The day my inspection found mold in a wall I was sure was fine

I was buying this cute little bungalow in Denver and thought the inspection would be a breeze. Walked in with the inspector last Wednesday and he pointed to a water stain near the baseboard that I totally missed. He pulled out a moisture meter and it read 28% right there, then we found black mold behind the drywall. Ended up costing me an extra $1,200 in repairs before closing but at least I caught it before moving in. Has anyone else had an inspection uncover something that seemed small but turned into a huge deal?

2 comments

2 Comments

joseph_green131d ago

Did you look into whether the water stain was coming from outside or inside? I watched a video from a home inspector in Seattle who said mold in Denver is almost always from a roof leak or bad window seals since the climate is so dry. $1,200 sounds cheap actually, my buddy in Portland paid over $3k for the same problem and they found the drywall was soaked from a pipe that had been slowly dripping for months. That moisture meter reading of 28% is scary high, anything over 15% usually means active growth behind the wall.

rowanr881d ago

That part about it costing you an extra $1,200 before closing - was that just for the mold removal itself, or did that cover the new drywall and painting too? I've seen people get hit with a bill like that and find out a week later the real problem was a slow leak in the plumbing behind the wall that's gonna need another grand or two.