Spiky Bugger
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2014
- Messages
- 6,227
So the house we bought in May had or grew* mold in the bathroom. It was not visible--even to our inspector--and I am told (because I have no sense of smell..."anosmia") it did not stink. (@kirmy didn't mention it, but maybe she was being polite.). It was hidden behind the tile and in the drywall/greenboard.
We found it because we noticed a loose tile, asked our handyman to regrout, and he said, "Houtson, we've got a problem." He started removing tile and found LOTS of ucky black mold, enough that we needed professional removal, so he stopped and taped the area off. And he said we should contact our homeowners insurance company.
Professional inspector who specializes in mold issues came out and did an air test. This is not necessary, as all mold is treated/removed the same way, except I have lung issues and needed to know if we were moving to a hotel until the problem was remediated. So I needed to know how bad it was. And it was only bad in the area where the drywall had just been exposed. In fact, the rest of the house had LESS mold than OUTSIDE (they use that for a baseline) in the desert. So that was good.
Homeowners Insurance said it was a covered loss, but--because we didn't think of upping standard coverage--limited to $5k. Okay, we wanted to remodel that bathroom anyway...just not this week...this means they help us a little...lol. The claims adjuster was an ass, but we got reassigned to a different guy.
We took the ServPro bid--insurance accepts their removal protocol--and work was scheduled for yesterday. Then, the insurance inspector guy who does the on-site appraisal threw a monkey wrench into the punch bowl.
*HE DECIDED...that since we had owned the property for only three months, and since they had only insured it for three months, and since there was SIGNIFICANT mold growth, it was probably pre-existing and not a covered loss. (This was on the phone, the night before he came out.)
So...here is my Handy Hint:
If you find yourself, in a property you only recently purchased, dealing with mold, live with it until you can establish that this in-the-wall-slow-leak happened during your ownership.
Of course, Sue being Sue, I went online and found that many insurance companies had published info that if their insureds should suffer a flood, they need to dry it out right away as mold can start growing within 24-48 hours...add that to outside temps in the 100°-range and the whole house can turn into a petrie dish. I mentioned this to the NEW claims adjuster, he said, "But we already told you this loss was covered, and we'll probably just issue a check for $5k. The inspector is only coming out to estimate the cost of the rebuild...but the testing and demo are costing $2600-2700 and the rebuild, including walls, tile and a new tub will surely use up the remaining money."
So...we didn't anticipate doing this remodel right now...but some things are out of our control, and this is one of them.
The only problem now is this FUCKING air scrubber http://www.abatement.com/images/con...pred1200hc-portable-air-scrubber-callouts.jpg which must run until the mold dude comes by for a retest, HOPEFULLY at or shortly after 3:00p.m. The air cannot be retested before then and the sample needs to get to FedEx before 5:30pm...so it's a tight window.
If he can test today, we can turn off the fan and just leave the bathroom zipped up--it literally has plastic over the doorway but the plastic has a zipper for them to go in and out in their moon suits--until the results are back on Monday. If we are clear, we can then take the plastic down. But the AIR SCRUBBER is relentless...it just keeps humming along. At least we can get out for a bit sometime today. AAARGH!!
@Charris ...this is why I try to find something to make me laugh, or at least smile.
We found it because we noticed a loose tile, asked our handyman to regrout, and he said, "Houtson, we've got a problem." He started removing tile and found LOTS of ucky black mold, enough that we needed professional removal, so he stopped and taped the area off. And he said we should contact our homeowners insurance company.
Professional inspector who specializes in mold issues came out and did an air test. This is not necessary, as all mold is treated/removed the same way, except I have lung issues and needed to know if we were moving to a hotel until the problem was remediated. So I needed to know how bad it was. And it was only bad in the area where the drywall had just been exposed. In fact, the rest of the house had LESS mold than OUTSIDE (they use that for a baseline) in the desert. So that was good.
Homeowners Insurance said it was a covered loss, but--because we didn't think of upping standard coverage--limited to $5k. Okay, we wanted to remodel that bathroom anyway...just not this week...this means they help us a little...lol. The claims adjuster was an ass, but we got reassigned to a different guy.
We took the ServPro bid--insurance accepts their removal protocol--and work was scheduled for yesterday. Then, the insurance inspector guy who does the on-site appraisal threw a monkey wrench into the punch bowl.
*HE DECIDED...that since we had owned the property for only three months, and since they had only insured it for three months, and since there was SIGNIFICANT mold growth, it was probably pre-existing and not a covered loss. (This was on the phone, the night before he came out.)
So...here is my Handy Hint:
If you find yourself, in a property you only recently purchased, dealing with mold, live with it until you can establish that this in-the-wall-slow-leak happened during your ownership.
Of course, Sue being Sue, I went online and found that many insurance companies had published info that if their insureds should suffer a flood, they need to dry it out right away as mold can start growing within 24-48 hours...add that to outside temps in the 100°-range and the whole house can turn into a petrie dish. I mentioned this to the NEW claims adjuster, he said, "But we already told you this loss was covered, and we'll probably just issue a check for $5k. The inspector is only coming out to estimate the cost of the rebuild...but the testing and demo are costing $2600-2700 and the rebuild, including walls, tile and a new tub will surely use up the remaining money."
So...we didn't anticipate doing this remodel right now...but some things are out of our control, and this is one of them.
The only problem now is this FUCKING air scrubber http://www.abatement.com/images/con...pred1200hc-portable-air-scrubber-callouts.jpg which must run until the mold dude comes by for a retest, HOPEFULLY at or shortly after 3:00p.m. The air cannot be retested before then and the sample needs to get to FedEx before 5:30pm...so it's a tight window.
If he can test today, we can turn off the fan and just leave the bathroom zipped up--it literally has plastic over the doorway but the plastic has a zipper for them to go in and out in their moon suits--until the results are back on Monday. If we are clear, we can then take the plastic down. But the AIR SCRUBBER is relentless...it just keeps humming along. At least we can get out for a bit sometime today. AAARGH!!
@Charris ...this is why I try to find something to make me laugh, or at least smile.
