posted
Tried to pm you a while back, but your box was full.
You have given me good fixit advice in the past and I am wondering what you make of an electric furnace/heatpump that produces stale, bad smelling air. Is it likely that mold is in the ductwork? The furnace was switched over a couple years ago from oil to electric. There is mold in the basement, where the furnace is, because of defective gutters on this rental house. Where is the air intake on a system like this? Could it be picking up moldy smell in the basement and circulating it throughout the house?
And what, if anything, can be done about mold in ductwork? The owner of this house is trying to force me to make a short sale offer on the house, to fend off foreclosure. He has let the house deteriorate, despite many letters and photos, so I do not want to be left holding the bag for fixing these defects, especially if nobody knows how to do it. I called a heating company and they sounded clueless as to what to do.
Posts: 8430 | From Not available | Registered: Oct 2000
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MADDOG
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 18
posted
Hi Lou I sent Don a letter with a link to this post.
MADDOG
Posts: 3997 | From Ohio | Registered: Oct 2000
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posted
Hi Lou, I hope you don't mind me offering you some suggestions.
I am a home auditor/inspector in the state I reside.
First off if you have a mold problem in your home, this needs to be addressed.
Mold in a toxic form can be a huge problem, and can make people very sick.
It may be possible that mold could be growing in your duct work, however it's more likely the smells are being drawn through your home from the return air system of the furnace.
Do you have a clean air filter? is the filter slot open to the basement? Is there any other openings in your return air duct work in the basement? if so these should all be sealed.
You need to clean/kill the mold in the basement. Use warm bleach water to clean.
If you have a moist basement, you may need a dehumidifier to reduce the moisture.
The gutter needs to be repaired, and you may need to add fill to your exterior foundation with a gradual slope away from your homes foundation.
If you do in fact have mold in the duct work, look for a duct cleaning service in your area. If you do it yourself, you may need to remove sections of duct work in order to have access.
Personally I would not purchase this home, or feel pressured to. The home owner should do all repairs to the home prior to sale, or should take the costs to do so off the purchase price of the home.
Posts: 55 | From S.E. Wisconsin | Registered: May 2007
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Cheezhead, you are right that it doesn't make sense for me to buy a defective house. And the owner and mgmt co have let this happen because of poorly installed gutters. The dehumidifier runs practically all year, 24/7 but the gutters keep making the basement damp, even with pools of water after heavy rain. I have cleaned the gutters several times, but they are too small and do not slope correctly. One story house has a lot of roof and long gutter runs.
Yes, there is an air filter but the kind that traps mold spores, etc is not available in this size at Lowe's etc.
I was told that the ductwork had been vaccuumed before I moved in, but that might not have been true as other things turned out to be false also. I am dealing with sleezy dishonest people here. And they are fully capable of evicting me because I would not buy a defective house that would never pass FHA, USDA inspections for loans. On top of everything else, this is just too much.
Posts: 8430 | From Not available | Registered: Oct 2000
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just don
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 1129
posted
Lou, since you are living there already you may try a few things to see if you can make it 'better',,,maybe not perfect.
First you need to dry out that area or your fighting a losing battle. Put additional dirt around foundation as 'Cheezhead' suggested. Thats the very most important issue,,,foundation grade.
IF your in a very wet climate an exaggerated slope doesnt hurt. that means at least 4-6 inches of outward slope within a foot to 18 inches. thats a lot but not too much,,,next is to discontinue the usual practice of planting flowers against foundation(You water flowers more than grass). Put a layer of plastic down 4-6" under the dirt to also slope water away from foundation.
Fix or at least 'caulk' seams on gutters so they dont leak in certain spots and extend downspouts at least 5-6 feet away from house in a downhill direction NOT back at house.
Chances are above items will dry up at LEAST 50% of basement excess moisture. If not buy another dehumidifier and run two if necessary. a constant drain into the sewer pipe or floor drain works better than the hold and dump method because we all fail to dump often enough.
I have had good luck with spraying bleach and water on mold and making it more livable. Without that I am plugged up in 10 minutes,,,with it and then removal of all moldy items and materials,,I can then enter without full respa mask.
Then vac all area with shop vac with Heppa filter.
I like to shop at Lowes and other 'box' stores too. They dont always have 'best' stuff. Go where you need to and buy a heppa filter for your furnace.
They do make a kit for mold remediation and removal,,,dont know how good they are,,,have never used one.
AFTER all this,,because if you dont get rid of source of continual re-infestation its money down the drain,,, Number 1, it SHOULD smell a bit better. THEN consult the yellow pages where you live and surrounding towns and see if they have duct cleaning. You need the kind they hook giant vacs too(with heppa filters) and suck out all crap WHILE they pull a soft plug thru it to dislodge mold and dust off walls
They also have to do the cold air,,,return air,,,ducts which should be towards center of the house, and hot air on exterior wall areas. You MAY not have enough return air on your furnace/heat pump,,,often the case. You wont believe the crap they suck out of there if it hasnt been done and if it has,,,the mold is already back in there from the time passed from when last cleaned.
Landlord probably wants to sell before you get this all done and find out results. IF you buy it cheap enough,,and get ALL the mold out easy its a good deal,,,moving costs you alot too. If you have to hire a mold remediation company,hire contractors to correct, tear out most of the good parts of the house,,,bad deal!! MOST landlords dont give a hoot for doing anything either,,and is less interested in helping YOU if he is losing the house anyway!!!
PM me with 'general' area where this might be and I can give you better detailed info,,,possibly even some short sale advice. Who is the lender of record on your house??
Like I say IF you can buy at a DEEP discount,,,it may be best thing ever happened to you!!!(who knows whether if you move, next house has SAME probs??)(or worse).
This is just general advice aimed to HELP you or others in a similiar situation!!!since me be --just don--
-------------------- just don Posts: 4548 | From Middle of midwest | Registered: May 2001
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posted
Thanks Don. The owner is a crook from the get go. He has lied to the tax and mortgage people, no wonder he thinks he can cheat a sick tenant.
I think most of the problem comes from gutters, not slope and the other stuff you mentioned. More than a year ago I sent pictures of gutter waterfall and mold. These are clean gutters, but too small, and not sloped correctly for their long run. For what I paid in one month rent they could have gotten new gutters that did work. They could have sloped the existing gutters. They did nothing. Now they want to dump this house with defects on me.
I just don't think I can fix all the things that are wrong with the house in my current lousy condition. And moving is going to be a nightmare if I can even find anything to move to. Found an apartment with 14 steps. This is 13 more than I want to walk every day, carrying stuff.
Posts: 8430 | From Not available | Registered: Oct 2000
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