Posts Tagged ‘Mold’

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The House with the View


2010
04.05

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Posted in Buying a Home, Contract, Mold, The Offer | No Comments »

Day 2 - Out for blood!

 

Push back. Yeah, that’s what I’m calling it. Let’s see, so much going on, how to jump in… Home inspections.

 

Well, there wasn’t anything major, a few things that needed to be fixed, circa 1970 washing machine that leaks, sump pump that doesn’t work, a baffle that won’t close on the septic system, a skylight that was installed incorrectly, a shower faucet that you can’t turn, a slight mold problem (we all know how I feel about that one), some radon, old termite damage, etc.

 

After a few back and forths with the seller we decided to ask for the health issues to be addressed. Radon, mold, sump pump (if that fails, well… leads to more mold). We waited, no response… and we waited, still nothing. And we waited, the required 5 days. Turns out they have elected not to respond.

 

The sellers, we now know, are elderly. In their 80’s to be exact. And have recently entered an assisted living facility. These people have been the only owners of the house which was built in the 1970’s. So, needless to say… They are just a bit attached. Old sweater syndrome kicking in.

 

What is old sweater syndrome… Well, you give your friend a sweater you no longer like or need, you see it on them and immediately want it back.

 

The sellers think that they got ripped off on the purchase price. Well then, I ask you… Why did they accept our offer? In their minds, it should have sold for more and now they are refusing to budge. Hmmm. I’d like to see them get more for the house once it sits on the market a few more months with radon and mold issues, which they now must disclose. How much do you think people will offer for a totally peach house with spores partying with radon gas? Anyway, they weren’t budging, not even in writing and our deadline was here. Today we have to decide if we want to go forward with them not concedeing to anything, or find the contract null and void and walk away.

 

Well, my friends, I thought about it long and hard. Even slept on it. Skipped doing my morning exercises to do some research and here is what I have concluded. First of all, there is no law stipulating that a seller must fix a radon issue. Quite frankly, I think there should be. Also, it looks like if we walk today we should be able to get our deposit back. We have, however, forked over around $1,300 in inspection costs, which we will have to do again on another house. Locked-in on an interest rate that seems to be rising by the minute. Spent countless hours with Roxie marching around town seeing what’s for sale. And quite frankly there isn’t much out there that compares this house. Actually, if the sellers would watch some of the shows on HGTV they would see, some fresh paint (not peachy) and a few minor updates they probably would have gotten another $40,000 for the house. So, my conclusion, We’re going forward… with the tricks I have in my back pocket.

 

The contract… ahh, The Contract (yes, read this one too, three times.) Here are my favorite “legally binding” highlights:

 

#21 (on my contract) “Condition of Property and Possession” which states the following:

 

“All electrical, heating, air conditioning, plumbing (including well and septic), and any other mechanical systems and related equipment, appliances, and smoke detector(s) included in this Contract shall be in working condition.”

 

Oooo, that covers the broken washing machine, the master bedroom shower handle that doesn’t turn and the sump pump, which happens to be a “plumbing” issue.

 

Also, #18 “Wood Destroying Insect Inspection”:

 

“If there is evidence of present infestation as described above, or if damage caused by present or prior infestation is discovered, Seller, at Seller’s expense, shall repair any damage caused by present or prior infestation and have the present infestation treated by a licensed pest control company.”

 

Ok, we’ll have that “prior infestation” fixed too. Thank you very much.

 

I know you think I’m being a bit of a sore loser here and kinda mean toward the old people. I’m sorry your old. I’m sorry I’m 40, I’m sorry it’s my turn to get a better break. You see, early on we agreed to play nice and pay for the heating oil that was left in the tank and according to the contract… we didn’t have to. Wouldn’t you think they would be kind in return and fix the health issues of the house, that’s all we ever really wanted. I do have cute children who would be inhaling poisonous gas and I would like them to grow as old as you are.

 

So, if I have to fork out more money for remediation, well — I’m going to get my just desserts.

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Mold… What Mold?


2010
03.11

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Posted in Mold | 2 Comments »

Day 73 - 18 to go. – Offer has been submitted on our house with the view. No word yet.

