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Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: webguy on December 19, 2018, 10:21:31 PM

Title: Home inspector missed black mold
Post by: webguy on December 19, 2018, 10:21:31 PM
Hey guys,

We moved into a home 1.5 years ago. It’s a two story home and has multiple attics; one above the garage, one above the top floor, and one above a main floor bedroom. I recently went into the one on the main floor for the first time while trying to track down a mouse issue, and discovered a bunch of black mold being caused by a small leak in the roof (see attached). It appears to be a small/slow leak and so I’m fairly certain this issue has been present for years before we moved in.  During the inspection the inspector obviously didn’t go into this attic - I believe he went into the one above the garage. The inspector is a reputable one and is insured. During the inspection he used a drone to inspect the roof and mentioned an area where a small piece of siding was missing on the chimney stack.

My question is: should we file a claim with the inspector about this issue or has it been too long? Is it reasonable to expect him to have found this during the inspection?

My thought is that if we filed a claim they could simply say that the issue could have started in the past 1.5 years.

Any advice would be appreciated!
Title: Re: Home inspector missed black mold
Post by: TheAnonOne on December 20, 2018, 07:39:31 AM
I think your going to have a tough time proving that it was there 18 months ago, especially since mold grows fast in the right area.

Luckily, it looks pretty small, so with correct treatment you should be ok.
Title: Re: Home inspector missed black mold
Post by: trollwithamustache on December 20, 2018, 07:56:50 AM
how old is the roof?  ie was this already indirectly disclosed?
Title: Re: Home inspector missed black mold
Post by: FallenTimber on December 20, 2018, 02:14:13 PM
Home inspectors miss things all the time. I would say your chances of getting any money from the inspector is about 0%. You likely signed a contract with an exculpatory clause, explicitly limiting their liability to the $300-$500 you paid for the inspection (if that). If home inspectors could easily be sued for missing something, there wouldn’t be any home inspectors. I consider most home inspectors to be a joke, and only good for helping a buyer to negotiate the price down.

Best bet is to save your time and your headaches and simply take care of the mold. It doesn’t look too bad if it’s confined to what’s visible in the photo.
Title: Re: Home inspector missed black mold
Post by: tomorrowsomewherenew on December 20, 2018, 02:48:37 PM
Is this actually a big deal to take care of? We had something similar looking on the house we purchased (which came up during the inspection). We had a roofer look at it, and said it was fine, but we'd need 2 new sheets of plywood put on when they re-did the roof. It added maybe $80 to our total re-roof bill.

I mean yeah, it could be terrible, but do you know that significant damage has been done?
Title: Re: Home inspector missed black mold
Post by: use2betrix on December 20, 2018, 09:24:18 PM
How do you know he didn’t go in that attic? If you were aware of it during the inspection, why didn’t you bring it up during the inspection?

It looks small and like it probably could have easily started within the last year and a half.
Title: Re: Home inspector missed black mold
Post by: Roland of Gilead on December 20, 2018, 09:29:34 PM
That little tiny bit is all?  You could fix that in a afternoon for about $50
Title: Re: Home inspector missed black mold
Post by: DoNorth on December 21, 2018, 01:27:15 AM
bleach and a scrub brush should take care of most of it.  you could paint over it after with some anti-mold/mildew paint.

The bigger problem I can see is wind-washing.  Basically wind come up hard through your soffit and blows your insulation around and then over time, it drops down your soffit vent and clogs your soffit which inhibits proper air flow and keeps your roof decking from drying properly when you do have problems like that.  its usually not a problem if your trusses have energy heels on them, but most houses that are  few years old now just have the regular trusses. 

It might be smart to clean out your soffit and extend your soffit vents an additional 4 feet.  I tape them up at the seams and over the staples into the roof decking.  And definitely get the roof fixed.  Most likely a sloppy flashing job around the vent penetration in the roof next to the mold  When the7 pull the shingles up, I would ask them to use window flashing around the external vent.  you begin by placing the tape over the bottom (part of the vent closest to the eve) first, then a piece overlapping on each side of the vent, and finally at the top (the part closest to the ridge).  half of the tape will be on the external vent and th other half should form a water tight seal on the roof decking.  Caulk around it, relay the shingles, and then apply roofing caulk.
Title: Re: Home inspector missed black mold
Post by: SnackDog on December 21, 2018, 07:04:03 AM
I think you will find the contract you signed with the inspector indicated she would not be able to access all areas and was not responsible for issues which are not visible including but not limited to attics, crawl spaces, inside walls, ceilings, etc.

Fix it and move on.
Title: Re: Home inspector missed black mold
Post by: Fishindude on December 21, 2018, 10:48:18 AM
You aren't going to collect anything from the home inspector.   Fix the leak and the hot summer attic air should pretty well dry out and kill the mold.   It's really not anything to be real concerned about.