I visited a very nice house today in a very nice neighborhood that was owned by a family that has fallen on hard financial times.  They are loosing their house in a foreclosure action by the bank. The family has abandoned the house and are waiting for the foreclosure to be resolved by the court or the short sale my partner is negotiating with the bank.

Because the electric and water bills had not been paid in several months both were turned off. The mold you see in the pictures here is a direct result of the electric being turned off and the sump pit overflowing to the tune of 2 or 3 inches of water in the basement which was carpeted.

The drywall now has over 4 feet of mold actively growing. Since the owner was loosing the house to the bank and had no money to pay the electric and the bank did not have the forethought to protect their investment by keeping the electric on, the value of this house has dropped sharply to a value that is less than 50% of the comparable houses in the neighborhood if the bank can sell it at all.

With this much mold growing on the dry wall the chances that there is mold growing on the back of the drywall is very good. The result is that all of the drywall in the basement will have to be removed and carried out for disposal. Fortunately, the door to the basement is only 4 feet from the door to the garage. Practicing just a little restraint in removing the drywall and  carrying the drywall out will limit the amount of mold left in the rest of the house as a result of the drywall removal effort.

In this house’s present condition, FHA will not approve a loan on the house for any amount of money.  Does this mean that this is an investor only house?  I think not. The investment in the time and protective gear to safely remove the drywall and clean up the mess will make it eligible for standard and FHA financing while improving the value of the house.

There is always a point at which removal of the contaminated materials is absolutely necessary regardless of how good your chemical treatment might be.  This certainly appears to be one of those cases.

After the dry wall in the basement has been taken down and removed, the basement and the rest of the house will need to be treated to kill the remaining mold and spores. Using the OdorXit CLO2 product to do this task will avoid even more damage and labor costs while killing the remaining mold and spores. A final wipe down on the entire house and basement will remove the residue of the dead mold, spores and mycotoxins.