Hi all, new to this forum and hoping you can help out. We purchased our home in Oct of 07 here in St Augustine, FL. The house was build in 2002. We had the typical home inspection and the inspector also has one of the infrared cameras. Nothing major turned up, only things mentioned were some small moisture in the corner of one of the window sills in our master bedroom and small exterior surface cracks in the stucco, neither of which he said were abnormal.
The reason I'm writing is that there is a strong moldy/earthy smell in the closet of the office in the front of the house. It is very noticeable especially when putting your nose to the inside walls of the closet. I'm concerned of course that there is mold on inside of the wall, or in the drywall. There are no physical signs of mold any where in the closet, just that rather strong earthy smell. The walls in question are exterior walls on the other side of the closet as far as I can tell, one in the entryway leading to the front door and the small one facing the front of the house. The closet is approx 5 ft wide by 2 ft deep.
Curious what you guys think. Have read about high mold inspection/remediation costs and am a bit concerned. Wondering how to proceed. Was considering cutting out a small portion to see what's behind there, but I'm kinda afraid at what I might find and haven't done drywall work before. Let me know if you need any other info. Thanks!
P.S. Was wondering if any costs related to inspecting/potentially fixing would be covered by a structural warranty from the builder, 1 year AHS warranty or insurance. The structural warranty from builder originally is transferable, but we and the homeowner tried several times to reach them to do the transfer and we never got around to going directly to the builder's local office. Wondering if we can still do that after the fact.
The reason I'm writing is that there is a strong moldy/earthy smell in the closet of the office in the front of the house. It is very noticeable especially when putting your nose to the inside walls of the closet. I'm concerned of course that there is mold on inside of the wall, or in the drywall. There are no physical signs of mold any where in the closet, just that rather strong earthy smell. The walls in question are exterior walls on the other side of the closet as far as I can tell, one in the entryway leading to the front door and the small one facing the front of the house. The closet is approx 5 ft wide by 2 ft deep.
Curious what you guys think. Have read about high mold inspection/remediation costs and am a bit concerned. Wondering how to proceed. Was considering cutting out a small portion to see what's behind there, but I'm kinda afraid at what I might find and haven't done drywall work before. Let me know if you need any other info. Thanks!
P.S. Was wondering if any costs related to inspecting/potentially fixing would be covered by a structural warranty from the builder, 1 year AHS warranty or insurance. The structural warranty from builder originally is transferable, but we and the homeowner tried several times to reach them to do the transfer and we never got around to going directly to the builder's local office. Wondering if we can still do that after the fact.