Ask the Expert

I had a home inspection done recently on a property I was planning to purchase and was told that it had a “mold” problem, so we didn’t pursue purchasing the home. Why has this become such an issue lately?

Not to trivialize the situation, but to quote a home inspector friend of mine, the short answer is that “there is fungus living among us”! Mold growing on a porous, organic surface typically occurs as a result of moisture and is indicative of other, possibly more serious, problems, such as a roof, plumbing or other type of leak in the home. It can also be caused by lack of proper ventilation.

Mold is the result and probably what the owner of that property should do, in addition to treating the mold problem, is to look for the source of the water or moisture that is causing the mold to grow in the first place. If not corrected, the leaking or moisture problem, can cause wood rot which can compromise the structure and be very costly to repair. Damp, wet or moldering wood is also very inviting for carpenter ants which further deteriorates the structure. Most mold is not the life-threatening type, commonly referred to as “killer mold”, you may have read or heard about in the media and can be treated with common household bleach or other commercial products available for that purpose.

However, many people are also highly allergic to mold, especially children and those with compromised immune systems so if you think it’s something more serious than what scrubbing with a bleach solution can remedy, you may want to seek professional help. And, it isn’t necessarily a reason to walk away from a home purchase, either. Discovering the problem can be half way to solving it. Your Realtor is a professional who can call in additional resources to evaluate what is causing the mold problem, make recommendations to eradicate it and prevent it from returning.

Barbara Cunningham

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