Contractors/engineers here's one

[Flamehawk]

Well, I'm having some issues with a property and wanted throw this out there and see if anyone can help.

First, is this mildew or mold?

We believe there is moisture seeping from the exterior walls and causing damage/mold to the interior. We've had the air conditioner running the whole time and still a lot of mold on all the interior walls facing the external walls. There is also discoloration to a lot of the baseboards near the external walls.

This property was purchased in April and had no signs of mold, dampness, etc. The whole place had been completely renovated by the previous owners new tile, new plaster/paint, baseboards, etc, etc. They told us it was because the previous renter had trashed the place.

In case they renovated to cover up this moisture problem, is there any way to figure out if this was a pre-existing condition?

Any help you guys can give on this would be appreciated. This is a tough one.

 

[nyvp]

yes that looks like mold. as a realtor Ive seen that done before. The problem is you have to prove they knew about it, which is hard. I would bring in a contracter and take pictures as you take apart the wall to see if there is some old part left to prove that they fixed up and hid facts from you. then get a hold of a lawyer and go from there.

 

[Rogger Castells]

Johnny, let me know if need a real estate lawyer. I know a very good one.

 

[Flamehawk]

Thanks so much! We'll let you know how it goes. We're going to go through the association first and then if there's trouble we'll go from there.

 

[Flamehawk]

What really sucks is we had the property inspected right before buying it. The inspector found nothing wrong with it but one month later, the whole bottom of all the walls exploded with this mold!

 

[julioperez01]

If this is a condo you may want to talk to the owner below you (if there is one) since it looks like it is affecting the lower half of the wall he may have the same issue on the upper half of his wall. This way you may find out if it is a new issue, or an old issue you were not informed about.

 

[nyvp]

a inspector wouldn't have found it if it was painted unless he saw something that caught his eye for him to check that area. if they resheetrocked and painted it he would never know, but one month is a very short time time for mold to appear.

 

[Flamehawk]

This unit is on the ground floor. There is a unit above us. We are planning to speak with the unit next door to this one because from the outside it looks as if they may be having similar problems.

The outside of their patio looks like ours.

We are having damage to the baseboards on all the external facing walls except for the living room.

This is where the patio doors are and even 3 feet up by a light switch. The last picture is from the bedroom by the front door, it has the worst damage. Even the plaster/paint is peeling away.

 

[45commando]

Looking at the picture of the patio,it looks as though you may have poor drainage around the property.Is the site graded to allow run-off to flow away from the buildings or does the area flood/hold water during a heavy downpour?

 

[jeffbrig]

Johnny, I'll get Christy to check out this thread later. She's worked a few cases involving mold damages, and can probably give you a few suggestions. She also has a few contractors / mold remediators that are fairly reasonable to deal with.

 

[Flamehawk]

Thanks, we need all the help we can get. This was supposed to be our first property to get us started and its turning into a nightmare. Our best friends sold it to us and they're starting to look like not such good friends now. sigh...

It isn't particularly raised up compared to other places. It backs a lake and has a parking lot in front. It is one large connected building that has at least eight units with the top and bottom combined.

 

[Fish2reef]

Johnny, is this in Dade or Broward? Right now I am waiting the results on a mold test performed by a very good company due to an old small leak inside the wall of my kitchen that went unnoticed for a long time by the time we saw visual signs the damage inside the walls is extensive; then a second company will handle the clean up of at least the lower 4 feet of the affected walls and a third will rebuild the kitchen, luckily for me this is all covered by my insurance but this kind of damage has to be repaired by specialist otherwise will come back. I will PM my cell in case you need contractor recommendations I am on the second month of this process and finally seems like this week will be the start of the real construction.

 

[Flamehawk]

Hi, It is in Dade county. Question, did your mold stay confined to that one wall with the leak behind it or did the mold jump walls? Thank you.

 

[45commando]

If you could snap a pic or 2,looking at your building from different angles,it may show the grading better.Does the water service or say a fire hydrant happen to be in the area of your unit?

 

[Fish2reef]

The visual signs are in an area 2' x 2' the moisture sensor shows an area 16' x 4', the environmental hygienist collected air and swab samples from the kitchen and three adjacent rooms, I am waiting for the test results Monday those will determine the real cleanup needed.

