u/BitThen1317 — reddlx

Hi everyone, I’m a potential home buyer for a house that was found to have mold in the plenum (no I don’t remember which plenum it was and yes the actual M word, it was tested). The sellers plan to have a duct cleaner experienced in mold come to replace the plenum (insulated inside so needs to be removed) and put in a plenum that doesn’t have internal insulation. They will the Vacuum the ducts with a HEPA vacuum and wipe things with appropriate cleaners. Is this a good plan?? I’m nervous because this technically isn’t “remediation” with a negative pressure system and all that jazz. But I also get that they don’t want to pay for something that may not really be necessary to fix the problem.

Hello,

I’m feeling very conflicted about a home we are trying to buy and was hoping someone here had some wisdom. The home we are looking to buy was previously under contract with different buyers, for some reason they decided to have a “mold and moisture inspection” which showed some things. They weren’t able to come to an agreement with the seller on how these things should be handled and the deal fell through. We are now under contract and in our due diligence/option period. I have a partial copy of the mold/moisture inspection that was sent to the buyer. I spoke with the mold inspector who did the inspection and he was not able to freely talk with me about the specifics of the house because the previous buyers paid for the report and specifically denied that he could speak with us about it since they were the ones that paid (rude). He was able to tell me his recommendation “ask the seller for a cmdr for all areas of visible mold growth”. Theses areas included the HVAC, other attic areas, baseboard near a toilet, tub caulk, windowsill. 2 samples were sent - HVAC and window sill which were confirmed mold but I didn’t see spore count listed. Will attach the report.

Yesterday sellers had an HVAC person come out who is well versed in mold. They plan to clean the HVAC and ducts and replace the plenum since it has internal insulation. I asked if this would get us a cmdr and they said no because they aren’t using negative pressure and apparently that’s very difficult with doing the HVAC.

No plan was made to address the other “areas of assumed mold growth”. They are small (at least from what meets the eye) so I don’t want to cause a scene demanding a big remediation if that’s overkill. However I’m worried about both the restoration of the HVAC and the other areas. I want to be reasonable and I understand that mold is everywhere to some extent. The sellers are very frustrated that the previous buyers opened this can of worms.

Does anyone have thoughts on the appropriate way to handle this?