While we do our best to make sure that both our belongings and our homes stay clean, mold is sometimes a threat that we cannot always detect early on. A lot of times an odor has to develop in a room or it has to start growing visibly on the wall before we are aware that there is a problem. While there may not be a lot that you can do to detect hidden mold in your home as it just starts to grow, there are plenty of things that you can do to keep mold out of your house and off of your belongings.
A lot of people have a bad habit of tossing wet and dirty clothing or towels into the bathroom closet and just leaving them there until the closet gets full of dirty clothes. Not only can this cause mold to start growing on the floor in the closet, but the longer the clothes are left there, the mold will spread to the other clothes that you threw in on top of the wet ones. Washing rags or towels that have become mildewed together with things that are not mildewed does not usually do anything but cause the ‘clean’ clothes to become mildewed and smelly, as well. The best thing to do is empty the dirty clothes from your closet as often as possible; do this every day if you do not have a separate container to put wet items in. Keep mold from growing in the bottom of the closet on the floor by using a plastic laundry bin.
Clothes that are packed too tightly together in closets can also become moldy due to high humidity and lack of air circulation. Some closets have vents installed specifically to keep air circulating in the closet, but if you pack your clothes in there until you just can’t squeeze anymore in, you are defeating the purpose of the vent. Not all molds need significant warmth to survive, but it definitely helps. Your clothes are all the food that they will need and high humidity will provide the moisture.
Baby bottles that are strangely shaped can also become moldy or mildewed, but this can be prevented by washing the bottles, rinsing them, drying them as much as you can, and then putting them in the freezer until they are needed again. Mold does not like cold temperatures and while it can remain dormant in cold weather, if you just washed the bottle, odds are good that there is no mold on it.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
New Jersey mold damage restoration and other states and cities such as
Connecticut mold remediation companies across the united states.
Friday, September 28, 2007
How to Sell a Moldy Home
Selling a home that you no longer want or need can be a hassle all by itself, but when you add mold contamination to the mix, it just gets ugly. It is not easy getting rid of a home that is contaminated with mold at the price that you want and a lot of times, you have to lower the price that you ask for it before you can even get anyone to come near it. There is hope, however, for those of you who are willing to do a little work.
If you do happen to find a buyer, you should make sure that an environmental inspection clause is included in the sales contract. This will assure the buyer that they will have a two to three week period where they can have an inspector come to take a look around the property and examine it for mold or any other hazards that could possibly exist. If they or the inspector see that mold exists on the property without testing, then the only test that should be performed is to determine whether the mold is toxic. Even if the mold does not happen to be toxic, it still needs to be removed due to the structural damage that it can do to the building materials the home is made out of. Drywall that becomes infected usually needs to be replaced and so does any wood or other materials.
Whatever you do, do not try to hide the mold contamination from your buyer by trying to cover it up or remove the mold superficially. Even if you remove the mold off of the surface of a piece of drywall, odds are good that the whole depth of the sheet has been contaminated because drywall is a porous surface covered with paper both on the front and the back. If your buyer discovers there is mold on the property and you mentioned nothing about it, they may suspect that you are hiding other things about the home, as well, and you will have lost your buyer.
You should also have a clause in your sales contract that says that neither you, your lender, or your real estate agent is responsible for any complications caused by mold after the home is sold. Listing all mold and water damage that has been done to the home in the past and what you have done to fix the problems should be enough.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
flood water damage restoration chicago and other states such as
South Carolina mold remediation companies across the united states.
If you do happen to find a buyer, you should make sure that an environmental inspection clause is included in the sales contract. This will assure the buyer that they will have a two to three week period where they can have an inspector come to take a look around the property and examine it for mold or any other hazards that could possibly exist. If they or the inspector see that mold exists on the property without testing, then the only test that should be performed is to determine whether the mold is toxic. Even if the mold does not happen to be toxic, it still needs to be removed due to the structural damage that it can do to the building materials the home is made out of. Drywall that becomes infected usually needs to be replaced and so does any wood or other materials.
