Any kind of water damage in a home has the potential for a growing problem
By Deborah Donovan, Daily Herald Howes Writer
The good news is that homes for sale in the suburbs rarely have the ugly, drippy kind of mold infestation seen in news reports and homeowners' nightmares.
The bad news is that any time water goes where it shouldn't in your house you will probably have mold unless it is completely dried out within 48 hours.
Getting rid of the mold – which can cause allergy-like symptoms in susceptible people – requires stopping the moisture or improving the ventilation as well as removing encapsulating the mold.
In addition to anywhere there’s a leaky pipe or high humidity, such as a bathroom or kitchen, prime areas for mold include attics and basements, especially where paneling has been applied over drywall and carpet is on concrete.
While the really horrible health effects attributed to mold in Texas, Atlanta and Cleveland years ago have not been proved, some experts believe there is a link, said Larry Schwartz, an Arlington Heights based industrial hygienist.
Schwartz said any mold infestation in a house should be removed, no matter what type it is.
For that reason, he thinks in most cases there is no sense in doing air tests to find out the mold variety. He does test after the remediation to be sure mold concentrations have been removed.
Torre Loftis knew she had a problem when mold was discovered in both attics of the Lake Zurich home she wanted to buy. She and her husband, Paul, were recently married, and finding a home that the four teens in their blended family all loved had not been easy.
The home inspector of Loftises hired discovered the mold, after which they had Schwartz investigate the situation.
“Initially I was very concerned,” Torre Loftis said. “We have one kid with allergies and two with asthma.”
“But after studying the issue I was confident they could eliminate the problem,” she said. “The air came up normal afterwards, and I was reassured.”
The remediation included a treatment similar to sandblasting in the attics and adding ventilation that apparently had been removed when storm damage was repaired, Loftis said.
“You could see the mold 5 feet up on the beams in the attic,” she said. “It wasn’t in the insulation and it was reassuring that it hadn’t gotten into the walls.”
Schwartz was impressed that Loftis got so involved in researching the issue and checking the removal progress.
Mold grows on materials like drywall and wood. Generally, drywall, paneling, carpeting and ceiling tiles with mold infestation are thrown away.
More expensive structural pieces like support beams might be blasted or chemically treated.
Remediation in homes that are for sale usually costs between $2,000 and $5,000, Schwartz said.
The exception might be a home where the mold has done so much damage a new roof is needed, he said.
Despite the mold caused in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and other storms that hit the South during the past year, it is not a hot issue in Illinois real estate.
Home buyers’ awareness of mold dangers seem to ebb and flow with reports of large lawsuits and celebrities who have it in their homes, said Robert Paterkiewicz, executive director of the American Society of Home Inspectors.
He agreed with other experts that today’s tighter, more energy-efficient houses can make the situation worse because there is less fresh air in homes.
While the disclosure forms used in Illinois do not ask home sellers about mold, owners are required to report any moisture issues.
Some home inspectors look for mold in homes, but all should check for indications of water, said Charles Bellefontaine of Chicagoland Home & Building Inspections in Bolingbrook and vice president of ASHI.
Frank Lesh of Home Sweet Home Inspections Co. in Indian Head Park and president-elect of ASHI, says he keeps an eye out for mold and checks places like behind the washer and dryer, bathrooms, attics and basements.
John O’Brien, an Arlington Heights attorney who founded the Illinois Real Estate Lawyers Association, said he thinks awareness is growing among home buyers.
“Sellers tend to be in denial about mold, but buyers get “spooked,” he said.
Generally, home insurance policies will pay for mold damage if it is caused by something covered in the policy, said Jeanne Salvatore, senior vice president for public affairs of the Insurance Information Institute.
Thus, mold caused by a leaky pipe that goes unrepaired would not be covered, but mold caused by a pipe that freezes and bursts would be.
Randy Raynolds, deputy vice president of the Illinois Association of Realtors, said insurance companies with homeowner policies that cover mold generally limit payment between $5,000 and $10,000.
He said Illinois homeowners should not be concerned that filing a claim for water damage would make their houses uninsurable.
However, he did think the cost of insurance would go up on such a house.
“If I had significant water damage to my home, I would turn in a claim, but if it were damage that I could take care of and cover without a great deal of pain, I wouldn’t turn it in,” Raynolds said.
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