How often is moisture damage found in structures?
In 2003 the insurance repair industry put out a fact sheet that stated that in Southern California, in any given year, over 30% of residences have water damage claims. And this is only the situations that are reported to the insurance carriers; not all situations where there may be claims whose values do not meet policy deductibles are reported to the insurance carrier.
From experience, many situations go unreported, and even insurance claims are not always fully handled due to monetary limits of policies. Many times they do not complete all of the clean-up of the mold contamination for lack of money.
Some moisture intrusion situations go unknown to many building owners, such as leaking windows and doors that can be perennial, and the owner just does not see the ongoing situations and does not act on them. This is seen in residential and all manner of commercial structures.
AS YOU PROBABLY KNOW, MOISTURE DAMAGE LEADS TO THE PROBABILITY OF MOLD DAMAGE. Make sure that if you are involved in a transaction on a home that you think may have had a moisture intrusion isuue you recommend to the buyer to have a mold & moisture inspection done. I always recommend having a company perform the inspection that does INSPECTIONS ONLY, no work or repairs so that there is no conflict of interest!
John Mattoon - Sr. Mold Inspector & Sr. Technical Advisor, Mold-Check Professionals, Inc.
John can be contacted for questions or further information www.MoldCheckPros.com (818) 951-9120
I always recommend having a company perform the inspection that does INSPECTIONS ONLY, no work or repairs so that there is no conflict of interest!
That is excellent advice. I run into contractor/inspectors all the time and their agenda is to get business for their company. Lets face it that is what contractors do. Not to say that contractors are, as a rule, are unethical. In fact, I believe that just the opposite is true. An inspector has (or should have) only one goal, "Find the issues or the lack thereof".