It is very frustrating to have your home under contract and then to be told that you have a mold problem after the buyer’s home inspection. In my experience, most sellers go through the five stages of grief. First, denial. Second, anger. Third, bargaining. Fourth, depression. Lastly, acceptance. Although it takes some time for a seller to get to the acceptance stage, that is what will ultimately happen. Well, here are 3 ways to handle a mold problem.
Seek Professional Help
The best advice that I can give you about how to handle a mold problem is to seek professional advice immediately. A professional can save you a great deal of money before you attempt to remediate the problem yourself. I witnessed a homeowner spending over $10,000 to try to get rid of the mold himself before he hired a professional. However, if you are determined to handle the mold problem yourself, try the below tips.
Isolate the Area and Remove the Mold
Once you have established where the mold problem is located, you must isolate the area. You can isolate the area with tape, a marker, or some physical barrier. The next step is to remove the contents of the contaminated area. For example, if the mold is in a basement cabinet, you must remove the entire cabinet. If it is in the corner of a bathroom wall, you must cut out the area of the wall down to the sheetrock or even the wood framing if it has gone that deep.
Sanitize and Paint
You can sanitize the contaminated area with bleach and let it dry for a few days. After the area has thoroughly dried, you should replace it with new mold-resistant material and repaint it. This process can take 3 to 4 days or more. O
In conclusion, you can handle a mold problem yourself, but I recommend that you seek professional help. If you decide to remediate the mold problem on your own, it can be expensive, and there’s no guarantee that you will be able to rid your home of the mold problem completely. To avoid having a mold problem in the first place, you should try to keep the house ventilated, especially the basement and bathrooms. It is a good idea to use mold-resistant materials when updating your home. Furthermore, I am not a mold specialist, and this post is based on my experience with sellers and helping them through the home inspection process.
