tid=All
I wouldn’t count on neighbors being qualified mold inspectors. Licensed mold inspectors should do an inspection first for assessment.
Its the puppy my daughter and her boyfriend will be adopting when it hits 8 weeks old. An Australian Shepherd.
She lives in a great olace to have a trail running dog, but we will have to take our boxer/ beagle mix to see her, before she starts trying to herd everything. He does not appreciate herding dogs at the dog park.
She is adorable though.
@emeralkity4: We have two Australian shepherds. (See my avatar for the rear view.) They are wonderful dogs, but they do require lots of exercise.
I joke that if they were people, they’d be going to MIT.
ETA: Sorry to derail the thread. Let’s talk about mold in the basement again. 
Make sure not to hire a licensed mold inspection company who is also in the mold repair or in the “mold remediation” business. Get an inspector to do your mold assessment who will give you an independent ‘arms length’ report to reduce chances of you getting ripped off for unnecessary remediation work.
My I laws had this issue. Every single thing in their house…everything…needed to be cleaned. This included all of,their clothing, rugs, knick knack, dishes, curtains, everything.
They were told not doing so…mold spores could be missed…and multiply.
It was very expensive.
They never left their house untested or no AC again. And they also made sure there was a dehumidifier hooked into their heating and cooling system.
You don’t need to hire a mold inspection company. You can easily collect samples yourself and take them in to a testing lab, which won’t charge much for their service. To collect the samples, simply make a loop of scotch tape and touch it to the mold, of course while wearing protective gloves and a mask. Be sure to take a number of samples from different locations. Place each sample in an individual zip lock bag and take them to a lab.
^you can buy these kits at Home Depot and mail in.
On the bright side, thinking positive, there are all kinds of mold. Maybe this is the kind you just clean up with a diluted bleach solution. Sounds like a finished basement, making it tougher bc some things will surely need to be removed…
Might your homeowners insurance cover some of this??
Same question as VH. Does someone have insurance on this house? We have two condos that have had mold issues,causing several thousand dollars worth of damage. All paid for by insurance. However, I know in WA state, insurers must cover water damage.
OP here. Thanks everyone. Yes the house is insured. We are having someone recommended to us come and look at the mold tomorrow. Once I know what I’m dealing with, I will attempt to contact the insurance company, if these guys think it may be covered.
Read your insurance policy to determine if you have coverage.
It may be difficult to get MOLD covered by insurance because it is a health hazard and will raise lots of red flags with the insurance company.
. You will have to go through lots of hoops to get them to pay for the remediation because THEY have to hire expensive , licensed qualified contractors to get the mold eliminated.
Good luck.
I agree, get a professional test done on it. What you are seeing could be mildew or a kind of mold that isn’t that bad (and I am no expert), the kind of mold they worry about is black mold, when you might just have mildew and the like. Getting an independent inspector to do it is important, to see what needs to be done.
I agree, look at your policy!! Does it cover water damage, or is that, or in particular mold, excluded? Forget what the contractors coming out say, they aren’t handling your policy. They may tell you it wouldn’t be covered, but here, we’ll clean it up for 5K. How would they know? If you are unsure, why not call the insurance company and ask? The main thing is… This was just noticed, as they can accuse people of neglect, and deny the claim.