Would mold spread around the house from chimney leak?

Hey there everyone.
This is my first ever topic here on this forum. I just started going through the InterNachi education which I love very much, but at the same time being in construction business I started doing a lot of attic/roofing/exterior inspections which actually lead me to sing up and start my education here.

I have a job where I was asked to perform visual inspection on the house due to mold inside the house in random spots. The homeowner did say that he hired house inspector few years ago right before he purchased the house and he didnt find any issues, but when we arrived we went straight to check the attic, and there it was. Chimney leaking big time and the whole wall is destroyed before of that as well, but the big question that I was asked is how in the world did mold spread around the whole house? Is there another problem that needs to be located or this is possibly the root of the problem?

I am in Alberta and there is not much rain here as we all know. Would appreciate to hear what you pros have to say about this.

Thanks so much.

I read the threads title’ Would mold spread…from a chimney leak?
No issues when the house was inspected???
What is utilizing the chimney?
Is there any indication of back pressure/back drafting?

Images help.
Not enough informtion.

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Having central HVAC would be one way.

Possibly. Mold needs only a substrate and moisture to grow. The key to mold control is moisture control.

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For all we know the owner doesn’t maintain proper levels of humidity in the home. That alone can propogate mold growth.

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If the chimney water leak was bad enough to where an entire wall is now destroyed/rotten, that could lead to high levels of humidity within Other areas of the house/attic structure. Fungal growth needs 19-20% Or more moisture content to Begin growing on wood. Recommend purchasing a moisture meter, either pinless or pin-type and check areas of fungal growth to help ascertain where the high levels of moisture are originating.

Poor ventilation/air movement can also allow fungal growth in areas such as closet filled with boxes and belongings, and other areas where poor air circulation is present. More information on where areas of fungal growth are happening would help.

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Is there another problem that needs to be located or this is possibly the root of the problem?

Oh yea.
The first thing you must understand, is what causes mold to exist.
All of these factors must be present for mold to exist and spread.

  1. Temperature
  2. Air (O2)
  3. Moisture
  4. Organic material

Different molds require different parameters, so one recipe will not fit all. But in science class, we put our petri dish in an incubator to grow stuff like molds. There we have warm air, O2, Moisture, and the organic material we put in the dish.

An attic or crawlspace is exterior of the living space of the house. The source of the above, must be inside the house. Your attic leak must be affecting the interior. What you’re describing does not seem to indicate this. But insufficient data.

When you have mold, you will find all four of the above.
Your next observation should be how are those four requirements are coming together inside the living space.

Temperature: You can’t control for all mold. It can exist outdoors in the Yucon as well as southern Florida.

Air: Air is everywhere. If there is no air we can not exist, nor can the mold. If it can, who cares, we’re nowhere around.

Moisture: The source of moisture is generally in the air, or comes with the air. So we are concerned with what is the source location and how it moves around.

Organic Material: A lot of materials are not organic, but mold exists on them. So what is on there.

As Inspectors, what are we responsible to report. The lab does the “what is this”. The house is organic. Air Flow and moisture flow around together. Moisture in the air is actually latent heat, which is a requirement to be present. So we look for water stains and leaks. Sources of air leakage, which is associated with several concerns in the building. Sources of cold spots allow condensation, which keeps the moisture around longer. High moisture wants to migrate to areas of lower moisture, so ventilation comes to play, but can be a good or bad thing.

You do not need to be concentrating on mold. Some of the issues that cause mold to happen are in your scope. If you see what might be mold, look for the causes that fall under your scope of inspection. Those are the things you do. Other people are responsible for the rest.

I put a walk in shower for my wife. She is a fanatic about getting the moisture off the shower surfaces. But on occasion, after wiping everything dry, she leaves the towel on the floor of the shower because it is so wet. So here we have the shower interior that is non-organic, but a bath towel we dried our body with. Are we not massive organic sources?! :wink:

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