Whatever you do, do not try to hide the mold contamination from your buyer by trying to cover it up or remove the mold superficially. Even if you remove the mold off of the surface of a piece of drywall, odds are good that the whole depth of the sheet has been contaminated because drywall is a porous surface covered with paper both on the front and the back. If your buyer discovers there is mold on the property and you mentioned nothing about it, they may suspect that you are hiding other things about the home, as well, and you will have lost your buyer.
You should also have a clause in your sales contract that says that neither you, your lender, or your real estate agent is responsible for any complications caused by mold after the home is sold. Listing all mold and water damage that has been done to the home in the past and what you have done to fix the problems should be enough.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
flood water damage restoration chicago and other states such as
South Carolina mold remediation companies across the united states.
Cell Phone Water Damage Indicator
While I did not pay over $100 for my cell phone, a lot of other people have paid hundreds for theirs and have ended up dropping them in the toilet, the bath tub, the kitchen sink, or even the river or a number of other bodies of water large enough for a phone to be submerged in. There are a lot of places you can get your cell phone wet, but what you probably might not realize is that your cell phone’s warranty does not cover water damage. Manufacturers are even beginning to install these stickers on the insides of the phone in not one, but at least two different places so that if your phone gets wet, you cannot tell the repair technician that it did not. The technician will know if your phone is water damaged simply by the fact that the sticker on the inside of your phone has changed color.
This might be a great thing for manufacturers having to deal with a lot of returns by consumers dropping their phones in the pool and claiming the phone was never wet, but unfortunately for honest consumers, these stickers are so sensitive that they often trip when the humidity is just too high wherever you might be. There is a powdered dye underneath the sticker and when moisture builds up inside the phone, the sticker and dye both get wet and the dye disperses on the sticker, changing it. One of these is typically located on the battery compartment, but another (usually more difficult to access) is located on the circuit board of the phone.
So, how do you get around this? Well, if you want to make both stickers ineffective, you will have to break into your phone quite skillfully, but it can be done. The first sticker is not difficult to reach. Take a piece of scotch tape with a satin finish and cover the sticker with it. If your phone suddenly stops working for no apparent reason, remove the tape and take it back to the manufacturer. I doubt this will help you much if you drop your phone in the bath tub, because it is not likely that a piece of scotch tape will keep the sticker from getting wet, but it will help protect it from moisture due to high humidity. As for the location of the other sticker, you will probably have a hard time getting to it because it is located on your circuit board.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
North Carolina Sewage Damage Cleanup and other states such as
South Carolina mold remediation companies across the united states.
This might be a great thing for manufacturers having to deal with a lot of returns by consumers dropping their phones in the pool and claiming the phone was never wet, but unfortunately for honest consumers, these stickers are so sensitive that they often trip when the humidity is just too high wherever you might be. There is a powdered dye underneath the sticker and when moisture builds up inside the phone, the sticker and dye both get wet and the dye disperses on the sticker, changing it. One of these is typically located on the battery compartment, but another (usually more difficult to access) is located on the circuit board of the phone.
So, how do you get around this? Well, if you want to make both stickers ineffective, you will have to break into your phone quite skillfully, but it can be done. The first sticker is not difficult to reach. Take a piece of scotch tape with a satin finish and cover the sticker with it. If your phone suddenly stops working for no apparent reason, remove the tape and take it back to the manufacturer. I doubt this will help you much if you drop your phone in the bath tub, because it is not likely that a piece of scotch tape will keep the sticker from getting wet, but it will help protect it from moisture due to high humidity. As for the location of the other sticker, you will probably have a hard time getting to it because it is located on your circuit board.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
North Carolina Sewage Damage Cleanup and other states such as
South Carolina mold remediation companies across the united states.
What Mold Has Done For Us
Mold can cause all kinds of negative health effects to us and it has done this for thousands of years, but what about all the good things that we have gotten from the presence of mold? We have been using mold to make different foods and medicines for years, but these days on the news most of what we hear about mold is negative. Perhaps we do not hear about the benefits of this organism so much because they have become such a part of our daily lives.