 

Ok, so we had the mold retested and the results are in… Whoa! Drastic! The numbers were so much lower than the initial reading, I’m talking by thousands! Even the NOW-baseline (remember, there wasn’t one before) said the Penicillium/Aspergillus spore count was larger outside! WTF? We had to do a double take… What’s going on here? Did the lab guy stick the decimal point in the wrong place or something?

 

The mold inspector guy, who I will now refer to as MIG, had no great explanation for why the numbers were so different except to ask if we had run a house fan, opened windows, or sprayed Lysol. Oh, really… is that all it takes? Spraying Lysol? I could have saved myself $1,500.00 with a $2.00 can of Lysol? Really? Come on… I don’t think so.

 

The MIG then advised us that someone would have to pay for the redone test and his clearance test (yet to come) and wanted to know if he should bill us directly. Hold on, wait… What?!? This was the first mention by anyone that we may be responsible for the cost of further testing. We did not hire this guy and we feel that he should take the matter up with those who had. Why would we hire and pay someone so clearly incompetent? Get someone else to do the clearance test, that’s what I say. Thankfully, our Brit remediation specialist offered to take care of it for us… (for FREE!) In your face inspector dude! However, we don’t know if this is kosher in the Mold World. You know, we have to maintain all those extremely specific regulations and guidelines (being facetious here.)

 

Well, we still needed to have the mold remediated. The count in the basement was still high enough to indicate a “problem”, and my friends… I can see the damn mold! It’s plain as day (now that I know where to look.) And the buyers can see it too! So, the mold was finally taken care of the other day. An entire day of fogging, spraying and then a day of clean-up… OK, done. We now have to get the “after/clearance” test to see if it actually worked, (well… cross those fingers).

 

MIG was trying to accuse us of cleaning the mold ourselves or already having it remediated prior to the second test. Now, why on earth would we do that? Obviously, we would be far better served to show a drastic change after professional remediation than meager results from opened windows and Lysol, don’t you think? We just wanted MIG to do his job correctly the first time and show an outdoor baseline.

 

So, this is what I think happened with the first test. The samples were possibly contaminated by MIG because the air samples were taken after he did physical swabs. Now, I’m not a micro-biologists or anything, but it seems logical that if you swab for mold, scraping it off the surface, some of those spores might end up on your arm, clothes, etc. And then you go and turn on a powerful vacuum to suck in the house air to test that? Don’t you think it might just collect what has gathered on you also? Hell, I do! I think a standard should be set where the air test should always be done before any swabbing. Just using the common sense my parents gave me here folks.

 

What a pain in the ass this whole mold thing has become. I’m sooo sick of it! I’m sick of strange spore names I can’t pronounce! Sick of people traipsing through my home. I so sick of mold, I don’t even want to go near cheese anymore. “Would you like some roquefort on that burger, ma’am?” HELL, NO!

 

But don’t you know… When we buy our new house… I’m having a mold inspection done… A competent one!

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Less Stress


2010
03.10

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Posted in Buying a Home, Foreclosure, Mold | No Comments »

Day 72 - 19 to go.

 

So we did another whirlwind day of house hunting. Seven homes all in under 4 hrs. It all started with a trip into the boonies to take a gander at a foreclosure in Glen Arm. We had to park on the side of the road, because, even though it was 60 degrees and sunny, the driveway hadn’t been plowed and there was still much to melt. Climbing the driveway tundra was a challenge. Especially since Roxie was wearing clogs. We took a peak inside the window and could not believe what we saw. “Oh, no. We can’t go in there” Roxie exclaimed. “That’s just not sanitary.” The place was caked in mold! It was visible on every surface you could see through that window. Oh, disgusting! So we turned to leave. As we were falling on our asses down the snowy driveway, Roxie through a jab in my direction…”That one was your wifes idea, not mine.” She directed at my husband with a giggle in her voice. Yes, that one was mine. I take full ownership. I’m now done with foreclosures!

