Nashville Home Inspection - Mold in the Empty Home - 8.28.10

 Mold and the empty house.

Lately the issue of mold and the empty house has come to the forefront on Nashville area home inspections.  Unfortunately because there are obviously a lot of empty houses on the market. 

The problems come when the owner, an individual who has moved already, or a bank, thinks it is a good idea to turn the HVAC off to save money on utilities.  WRONG!  The reason is humidity.  Especially in the warmer summer months.  Remember a primary component of the air conditioning process is to dehumidify the air, versus cooling the air.  If you turn the A/C OFF during the warm months, humidity in the building will skyrocket.  Guess what comes next.  MOLD.  Lots of it!  At HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC, we have seen this a lot this summer.  Plus, no one is around to realize what is going on.

So what you should do?  If you own or represent the seller of an empty house, make sure they leave the A/C turned ON to some reasonable level.  At least no higher than 80 degrees when using the A/C.  We want to avoid what you can see in the pic below!

Thank you,

Richard Acree

Comments in this blog posting are the copyrighted intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC, and contributing members of the Active Rain Real Estate network, and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings.  HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill and more!  In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis.  Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at http://habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753. 

Richard Acree is the author of the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections Blog and founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors.  All are welcome to join and see more blogs like this one.