There are a lot of different foods that have been produced using mold for many years and the most famous seems to be cheese. Blue cheese was accidentally invented a long time ago when mold had contaminated a block of cheese that had been left sitting out to age. Most people either love or hate this cheese because of its salty taste and crumbly texture and because of the blue veins of mold that run throughout the block. It has also become very popular as an ingredient for salad dressing. Since it was first invented, experiments have been done to culture just the right mold to make the cheese taste just right. Gorgonzola and Roquefort cheeses are also produced using molds. These three cheeses are often called the “kings” of cheeses.
The mold Aspergillus oryzae is used in Japan to make the alcoholic beverage called sake. Sake is an acquired taste for those who are used to other European liquors, because sake is made with rice. The mold used to ferment the rice is referred to in Japanese as “koji” and the development of this mold has been almost perfected over the years, even though there are different ways to culture it. This mold begins to break down the rice and produce the sugar that the yeast used to ferment the rice needs in order to keep growing. The process of growing the mold can be extremely effected by temperatures, the type of rice that is used, and the kind of water, among other factors.
One of the most famous uses of mold was the invention of Penicillin by Alexander Fleming back in the first half of the 1900’s. This has been used since then to help in the fight against bacterial infections, even though it has been discovered that some people are allergic to the medicine and cannot receive it due to their skin breaking out or in rare cases, hospitalization or even death.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
flood water damage restoration chicago and other states such as
New Jersey mold remediation contractor companies across the united states.
There are a lot of different foods that have been produced using mold for many years and the most famous seems to be cheese. Blue cheese was accidentally invented a long time ago when mold had contaminated a block of cheese that had been left sitting out to age. Most people either love or hate this cheese because of its salty taste and crumbly texture and because of the blue veins of mold that run throughout the block. It has also become very popular as an ingredient for salad dressing. Since it was first invented, experiments have been done to culture just the right mold to make the cheese taste just right. Gorgonzola and Roquefort cheeses are also produced using molds. These three cheeses are often called the “kings” of cheeses.
The mold Aspergillus oryzae is used in Japan to make the alcoholic beverage called sake. Sake is an acquired taste for those who are used to other European liquors, because sake is made with rice. The mold used to ferment the rice is referred to in Japanese as “koji” and the development of this mold has been almost perfected over the years, even though there are different ways to culture it. This mold begins to break down the rice and produce the sugar that the yeast used to ferment the rice needs in order to keep growing. The process of growing the mold can be extremely effected by temperatures, the type of rice that is used, and the kind of water, among other factors.
One of the most famous uses of mold was the invention of Penicillin by Alexander Fleming back in the first half of the 1900’s. This has been used since then to help in the fight against bacterial infections, even though it has been discovered that some people are allergic to the medicine and cannot receive it due to their skin breaking out or in rare cases, hospitalization or even death.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
flood water damage restoration chicago and other states such as
New Jersey mold remediation contractor companies across the united states.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Water and Mold in the Home
Seeing as how the kitchen and the bathroom are the two rooms that can add or subtract the most value from your home when you go to sell it, it would make quite a bit of sense to keep these two rooms in the best condition possible. These two rooms, however, are also subject to some of the most serious problems a homeowner can face: water damage and mold contamination, which tend to go hand in hand.
Keeping the shower and bath tub cleaned regularly of mildew (another word for mold) is a good idea to keep it in good condition.
Water damage occurs when water comes into contact with your floor or anything else in your home and is not cleaned up properly. It can cause floors to buckle and cause what is called “cupping” if you try to dry it out too fast, so cleaning up water spilled on hardwood floors (or in a home that has flooded) can be pretty tricky. Since mold likes to live wherever water damaged items are and wherever there is moisture, where there is water damage, mold usually follows on some level or another.