 

[truth954]

Johnny i would def. say it is water intrusion. either from the ground seeping up or from the window (looks like a new install) down. only moisture will cause that stuff to grow. Remove the drywall and spray water on the exterior wall and watch to see what happens. I would suggest removing the drywall rather than paint over it. Painting over the problem only covers it up.
Gerald

 

[jeffbrig]

Hi Johnny/Morgan,

Ok, you definitely have water coming from somewhere. Mold does not grow without it. A couple of sources are possible given that you are in a condo

1) You are having water come through the foundation at the exterior walls. This is a distinct possibility given that the mold seems to be worst at the bottom of the walls/baseboards and seems to be traveling along that path.

2) You could have water intruding through the windows. If they aren't properly installed, water will intrude down into the substrate and you will wind up with serious water damage/mold under the windows. Also, based on the pic you posted, your window seems to be having an issue with condensation -- this is not normal.

3) You could have roof leaks causing water to travel down.

4) You could have water entering through the exterior stucco of the building. Stucco is not actually watertight, the only thing that makes it so is caulking and paint. If your condo hasn't been painted in a while, or there are stucco cracks, water can intrude.

The one pic you posted of the lightswitch is particularly disturbing because its not usual to see mold pop up in the middle of a wall like that. Are there any pipes in that area? Or is that an exterior wall as well?

You are going to need to rip out all the affected drywall and water test the areas to find where the intrusion is coming from. Since this is a condo, most of the above sources should be the responsibility of your CONDO ASSN (unless your docs specify otherwise). If they are slow in acting on this, you need to send them a U.S. Mail Certified letter demanding action. I have the names of several remediation contractors who specialize in this sort of thing if you need them.

Once the water source has been identified and fixed, you will need to do a full remediation. All affected building materials will need to be taken out. A HEPA containment will need to be set up in the affected rooms. All the affected interior walls and nonporous surfaces will need to be treated with biocide/fungicide. All porous surfaces will need to be HEPA vacuumed. Your AC system may need to be cleaned. Tests will need to be run to make sure that the mold has been eliminated. This should all be done by a certified indoor air hygenist/mold remediator, and the tests should be sent to a licensed lab. Don't let your ASSN do a poor job by just sending in a drywaller to cut out the affected areas.

This is likely not something that magically appeared in the last month or so, but, could be if the water intrusion source is new. Somehow I doubt it though. A contractor, once the walls are open should be able to tell you if there is evidence of long term water intrusion or if its more recent in origin. If its a long term problem and you are not satisfied with your ASSN's response, you should consider legal action against them, and the prior owner.

Also, you may want to contact your insurance co. Usually there are limits on mold claims, but you may have some coverage. It never hurts to try.

Please take this seriously, mold can affect the health of people who are sensitive/allergic to it.

--Christy

 

[jeffbrig]

Ahh, one more thought.

If you go to cut out the affected drywall/baseboards and you find that the mold is not on the inside of the wall (backside of the drywall) but only on the roomside, this might mean that you just having a problem with excess humidity, or water getting on your walls, possibly from the condensation on the windows that is dripping down. In which case, you need to look at your AC system and whether its dehumidifying properly and why your windows are condensing so badly.

I only mention this because I have seen this scenario once before. I am guessing though that when you open your walls, there will be mold on the backside.

Please keep us posted, and good luck.

--Christy

 

[Flamehawk]

Thanks so much!

Yeah, all the effected areas face exterior walls, except the walk in closet in the masterbed room has minor mold along the baseboards. We thot it might be due to the windows at first, but there is mold damage in other rooms and not directly under the windows. We had the windows recaulked this week just to be safe. There is no one in this unit at the moment and not likely any time soon since this has come up. sigh...

There are considerable cracks in the stucco on the exterior walls. The cement seems to stay damper than normal and we haven't even had much rain lately.

If this was a coverup job, should old mold evidence be visible when we cut into the walls? Exactly what should we look for?

The air conditioner is pretty new so I doubt that's the problem. The unit itself was completed in 2005.

Can we request pictures of "damage" caused by the previous renter from the previous owner? The previous owners told us that the townhouse was trashed by the last renter and thats why they had to replace everything. But now we're wondering how bad a person could be that you'd have to replace all the baseboards, carpet, replaster, change all the doors, etc. ;[

If anyone can give us some good legal sites that might be helpful that would be good too.

 

[Abengochea]

are these the new houses out by tamiami trail? my sister's boyfriend owns a house out there and is having the same issue. hes still trying to figure out the source of the problem :[