 

We saw a couple of great places too, one that was a zen-like tree house, and one that was over 4,000 sq. ft. They were both on the high end of our scale and I think we have decided to keep things on the down low. Saving money in the long run with a smaller mortgage will result in… let’s face it, less stress. And my friends, isn’t that what we all really need in life… LESS STRESS. I think I might be able to slow the population of gray hairs, improve my complection and maybe even loose a few pounds… all with less stress. I could actually RELAX with a martini in the evening instead of escaping my reality with a martini in the evening. Less stress could make for a happier marriage, happier family, all-in-all… a happier life.

 

With that said, we have turned our attention to the house with “the view that saved it”. That we saw earlier, see Here We Go Again. It’s a perfect size, optimal for great sunrises, it has garage and basement storage, a fireplace and the future makings of a possible mudroom. It needs my creative touch and a little… ok A LOT of love (as my mortgage broker put it… “It’s just peachy”.) Yes, lots of painting and ripping out of apricot colored wallpaper and carpet awaits. But, I think we could make it a wonderful place for my kids to grow up. The neighborhood is quiet with a lot of not-so-busy-streets to ride bikes on. That is a drastic change from the high speed road where we currently live. There is a nice yard for a vegetable garden and a place for the play set. Sorry kids… no pool, but the in-laws are 15 min up the road and they have one!

 

So, at the end of our second flurry of homes, we took a second look at the house with the view. I have been asked if a second showing means an offer is on its way. Well, I have to say, in this case… Yes. Roxie is on her way over tonight to finalize the details on our offer. Initially, we were thinking we would try to close on the 31st, this being the 10th. That way, moving would be more actual moving and less storing, but logistically… it’s not going to happen. It’s too much to accomplish in such a short amount of time… Didn’t I just determine my life would be better with less stress? So, less stress it is! Of course, now we have to see if they accept our offer. Oh no, not out of the stress woods yet… but I’m getting closer.

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Here We Go Again


2010
03.02

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Day 64 - 27 to go. Mold dude just left with his new air samples and the snow is also almost off the roof, exterior inspection coming soon.

 

Yesterday, Roxie, our realtor, picked us up to go and take a look at a few more houses sans kids. Thank God. No bickering under the age of 40… Love you honey! :)

 

The first house was nice. Not very big, but just right with a nice fireplace and a great den. Outstanding views! A contemporary which was built in 1978 and boy, it looked it. I don’t think anything was ever updated in that place. First of all the exterior, blah yuck! 2 different shades of 70’s brown, I don’t think I could live there til that was painted. The bedrooms were a tad on the small side with barely a closet. The basement had a built-in bar complete with a padded patten leather arm rest around the entire top of it. This place would need a lot of work, a lot of paint and days of scraping off “ooo ugly” wall paper. It did have a skylight in one of the bathrooms which was pretty cool. Plus it had a garage and storage in the basement. All and all, the view saved it and pushed it on to the next level. Not too shabby.

 

The next house I found on-line, but it didn’t have any photos associated with it. Priced to sell on a sought after street. But what would await us there? Hmmm. As we pulled in I immediately knew it wasn’t for us. Tiny… Teeny tiny. We went in anyway. We couldn’t just leave, the owner was pacing, waiting for us outside. The entire house had just been redone. Very nice. Floors were gorgeous! Three bedrooms, one bath and I still don’t know how they fit those things into that box of a home. It will make a very nice place for someone who is perpetually single. On we go…

 

The third house of the day was another foreclosure home as sold “As Is”. I’ve been eyeing it online for a while. It’s in a prime location surrounded by million dollar homes, the photo of the exterior on-line was very nice. Cheap and cute. What the hell could be wrong with it? Why is it still there? As we pulled up I got very excited. I loved the street, the setting, the house from the road was beautiful and seemed big. Then… we got closer. The outside, even though it was brick, looked very shabby and in need of much love. It took us a while to unlock the front door. It seemed to be stuck and I was getting cold standing outside. Once we forced our way in, we were greeted with an abandoned and very cold home and… a living room full of boxes. We soon realized they were kitchen cabinets. Were they meant for this home or was someone just storing them there? As we walked into the dining room we saw something unexpected. A HUGE addition that was mid rough-in construction condition. This thing must have been 1,000 sq. ft. on it’s own with vaulted ceilings. Just framing however, nothing more. It was left totally in a state of disregard. It was sad, and… it was leaking.