Water damage can also result from simply not having a vent installed in the bathroom or kitchen to allow the steam from bathing or cooking to escape the room. If not directed to the outside of the house through one of these vents, the steam will float up to the ceiling and soak it. Mold eventually starts to grow in these places and you will have to replace the drywall. Even if mold does not start to grow, you will probably have to replace the drywall eventually, anyway, because the paper on the front of the drywall will start to separate and sag. This is not dangerous, but it is unsightly.
Water damage also occurs when you allow a toilet or bath tub to overflow and you do not clean up the water sufficiently. If you have a vinyl or tile floor in the bathroom, this is a good thing. This creates a barrier between the water and the flood underneath, since the tile or laminate should not absorb much, if any, water. If you have carpet in your bathroom, this is a bad thing. Water will be absorbed by the carpet, the padding underneath, and depending on the amount of water on the floor, the base of the floor underneath will also be soaked. Mold will eventually start to grow if you do not make sure and get as much of the water up as possible.
In the kitchen, water damage and mold growth can be prevented by keeping a check on the plumbing going to your dishwasher and your sink. Having a vinyl and not a hardwood floor in your kitchen is the best thing, but spills need to be cleaned up as quickly as possible.
Jim Corkern is a writer and respected contributor to the Water damage restoration and mold remediation Industry. Visit his sites for more information.
http://www.moldrestorationny.info
http://www.moldrestorationnj.info
Keeping the shower and bath tub cleaned regularly of mildew (another word for mold) is a good idea to keep it in good condition.
Water damage occurs when water comes into contact with your floor or anything else in your home and is not cleaned up properly. It can cause floors to buckle and cause what is called “cupping” if you try to dry it out too fast, so cleaning up water spilled on hardwood floors (or in a home that has flooded) can be pretty tricky. Since mold likes to live wherever water damaged items are and wherever there is moisture, where there is water damage, mold usually follows on some level or another.
Water damage can also result from simply not having a vent installed in the bathroom or kitchen to allow the steam from bathing or cooking to escape the room. If not directed to the outside of the house through one of these vents, the steam will float up to the ceiling and soak it. Mold eventually starts to grow in these places and you will have to replace the drywall. Even if mold does not start to grow, you will probably have to replace the drywall eventually, anyway, because the paper on the front of the drywall will start to separate and sag. This is not dangerous, but it is unsightly.
Water damage also occurs when you allow a toilet or bath tub to overflow and you do not clean up the water sufficiently. If you have a vinyl or tile floor in the bathroom, this is a good thing. This creates a barrier between the water and the flood underneath, since the tile or laminate should not absorb much, if any, water. If you have carpet in your bathroom, this is a bad thing. Water will be absorbed by the carpet, the padding underneath, and depending on the amount of water on the floor, the base of the floor underneath will also be soaked. Mold will eventually start to grow if you do not make sure and get as much of the water up as possible.
In the kitchen, water damage and mold growth can be prevented by keeping a check on the plumbing going to your dishwasher and your sink. Having a vinyl and not a hardwood floor in your kitchen is the best thing, but spills need to be cleaned up as quickly as possible.
Jim Corkern is a writer and respected contributor to the Water damage restoration and mold remediation Industry. Visit his sites for more information.
http://www.moldrestorationny.info
http://www.moldrestorationnj.info
The Mold Remediation Equipment You Need
Depending on how much mold needs to be removed from your home, the equipment that you will need in order to finish the job will vary greatly. If you cannot afford to hire a professional and plan on doing the entire job yourself, you probably want to know the best and safest way to complete the job. If you do not take care, you should realize that kind of biological hazard that you are exposing yourself to if you do not purchase the right level of protection equipment. This can include aggravation of your asthma, emphysema, the occurrence of skin rashes, respiratory infections, and eye infections can result, among other health complications. If you are sure you want to take on this job by yourself, consider yourself warned.
