...and this stage is a place where a unending string of tragedies is constantly unfolding.
Yesterday I attended an inspection by a mold remediation contractor. The potential buyer was not able to be there. She recruited her step mother and grandfather to attend the inspection. Some people get worried when a client brings their relatives to see a house but I wasn't concerned at all. The client's family has a construction company and they can deal with just about any home problem.
After her grandpa saw the house, I was pretty sure he would try to talk his grand daughter out of buying it. This was fine with me. He wanted her to buy something that wasn't a major project. After all, this was her first house and he wanted to make it a good experience for her. I wouldn't argue with grandpa.
The really bizarre part of the whole experience was the mold inpsector. I wish I would have had a video camera with me (and permission to tape). First he tells us it will cost us $600 just to change the "air" out in the house. According to him, we will have to rent professional equipment to "change the air". Ok, check. Then he says we will need to remove all the carpet, drywall, and insulation from the basement. Ok, we can do that too. Then we will need to hve the duct work professionally cleaned. We can do that too. Then we may need to remove the upstairs carpet if it has mold spores in it. Well, seems excessive to me considering all the moisture readings for the unstairs are low. Afterwards we should fix the grade and drainage of the yard. All of this should be filed under the "obvious" way to fix a moldy basement. These all seem normal. Then he launches into:
"After all that there is still a chance that any baby in the house could die of crib death from the mold. Any elderly person could be killed from the mold too. Healthy adults can become permanently disabled or go crazy and have to be placed in a mental health facility or jail if they go undiagnosed."He starts giving us examples of people he knows who some of these things have happened to for 20 minutes!
Me, the grandfather, and step mother were floored. I mean come on! How are all of us walking around living and breathing with all the mold spores flying around if mold spores kill people. I really did not appreciate his approach. Is it too much to ask to have a mold inspector just give us straight facts and not a virual horror story?
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