Home Inspection Guide: Mold and What It Can Mean When Selling Your Home

Mold can form anywhere in your home that there is moisture: In the bathroom, the kitchen, the attic, the crawl space, under the floors, behind the washer, and so on. You could even have mold in your house without knowing it. Mold can spread through your home, damaging the materials and creating a health risk for your family.

If you have mold in your home or you had mold in the past, it can make it difficult to sell your home. You’ll need to work with a good home inspector and realtor to get advice on how to move forward for the best outcome. Here are a few things you should do if you are trying to sell your home and think you may have mold:

Get a Mold Inspection

Even if you don’t see any signs of mold in your home, you should get a mold inspection before you list it for sale. You could have hidden mold that would be discovered during the inspection after a buyer submits an offer, so you want to find out if there’s a problem now instead of later.

Hire a home inspector experienced with mold to look your home over from top to bottom. If you don’t have any mold, you have peace of mind knowing that your house is ready to list for sale. If you do have mold, you need to take some other steps before you should make the listing live.

Make Repairs

Often, some leak or plumbing problem is the cause for mold. You might have a loose connection around a pipe, for example. Other times, mold develops because there are cracks or loose connections around areas that get wet, such as a space between the sink and the wall or a crack between the floor tile and the tub.

You’ll need to make repairs to solve the problem that is allowing the mold to spread in the first place. Otherwise, you’ll get rid of the mold and it will just return later.

Fix the Damage

Mold and water may have spread through your home, leaving a trail of destruction. You may have rotting floor boards, joists that are covered in black mold, or flaking drywall. Once you have fixed the problem that caused the mold, you need to fix any damage that the mold and water has caused. That may also include repainting the walls or recovering the floors.

Remove the Mold

After you have repaired the damages, you may still have mold that needs to be removed. After all, you don’t have to replace wood just because it has mold on it – only if it is structurally damaged. You will need to call in a specialist who is experienced in removing mold to make sure that you get rid of all it safely. Make sure you leave enough time for this process, as it can take longer than you expect, depending on how much mold there is.

Document Everything

When you finally do list your home, you will need to reassure potential buyers that the mold problem has been thoroughly contained and that there are no lingering problems with the home. You should document your mold inspection (and the findings), any repairs you made, and the mold removal. You can provide that documentation to potential buyers to show them what you’ve done about the problem.

A final home inspection will be the last assurance to buyers that there is no mold or damage in the home. Yet you have to make people comfortable enough to make an offer before they get to that point. By giving them documentation, you can increase the chances of getting offers on your home.

Having mold doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to sell your home. It just means that you will need to take some extra steps to make your home safe and to make potential buyers feel confident about its value. Follow these steps and you should be able to have a successful sale.

ATS Home Inspections can help you get your home ready for sale by performing a mold inspection, or we can help you evaluate a home that you are considering buying. Our experienced inspectors will look a home over from head to toe to find any issues that may be lingering. We’ll let you know about any potential problems with a home so that you can make an informed buying choice or you can get your own home ready for sale. Call us in Arizona today if you need an experienced home inspector.

ATS Home Inspections LLC
Phone (623) 266-8846
Email: tkolb@atshomeinspectionsllc.com
Website: atshomeinspectionsllc.com