Washing mold off of drywall or other porous surfaces with chemicals will work only on a superficial level. It will not kill the mold that has worked its way into the depth of the drywall and contaminated the other side in the wall. Most drywall that becomes contaminated with mold will need to be completely replaced. If the mold growth appears to be light and you catch it new, you might be able to avoid this. Purchase heavy duty trash bags that will hold all the contaminated materials that you remove from the home, but make sure to not touch contaminated items to non-contaminated items, because of the possibility of cross-contamination.
Respirators should be used when doing any kind of mold remediation job. An N-95 respirator is recommended at the very least for light jobs and for more extensive jobs, a full face respirator with a HEPA filter should be purchased. These larger jobs are usually done on older houses that are being renovated and almost completely gutted to remove contamination, but any job that requires removing drywall and throwing it away requires a respirator of some level. A full face mask will cost you around $130. Protective clothing can also be purchased, such as rubber gloves and shoes that will not allow the mold spores to come into contact with your skin.
A vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter will also help you tremendously when you are cleaning your home after the remediation is done. This will collect all the mold spores and particles from your floor and carpet and deposit them into a receptacle that you can empty when you are done. Be careful emptying this container, though, and do not touch the contents with your bare hands. Do not stir up the contents any more than you have to in order to get them into the trash bag.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
New Jersey Sewage Damage Cleanup and other states such as
New York mold remediation companies across the united states.
Washing mold off of drywall or other porous surfaces with chemicals will work only on a superficial level. It will not kill the mold that has worked its way into the depth of the drywall and contaminated the other side in the wall. Most drywall that becomes contaminated with mold will need to be completely replaced. If the mold growth appears to be light and you catch it new, you might be able to avoid this. Purchase heavy duty trash bags that will hold all the contaminated materials that you remove from the home, but make sure to not touch contaminated items to non-contaminated items, because of the possibility of cross-contamination.
Respirators should be used when doing any kind of mold remediation job. An N-95 respirator is recommended at the very least for light jobs and for more extensive jobs, a full face respirator with a HEPA filter should be purchased. These larger jobs are usually done on older houses that are being renovated and almost completely gutted to remove contamination, but any job that requires removing drywall and throwing it away requires a respirator of some level. A full face mask will cost you around $130. Protective clothing can also be purchased, such as rubber gloves and shoes that will not allow the mold spores to come into contact with your skin.
A vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter will also help you tremendously when you are cleaning your home after the remediation is done. This will collect all the mold spores and particles from your floor and carpet and deposit them into a receptacle that you can empty when you are done. Be careful emptying this container, though, and do not touch the contents with your bare hands. Do not stir up the contents any more than you have to in order to get them into the trash bag.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
New Jersey Sewage Damage Cleanup and other states such as
New York mold remediation companies across the united states.
The Bible Talks About Mold
No matter where we are or what time we have lived in, mold has always been there to make us sick and to affect our property and belongings. Insurance companies are quick to tell you that mold is not that much of a health threat and that it has been around longer than we humans have been, but this is just an argument they use so they do not have to pay your insurance claim. If your insurance claims adjuster comments that mold has been around for thousands of years and that it is not a real health threat, whatever you do, DO NOT agree with him. Dispute it. If you agree to anything he says and even remotely say that you might not have a claim, you will not have a claim and you will receive no benefits. Be steadfast when filing your claim and if necessary, you can even cite the Holy Bible to show that mold has always been a health threat to human beings and their animals.
Leviticus chapter 14:39-47 states that mold living in a building was not to be tolerated. It blatantly calls the building “diseased” or “plagued”, depending on which version of the scripture that you read. Rabbis were sent into the homes to inspect them and if they were found to be infected, the stones in the house that had mold on them were removed and taken to a landfill of sorts far away from the village. The house was sealed up for 7 days and after that, the rabbi came back to see if the mold infection returned. If it did, all the building materials for the house were torn down and thrown into the same landfill the first stones were and it was rebuilt. Any clothing that had been contaminated with mold was shown to the rabbi and if it was found to be infected, it also was taken to that landfill.
