I have a buyer who wants me to call out ‘black mold’ on the attic insulation. I believe it is dust accumulated from air leakage in a 70 year old house. Is my assessment correct?
Thanks,
Eric
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dirt on old insulation , no mold visible in that picture from Ohio, did You lick it to make sure it didn’t taste moldy?
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I don’t think its mold lol. Fiberglass isn’t very tasty. Wood sure is, but the wood is clean.
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Did your Buyer have a sample tested in a Lab? All he needs is their Report to address it in negotiations. No need to get you involved unless he want’s you to take a sample and send it off to a Lab for analysis… assuming you are qualified and licensed if in a regulated state.
Otherwise…
It’s likely as you suspected and Jim stated above… Dirt filtered from air movement.
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Yep, looks like dust/dirt. The insulation is acting as a filter or sorts as air is moving in our out of the space as you say.
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Thank you. Would you consider the dirty insulation any kind of defect that you would report on? I typically wouldn’t unless it looked the insulation was significantly degraded or compressed from the dust.
I probably wouldn’t… I see it all the time. It’s just a sign of air passage in/out of an attic which you’ll never totally eliminate.
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I do not report on old insulation that has discolored by air transfer unless there is an insufficient amount of it, and then only on the quantity not the color…
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yep,lick test is the only way to confirm!
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I would likely report on the exposed paper faced insulation.
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Warm moist air is entering the knee wall attic space from the adjacent heated room?
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Looks like dirt/dust.
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It isn’t mold unless a lab says it is. Give your buyer a quote for mold testing. Mine is $300 when on site. $375 if I have to go back.
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So, your opinion is that it should be tested based on the OP’s pictures?
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No I think if the client thinks it is mold then he should request and pay to have it tested. Otherwise all it is is dirt.
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I concur with your hypotheses, Eric.
Atmospheric grime. Dark stains, Atmospheric grime, on insulation is in essence thermal tracking stains indicating air leaks or heat loss.
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