House Hunting: Mold in Conditioned Crawl Space Downplayed by Listing Realtor

[LoneRanger]

If subfloor is wet enough for long enough that mold grew on it, doesn't that mean that area of subfloor should be replaced, especially when it flexes more than normal when walked on causing the wood plank flooring in the interior of the home in that area to creak? The only place the installed wood plank flooring in the home creaked a lot was in the hallway outside the bathroom where the leak occurred. That seems like a warning sign to me but the realtor played it off as normal.

 

[dlundblad]

It's a very hot market indeed.. I see you're from the Midwest as well. The realtor just wants the sale.

We looked at a house where we couldn't even get into the crawlspace. It had a pond that didn't hold water and/ or fill naturally and the garage was downhill of everything and filled up with water every time it rained. It was that day we also looked at our future house that we'd later purchase so the whole day was comical looking back. Our saving grace was that our house never made it on the market and was a friend of a friend sort of thing.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

As others have said the presence of mold is overrated. Just have is cleaned up.

btw...there's no requirement of UV system in unvented crawlspaces. Unvented crawlspaces at just tiny basements. Code typically requires that there's is sufficient airflow between the crawlspace and the rest of the house since it's now part of the interior envelope. There are a variety of ways to accomplish that such as transfer grills between the crawl and first floor. along with a small HVAC supply duct or exterior exhaust fan sending air from the crawl to the outside.

Depending on how tall the crawlspace is you may want to insulate the interior side the stem wall with either rigid foam board or expertly* applied spray from.

*Very difficult to find people who don't screw this up.

 

[LoneRanger]

Weakened OSB sub-floor is the area of concern more than the mold. This home also had the OSB I-beam type joists which could be an issue if they were receiving water for a period of time. My curiousity centered more on the load bearing integrity of these wood products than the actual mold growing on them from them being soaked over time.

You see, I went through a similar wood damage/mold claim around 2004 on a previous home we lived in (late wife and our son). A washing machine supply line (cold side) had a stealth leak over time that ran down the pipe and because the access hole in the OSB sub floor was so tight that the pipe was wedged through tightly in contact with the OSB, the water running down the pipe was wicked up nicely by the OSB. About a 100 sq ft area of sub floor, some with load bearing walls on it, was water compromised. Insurance covered it. It was about an $8,000 repair and remediation job at the time. Three estimates from professional remediation contractors, all within about $500 of each other. They jig sawed out all OSB sub flooring that was water soaked, and replaced it. The home had 2 x 10 conventional joists of Douglas Fir and the joists were okay integrity wise speaking but did have mold growth, too, that they cleaned up.

Funny note on the above. On the very last visit by the contractor they sent a pretty big guy to go into the crawl space with a shop vac and clean up all the wood fragments and saw dust etc left over after the larger debris was removed. I was home for lunch on the deck nearby eating a sandwich when he was working down in there. We had an earthquake. About a 5 or 6 if I remember right. I have never seen a man that large come out of a tiny crawl space door that fast, in entire my life.

 

[idahopotato]

maybe that why the house so inexpensive compared to comps? if that the case, realtor not really 'downplaying' it. sorta obvious that why is cheap price. if they asking full price for area, they will take an offer minus what a reasonable contractor would charge to fix.

 

[M56959]

Folks please note the date when responding to a topic. This one was 2 years old and replying to it is largely moot.