Insurance companies can dispute the ill health effects of mold on the human and animal body as much as they want to, but the proof is there. The Bible states that mold was considered a problem and a cause of disease in ancient times and we should consider it no less today. If your landlord, insurance claims adjuster, or anyone else you are trying to make a claim with insists that mold poses no real threat to you or your family, disagree with them and get the money for the repairs or relocation that you deserve.
Jim Corkern is a writer and respected contributor to the Water damage restoration and mold remediation Industry. Visit his sites for more information.
http://www.floodingnc.info
http://www.floodnj.info
Leviticus chapter 14:39-47 states that mold living in a building was not to be tolerated. It blatantly calls the building “diseased” or “plagued”, depending on which version of the scripture that you read. Rabbis were sent into the homes to inspect them and if they were found to be infected, the stones in the house that had mold on them were removed and taken to a landfill of sorts far away from the village. The house was sealed up for 7 days and after that, the rabbi came back to see if the mold infection returned. If it did, all the building materials for the house were torn down and thrown into the same landfill the first stones were and it was rebuilt. Any clothing that had been contaminated with mold was shown to the rabbi and if it was found to be infected, it also was taken to that landfill.
Insurance companies can dispute the ill health effects of mold on the human and animal body as much as they want to, but the proof is there. The Bible states that mold was considered a problem and a cause of disease in ancient times and we should consider it no less today. If your landlord, insurance claims adjuster, or anyone else you are trying to make a claim with insists that mold poses no real threat to you or your family, disagree with them and get the money for the repairs or relocation that you deserve.
Jim Corkern is a writer and respected contributor to the Water damage restoration and mold remediation Industry. Visit his sites for more information.
http://www.floodingnc.info
http://www.floodnj.info
Tell Your Insurance Adjuster About Mold in History
Getting your insurance company or your landlord to repair the mold damage to your home or apartment is almost the equivalent of trying to pull teeth without going to the dentist and receiving no anesthetic. Most insurance policies do not cover mold damage to your home unless it is due to something that your insurance policy DOES cover, such as water damage (except when said damage was due to a flood). If you have a landlord and the property that you live on is infested with mold, getting the landlord’s attention and getting him to remedy the problem is sometimes a big problem by itself, even though the property does not belong to you.
Some landlords and insurance claims adjusters will tell you that mold is not as big of a problem as some media stations and remediation companies are making it out to be, but the fact is that the proof is there. All you have to do is research for yourself and the Centers for Disease Control and even the Holy Bible itself says that mold is a serious health threat. You do not have to look very far into the Bible to see its account of what mold infested homes used to go through.
Leviticus 14:37-49 says if you suspected that your home was infested with mold you were to do what anyone else who lived during that time would do for almost any problem occurring in their lives: you would visit the rabbi. The rabbi would come to your house, inspect it, and deem it either diseased or clean. If it was deemed to be diseased or “plagued”, everything was removed from the household. These items were taken far away from town to what the Bible calls an “unclean place”. The house was closed for seven days and the rabbi returned at the end of that period to see if the infection remained. If it did, the house was torn down, the building materials taken to that unclean place, and the home re-built. Clothing deemed contaminated by the rabbi was also thrown away.
So, no matter what any landlord or insurance claims adjuster might tell you, mold is a dangerous threat to yourself and has been a problem since ancient times. Do not agree with them when they tell you that the mold is not a health threat or that the contamination is somehow your fault. Remain consistent in your effort to file your claim or to get your landlord to fix the problem.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
North Carolina Water Damage Restoration and other states such as
New Jersey Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states.
Some landlords and insurance claims adjusters will tell you that mold is not as big of a problem as some media stations and remediation companies are making it out to be, but the fact is that the proof is there. All you have to do is research for yourself and the Centers for Disease Control and even the Holy Bible itself says that mold is a serious health threat. You do not have to look very far into the Bible to see its account of what mold infested homes used to go through.
