moisture or mold in basement

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redshift

redshift

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Found by inspector of house I have under contract.

The pictures are from the basement bathroom on an exterior wall, the moist spot pictured on the floor is directly below the moist spot pictured near the ceiling.

Picasa Web Albums - Bill Richards - 2409 South 11...

Picasa Web Albums - Bill Richards - 2409 South 11...

The building is 100 years old. Just renovated and someone was moving in the day we inspected. Inspector said it may be due to condensation? Is that feasable?

I knocked on the doors of four neighbors to ask if they have problems with water in the basement and all said no.
 
If that was condensation, then you'd expect that there'd be some mildew growing in that corner from previous bouts of condensation. The fact that it's clean means that either someone cleaned it up, or it's just a one time occurance.

Really, how significant it is depends on what caused it, and you can't tell anything about the cause from looking at those pictures.

If you don't get any further responses from the people in here, that'll be the reason why. You just can't tell what's causing that moisture from the pictures, so it might be a minor problem, but it could be a major problem.

The fact that the ceiling and walls don't look like they've been repaired repeatedly suggests that it may be an isolated incident. But, they walls and ceilings may have just been recently repaired before the house went onto the market.
 
The entire basement was redone this year. I believe the drywall seen in the pictures was completed in the last two months.
 
You have an issue, plain and simple. And like nestor said, how much remains to be seen. If you are able to remove the sheetrock were it is damaged, most likely there is much worse happening on the back side.
Sheetrock does not belong in a basement with stone walls, you need to remove the connection of the walls and let some air in there to let it dry out. A dehumidifier and a flashlight are all you need to monitor it. take the flashlight and put it against the wall so you can see all the bumps and fuzzy stuff growing on the wall...that is the mold.

Folks need to realize, OLD basements are for cold storage and storing non cellulose based stuff. New basements can be finished into rooms, only if the water and "moisture" in the form of vapor or condensation is treated from the exterior only. Those painted walls you have are nice to look at, but do not create a good solution to your problem.
A real professional did not finish this basement. It looks to be done by an inexperienced carpenter or the homeowner.

My opinion is just that, an opinion. But from my experience, this is just a problem waiting to get worse.
Hope this helps.
 
Yeah, I agree with the inspector. It looks like your surveymaster meter was maxed out. That's going to be a nice little mold job in a few months....
 
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