 

The kitchen, circa 1950 baby blue was completely trashed. Things were torn out and strewn all over the room. Paint was peeling off the ceiling, trash was on the floor. Oh my, major renovation needed. The thing about this house was that it just kept going. Wow it was BIG. We walked down a level to 3 bedrooms, a den which overlooked a pool and 2 baths. Then down another level to a basement with 3-4 rooms. Upstairs there were another 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths. Or, one full bath and one… well, just let me say this… I thought I had a mold problem. Honey, I’ve got one mushroom compared to this place. This bathroom was a Mold Hot House! Just swarming, swarming with black mold. It was on everything. The walls, ceiling, floor, tub, sink. Oh, I felt dirty just looking at it. I needed a shower, but just thinking of taking a shower while looking at that bathroom made me cringe! Oh, if this place was in better shape I’d scoop it up! This house with the in-process addition must have been over 4,000 sq. ft. The kids wouldn’t have to argue over bedrooms, they could each have 3. But even if someone gave us that place for a dollar, I don’t think we could ever afford to bring it up to livable and healthy conditions. Oh, and the pool area was so incredibly lovely. Sad, so sad…

 

The fourth house of the day was just down the street from the contemporary Open House we loved on Sunday, only this one had a garage (storage!) and a pool (BONUS!). We took a look inside. Oooo… funky. Funky in a good way and funky in a weird, yeah I’ll have to replace that, way too. It was on a hill which meant walking up a flight of stairs to get to the front door. I didn’t mind this though, the view from the front porch was pretty cool. The kitchen was outdated and small, but doable. The rest of that floor was in good shape with the exception of the main bathroom. There was a mirror on every square inch of that bathroom including the ceiling. These owners must be beautiful people with a vanity problem. I think we’d have to leave it just for a conversation piece. The basement was a whole other experience. I felt like I entered the choice swingers pad. Mirrors everywhere, hidden doors that lead to wet bars, wine racks, shelves, closets, the garage, and other strange shaped rooms. Totally bizarre. The basement was also where we located the mirror surrounded fireplace. Why they don’t put fireplaces on the main level of the home is beyond me. Anyway, we liked it. It was funky, weird, and totally us. Needed a lot of work and we’d be compromising a bit on space and yard. The backyard was just a pool and patio, no actual grass, with a screened-in porch off the kitchen. The only downfall is that it’s in the city and Baltimore knows how to tax. The taxes, oh the taxes. I could buy a car with the taxes on that place. Well, we’ll keep that one in the back of our minds.

 

I don’t know folks, It’s looking grim. Kinda running out of time here. Nothing feels comfortable, nothing feels right, like our foreclosure home does. I wish we’d hear back from the bank on our counter offer soon. But, in the meantime we will soldier on, that’s what we do. We are circling again with Roxie on Wednesday to tackle the other end of town. She has 7 houses lined up and 3 hours to view them in. It will be a sprint! Better wear my running shoes. Stay tuned.

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Kids… Let’s Go See Some Open Houses


2010
03.01

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Posted in Buying a Home, Open House | No Comments »

Day 63 - 28 to go. We are having the mold retested on tuesday and have postponed the remediation til the 8th. The inspector (using term loosely here) didn’t do a baseline comparison of the exterior and we have found out that this is definitely something you do when testing for mold. Geez! How hard is it to do a job right the first time these days?

 

Well, we still haven’t heard regarding our counter offer on the foreclosure house that we submitted nine days ago. In the spirit of keeping our housing options open, we went ‘Open Housing’… with the kids.

 

The first house we didn’t even go in. My husband and I just didn’t vibe with the neighborhood. Way to suburban for us. I felt like I was on the set of Edward Scissorhands, so we drove onto the next locale. My kids didn’t even notice, they were both thumbing away on their machines.

 

The second house was cute, in a nice ‘normal’ neighborhood but it was a bit small. The kids started arguing over which bedroom was going to be theirs even after we told them we weren’t even going to buy this house. My daughter gave up and decided she would room in the basement using the pool table for her bed. She was quite excited about this.