Leviticus 14:37-49 says if you suspected that your home was infested with mold you were to do what anyone else who lived during that time would do for almost any problem occurring in their lives: you would visit the rabbi. The rabbi would come to your house, inspect it, and deem it either diseased or clean. If it was deemed to be diseased or “plagued”, everything was removed from the household. These items were taken far away from town to what the Bible calls an “unclean place”. The house was closed for seven days and the rabbi returned at the end of that period to see if the infection remained. If it did, the house was torn down, the building materials taken to that unclean place, and the home re-built. Clothing deemed contaminated by the rabbi was also thrown away.
So, no matter what any landlord or insurance claims adjuster might tell you, mold is a dangerous threat to yourself and has been a problem since ancient times. Do not agree with them when they tell you that the mold is not a health threat or that the contamination is somehow your fault. Remain consistent in your effort to file your claim or to get your landlord to fix the problem.
Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality
North Carolina Water Damage Restoration and other states such as
New Jersey Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states.
Selling Moldy Real Estate
If you are trying to sell a house that is contaminated with mold, you probably have a pretty short list of possible buyers. You also probably do not want to lose any of those possible buyers and you want the transaction to go as smoothly as possible. There are a few tips that you can use when selling a home like this to make sure that you get the most you can possibly get.
You need to allow the buyer to inspect the house for themselves and find out what kind of mold exists on the property. An environmental inspection clause should be included into the sales contract. If you can have the mold removed from the home at your own expense without taking a huge profit loss, you should do so. A buyer will be much more quick to actually purchase the home from you if you are completely honest about the home’s condition. You will also be able to sell the home quicker if the mold inside it is not toxic. If you can prove that it is not via mold testing kits, then the sale will go by quicker.
Again, make no attempts to cover up the mold problem in the house. Do not be nervous about it. If it is beyond your ability to remove the mold, then tell the buyer so. Explain your situation. If they are sympathetic, they may or may not be more willing to purchase from you. If they suspect you are hiding something, however, they will likely walk right out the door.
In the final sales contract, you need to have a clause that releases you and anyone involved in your end of the deal from any legal liability due to the mold. This states that the buyer already knew that the mold existed on the property and that you are no longer responsible for its presence. Include that the home was sold to the buyer in an “as-is” state and that you are not responsible for the property nor is there any warranty on it, implied or otherwise.
List all past major damage that the home has suffered due to water damage or mold so that your buyer has a complete history. Giving this information to your buyer will show them that they can trust you and that you are hiding nothing from them. This should leave you on solid ground once the final contract is signed.
Jim Corkern is a writer and respected contributor to the Water damage restoration and mold remediation Industry. Visit his sites for more information.
http://www.floodingct.info
http://www.floodedbasementnj.info
You need to allow the buyer to inspect the house for themselves and find out what kind of mold exists on the property. An environmental inspection clause should be included into the sales contract. If you can have the mold removed from the home at your own expense without taking a huge profit loss, you should do so. A buyer will be much more quick to actually purchase the home from you if you are completely honest about the home’s condition. You will also be able to sell the home quicker if the mold inside it is not toxic. If you can prove that it is not via mold testing kits, then the sale will go by quicker.
Again, make no attempts to cover up the mold problem in the house. Do not be nervous about it. If it is beyond your ability to remove the mold, then tell the buyer so. Explain your situation. If they are sympathetic, they may or may not be more willing to purchase from you. If they suspect you are hiding something, however, they will likely walk right out the door.
In the final sales contract, you need to have a clause that releases you and anyone involved in your end of the deal from any legal liability due to the mold. This states that the buyer already knew that the mold existed on the property and that you are no longer responsible for its presence. Include that the home was sold to the buyer in an “as-is” state and that you are not responsible for the property nor is there any warranty on it, implied or otherwise.
List all past major damage that the home has suffered due to water damage or mold so that your buyer has a complete history. Giving this information to your buyer will show them that they can trust you and that you are hiding nothing from them. This should leave you on solid ground once the final contract is signed.
Jim Corkern is a writer and respected contributor to the Water damage restoration and mold remediation Industry. Visit his sites for more information.
http://www.floodingct.info
http://www.floodedbasementnj.info
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