Run a dehumidifier!

Black mold is toxic! Why would anyone tell her not? When mold was found in our kitchen cabinets from a leaky dishwasher, insurance took care of it, but it had to have mold remediation company come in and clean everything with a special solution. Also all those cabinets had to be removed and the drywall checked and replaced in any area that had mold. You cannot just clean mold from drywall. I feel bad for her and wish she would have gotten some better advice before purchasing this home.

We never had a musty smelling basement until 5 years ago after an extremely hot, humid, rainy summer. I noticed we had little white mold spots on the pegboard in the storage room which has little to no ventilation.

We ripped out the pegboard and bought a dehumidifier. We also installed an air exchanger which removes air from inside the entire basement and storage room and brings in fresh air. We haven't had a problem since.

I think your friend needs another inspection to identify the mold and what needs to be done to remedy the problem. Unfortunately there are some dishonest contractors who try to scare homeowners and advise them to send lots of money. If she decides he doesn't want to do anything maybe she could sell the house 'as is' for a low price. That would be better than walking away.

I lived in a house with a damp basement. We bought two dehumidifiers, and ran them 24/7 all summer and most of fall. When the temps dropped they would freeze up and we turned them off. Never had any mold, just musty smell would tell us when to turn them back on in the spring.

I would advice her to get a couple of BIG dehumidifiers.

Moni

Thank you all. I should have made it clear that it is not black mold--it's been identified as the greenish mold which is very common, and powdery mildew, also common is older houses. Her house is a small ranch, built in the early 1960's. As soon as she smelled a musty odor, earlier this summer, she started using a dehumidifier, but it never occurred to her to check the crawl space for a vapor barrier. There was no apparent mold/mildew problem last summer.

She's been living in chaos, with all her furniture pulled into the middle of the rooms, everything out of closets, most small items packed in boxes, and with her AC so low that she's been wearing a jacket in the house.

I can't imagine needing to clean every item and every surface in my house. I spent the last couple of days cleaning my front porch and scrubbing bright green algae off my white porch rails--a whole house of the same stuff would be overwhelming.

I'll suggest that she get another dehumidifier, and look into purchasing an air exchanger--another expense that she should not have to bear, IMO.

tibbrix, you and I were cross-posting. Although she's been assured that it's not a health hazard, her son and daugher-in-law are not allowing their 7 month old daughter inside the house--which my friend understands and agrees. My friend babysits several times a week, mostly when her DIL is home, in order for DIL to rest. She's been going to son's house, and will continue until she's sure that the problem in her house has been corrected.

Gosh, this makes me mad! Is there nobody to go after in court? If the POA was acting *for* the seller, didn't the seller misrepresent the property? Whoever inherited from the seller assumes debts and obligations, right?

Homeowners' insurance stopped covering mold shortly after they paid $17K to clean the basement of our teardown/new build. Mold was due to (illegal) stop work order issued by our town that left the basement open to weather in winter.

The response from the attorney seems odd. I don't know what state you're in but where we are a homeowner has the legal responsibility to disclose any known flaws with the property and to complete any repairs negotiated during sale to the buyers satisfaction. If they provided false documents to show the repairs completed that is fraud. I would suggest your friend talk to another attorney or two (A Real Estate Atty) and see if the responses are the same. I would think that she needs to see how the laws are worded in your area as well as how they are pursued when they're broken. I mean why have them if no one is held accountable if they're broken right? At the very least, she could present her case in small claims. I know laws for small claims varies depending on where you are and there are limits as to how much you can sue for but at least she could recoup some of her damages. Ask the court clerk if she can split the circumstances maybe? Sue for the repairs of the property. Then in a separate claim go back and sue for the loss of her personal possessions.

I'm not sure you can sue an estate in small claims court.

Would title insurance have any bearing here?

Oh, but wouldn't the executor be responsible?

My friend lives in WV. Title insurance was in effect for only the first year post sale, but I don't know if it would have covered the problem anyway. According to the RE agent, the POA will argue that she believed the requested work to have been completed, when presented with a bill from the repairman. The repairman told the RE agent that he was not instructed to install a vapor barrier, and his bill does not itemize a vapor barrier. The heir/seller has since passed away. Of course, the RE agent takes no responsibility. The lawyer told my friend that since the mold/mildew is not considered toxic, or to cause health problems, most lawyers will not take the case on a contingency, and any lawyer who bills hourly would quickly surpass any personal property value. I don't know if my friend has considered small claims court--I'll mention that to her.

No one wants to step up, and in the meantime, my friend's life is turned upside down.

No matter what the POA 'believed'. No vapor barrier was installed when the contract was contingent upon that.

Is there a free legal 'hot line' she can call to ask what her options are? (Granted, there's no blood to be gotten from a turnip, but there may be money available from the estate.)

Mama Goose. I wont make any comments on legal aspects of this, because, I just dont know. I do know that when there is an estate sale, and the sellers are not living in the house, usually sales are as is, since the seller would have no knowledge of any problems. That said, I have read your other posts, and I know you are one hardworking, very knowledgeable homeowner, who has done a lot of beautiful remodeling on your own. I suspect, that if you take a good look around, you may figure out why she has a water problem. A well vented crawl space, should not have water problems. Are all her gutters cleaned and draining properly away, from the foundation of the house? Is the ground around the house sloped away from the house, to allow water to run away, rather than into the crawlspace? Has her roof, been totally inspected to make sure that water isnt leaking through the roof, down inside walls, and into the crawl space. My personal thought is that this has been an ongoing undisclosed problem with this house. Heirs, or executors etc, probably wouldnt have a knowledge of any of that. There shouldnt be problems with mold from rain, if everything is draining away properly, and nothing is leaking inside the shell of the house. Good Luck to your friend, and I feel very sorry for her and hope she can get this problem solved.

This would be a good post for the Buying and Selling A Home forum.

Thank you all for your advice and kind words. Cross-posting this thread in the buying and selling forums is a good idea.

I spoke with her
this afternoon and she still sounds as if she's given up hope, which is
why I posted after speaking with her last night--I'm grasping at any advice.

She chose her own
inspector, and all the structural inspections were done to the bank's
satisfaction when the house was purchased. She was told that an older
couple had lived in the home, and had done no maintenance for some time
before they passed away, which is why she had her stipulations written
into the contract.

The man who installed the vapor barrier last
week is returning to check the crawl space for other problems. When I
was cleaning walls and closets I didn't notice any ceiling issues, or
any problems with discolored or crumbly sheet rock. There was some mold
on the window seals, but it was the kind you get because of condensation
in cold weather--also common in bathrooms, on caulk around bathtubs and
showers.It was colder weather when we worked on the kitchen--I
think it was about the time that Houzz and GW merged, and I didn't
notice any mold, mildew, or mustiness.

She said today that she's borrowed two dehumidifiers and so has three running constantly, and is emptying them several times each day.