How to Pass a Home Inspection: Solve Problems First
One of the biggest roadblocks standing between you and the successful sale of your home could be the home inspection. Don’t lie awake nights worrying about what the inspector might find. Instead, conduct your own inspection, with the help of experts if you need them, and pass the inspection with flying colors. Here are some potential problem areas to investigate:
Wipe out mold and mildew
Toxic mold has gone high profile in recent years. So mold and mildew stains and odors can scare buyers away on sight. Chances are you won’t even get a reasonable offer if mold and mildew are suspected. Not all mold is toxic, but buyers don’t know that. Even if the mold in your house is the “normal” variety, find it and kill it.
Terminate the termites
You may not know that termites eat the wood from the inside out. And they can munch through quite a lot of it before you realize they are there. They don’t just feast on wood either. They have an appetite for a lot of tasty morsels around your home, including flooring, insulation, books, furniture, carpet—they have even been known to chew through swimming pool liners.
Climb up higher
The home inspector will climb up on your roof, so make sure you get there before he does. There are several things to look for. Check the fitness of the roof by looking for loose or missing shingles, and repair them if needed. Even if your roof is old, it’s considered in working condition if there are no leaks. Look for damage to the chimney, flashing or eaves. Clean out the gutters and make sure downspouts are clear and water is running away from the foundation. A simple chimney cleaning can prevent chimney fires and damage to your entire house.
Wash up
A good power washing gets rid of stains, algae, mold, mildew and moss. Pay special attention to your decks and porches. Algae and mold can make your deck slippery and dangerous. After you’ve cleaned things up, seal the deck, porch or stairs to help prevent future water damage. Bare wood soaks up water like a sponge, while sealing makes the water bead up and roll off. And your deck will look nicer, too.
How Does Mold Affect Home Sales
Selling a home with mold is not something you want to mess around with. There are buyers that will bail out of a home sale at the first mention of mold discovered in a property! Everyone is familiar with common household mold, the fungi that pop up in all kinds of moist environments. It grows on food left too long in the fridge, for instance. Unfortunately for homeowners, it also grows in attics, bathrooms, basements, and virtually any moist surface around your home.
If you see black spots developing on a wall in a poorly ventilated room, for example, you are probably noticing the beginning stages of a mold problem. Mold is all around you, generally in airborne spores, searching for an ideal place to land and develop. In small amounts, it is not a problem, but when it finds a moist place in your home and you fail to notice it, it can quickly develop into a serious problem.
When to inspect for mold
One good thing about mold- if you can see it, you have mold in your house. Seeing mold in the cracks and corners of your walls definitely means it is growing and spreading more spores. Keep in mind that mold may also grow in places you cannot see, such as in your ducts or between your walls. It may also form colonies so tiny they escape the eye. A few situations should make you look for any mold problems in your house.
- Water damage. If your basement flooded, roof leaked, or a broken pipe sprayed water all over the kitchen, you need to inspect for mold. Any place that got wet and was not quickly dried (within 24 to 48 hours) could become contaminated by mold.
- Purchasing a new home. There is no way to know what kind of water damage may have happened in the house you are planning to buy. The only way to find out if mold is present is to do a mold inspection.
- After a house has been unoccupied. If a house has been closed up and unoccupied for months or years, humidity could have built up inside and caused mold to grow. This is especially a problem in warmer areas with high humidity.
- After mold remediation. If you have gone through the often expensive and difficult steps to deal with a mold problem, regular mold inspections are a good idea to make sure you really got rid of it all.
- You see some mold. If you notice some green, blue, black or white stuff growing in your house, do a mold inspection to make sure you find it all. It might not be restricted to one location.
What to do if you find mold in a Home Inspection
If mold is found in a home inspection, remember one simple thing – call Canada’s Restoration Services. We have years of experience and training when it comes to safe and proper mold remediation and mold removal. We are fully licensed, insured, and bonded and perform all mold remediation according to industry standards.
Whether you are the buyer or the seller, we provide the necessary report and estimate to save the sale. For a one-time Inspection Report Fee, a dedicated project manager will:
- Inspect the property for mold growth
- Identify the source of the mold growth
- Provide a detailed report with pictures and findings of the situation and
- Provide a quote on the safe mold remediation
Mold is disclosed or identified but you are not sure whether you need to hire a professional to remove it.
In many cases minor mold problems (less than about 10 square feet of mold) can easily be handled by the home owner with a free weekend afternoon and a few basic supplies from the hardware store. If your client prefers to hire a professional instead, mold remediation – when done by a professional and ethical company – should not be expensive for minor problems. Close more deals by advising your clients that minor mold problems should never be costly to fix and can often be done by the “Do It Yourselfers” in one day.