Hi, I know it's hard to give advice over the web. But here's my story about attic mold.
Ten days ago I made an offer to buy a house in Indiana, subject to physical inspection. Pretty normal deal, realtors, etc. Not a 'distressed' property. One story, on a crawlspace.
The physical inspection mentioned a few pertinent things -
1) Mold (not disclosed by seller) of some sort in the attic on the underside of part of the roof sheathing, which is 5 years old. Here's a link to the picture:3) Crawlspace has a dirt floor, no plastic over it, and evidence of past moisture that's come thru the crawlspace walls (which is fairly normal).
So I responded (the term used here) under the Purchase Agreement, asking the seller to 'resolve the source of moisture and mold in the attic'. Such repairs asked for by the buyer are subject to the buyer's 'reasonable satisfaction' according to the Purchase Agreement (which is a contract in Indiana, not an offer).
The seller agreed to fix the attic but it occurred to me that (unless I pay fora more detailed and expensive inspection) I won't know if the problem is really fixed. I've asked them to supply a statement from their contractor that they have "found and fixed the source of moisture and mold in the attic".
Seemed simple until they mentioned to my realtor that the cause of all the trouble was a single *bullet hole* in the attic. They even found the slug. But all they're planning on doing for the mold is (a) patching the bullet hole, which must be pretty small, like half an inch and (b) cleaning and sealing the sheathing.
Am I dreaming this ? Surely there must be some other cause for moisture in the attic than a small hole.
Rain coming thru a little hole, from my limited experience fighting leaks, would either -
(a) drip straight down and puddle - but there's no water or marks on the attic floor, even though it's rained recently
or (b) it would run down the underside of the roof and puddle. If it ran down like that, there should be a track of some sort, not a uniform field of mold on the sheathing, and it would have to drip onto the attic floor, which would eventually cause a mark on the ceiling below (which didn't exist).
There's nothing venting into the attic, like a bathroom fan. Only one bathroom and it doesn't even have a fan.
Maybe there's moisture from condensation ? There's only 3-4 inches of insulation on the attic floor, so maybe the attic is too warm in the fall-winter.
A followup talk with the home inspector found that he felt the moisture in the attic came from bad ventilation and air cycling in the attic, and/or the lack of a vapor barrier in the crawlspace. (Inspectors in Indiana are sort of vague so he didn't put this in writing.)
Spoke to a reputable waterproofing firm who also felt if there was excess moisture in the crawl, and no vapor barrier, that it could contribute to the attic mold.
I am flabbergasted that the seller would attribute the attic mold to a single small hole, I'm losing sleep, and I want the seller to do more than patch over the problem so I can buy the house without so much worry.
What's reasonable mean ? Would you buy a house with mold in the attic if all the seller did was clean up the mold and patch a bullet hole ?
Thanks - Roger