 

The third house was in the Homeland section of Baltimore City. Big house on a busy road. 4 bedrooms, large basement detached garage, and a kitchen that needed updating. My son looked at me with a big smile on his face and nodded… “I like this one.” Again the two of them started fighting over claiming rights to bedrooms. My daughter even stood in the one that was “hers” with her arms crossed and a mean pouty look on her face that said… “I’m not moving from this spot… Go get my things, I’m moving in!” It was nice, but didn’t feel right.

 

The fourth house was in the Mt. Washington neighborhood. A contemporary that was very nicely and recently redone. We really liked it. Nice sized kitchen, large floor to ceiling windows, beautiful bathrooms, and… one of my favorite things, a sun porch. The only problem was where would we put all our junk? There was no garage and no basement. We did walk around it a few times soaking it all in, trying to picture living there, but we couldn’t get past the storage issue. Yeah, where would I put my collection of “I can’t remember what’s in that box, but I know I need it” things. As we were leaving I realized I only had one child. Where was my daughter? I couldn’t find her. She had closed herself in a closet, again pouting over the bedroom choices. This time she wanted the master because it had it’s own bathroom.

 

Today Roxie, our real estate agent, is taking us around to a few more places… this time without the kids.

 

BTW – A birthday “shout out” to my Mom and my niece. Have a Happy Birthday!

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Mold, Mold… Mold Mold Mold!


2010
02.18

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Posted in Home Inspection, Mold | No Comments »

Day 52 - 39 to go.

 

This seems to be our largest issue. Oh, could you guess? Our mold test came back… and it’s not pretty. The laudry list of molds in the house is a bona fide smorgasbord of spores and not the psychedelic kind: Cladosporium, Penicillium (this is a bad one!), Alternaria, Aureobasidium, Arthrinium, Curvularia, Stachybotrys (black mold), Chaetomium, Pithomyces, Epicoccum, smuts, Periconia, Trichocladium. I can’t even pronounce these things let alone believe they’re in my HOUSE! I asked myself, if I was buying this place and I knew this mold exists would I bring my two kids into this situation? No. So really there is no question… We have to take care of it ASAP! Repeat after me… REMEDIATION! Time to bring on the mold guys!

 

Our real estate agent recommended a few companies and we got on the horn. Our guy is here now with my husband in the basement going over our “options”. I really like this guy! He’s big on personality, seems to be quite knowledgeable, likes what he does and is originally from London (love the accent!) Who better to exterminate mold than a Brit?

 

Curious myself, I went down to check up on them. Wow, hire the professionals to do what the professionals do. This guy found even more areas than the home inspector did. This is what he recommends… The Fog! (yep, bring on John Carpenter and Adrienne Barbeau!) Team of guys in scary white outfits and a fog machine. Well, it sounds easier than it is. They spray the fog into and onto the affected area(s), the fog will then travel through our air system and annihilate those mean ol’ spores! Hey, I think I’ll leave my sons hockey equipment in front of the air duct and perhaps kill the mildew that I’m sure is growing in there. Maybe it will also get rid of the “hockey” smell too! ooo… this is getting interesting, what else do I want to bomb?

 

The process he says will take two days and they will also dispose of the extra junk that has accumulated over the years in the crawl spaces (extra insulation, wood, paneling, old wiring, etc.) some of it with visible mold. Now that’s worth paying for! I’m not crawling in there touching that crap and dragging it out. It’s spooky, disgusting and way too claustrophobic for me. So then after the fogging they put on their dehumidifier and hepa filter and that’s pretty much it. We asked if our computers and electronic equipment needed to be covered and the answer was no. The fog is so fine it does not affect these things. Wonderful! We also don’t need to fret with ourselves. He recommends us leave during the actual fogging, which we will do, but the fog is not even harmful to our pets! Great! After all that… we test again, and hopefully we win the war!

 

So, how much is this all going to cost me?… I was estimating upwards of $3,000 but it seems more like $1,200 – $1,500. Which, don’t get me wrong, is still a lot. Wonder where that money is coming from.

 

My friends, in the end, I highly recommend getting a mold test done. Whether you are buying a house or not. It can’t hurt, it can only help. Better to be safe than sorry sharing airspace with a pestilent fungalfarm.