I recently did a home inspection in Uniondale, New York, what I found was what appeared to be mold growth in some parts of the house. As usual I start my inspection on the outside to find any areas where water may make its way into the structure and I found some areas that needed to be addressed. When inspecting the bedroom, mold was growing on the interior of the exterior wall as you can see in the picture.
As I made my way to inspect the basement, there was some what of a musty order. Well the corner of the basement revealed a plumbing leak, as well as water seepage coming through the foundation wall from the window well outside. The basement was also filled with stored items in cardboard boxes. The humidity level was high due to the lack of ventilation. All of these things are conducive conditions for the growth of mold.
After discovering these conditions it was time to ask the property owner some probing questions such as, has their been a recent roof leak? She said the roof leaked about a month ago and was repaired. Was there any other leak coming into the basement? She remembered the water heater failed and water flooded the basement. Finally I asked about her, and her childrens health, did they have any problems breathing or maybe asthma, hay fever etc... She said the children has asthma but other than that things are OK. I strongly recommended a air sample of the entire house and surface samples to determine the level of mold inside. An indoor air sample is compared with an outside air sample. If the indoor sample is found to be higher than the outside sample than a mold clean up is needed.
It turned out that high levels of mold was growing in the basement. In fact Several types of mold was growing, two of which are a real concern. One is called Stachybotrys which is very toxic and causes pulmonary problems. The other is Penicillium/Aspergillus which is reported to cause skin infections. The outdoor reading was 1000%, the indoor reading is 11,400% spore count.
Needless to say remediation is very much needed. Mold is subtle and needs to be given serious attention.
Closer Look Property Inspections Inc.
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