De-molding a house

As with any major life decision, I always check with random strangers on an automotive forum first.

Walk me through the de-fungus-ing of a house. I found a bargain house in a nice neighborhood, bank owned, and described as "extensive mold." Its evidently bad enough that I have to sign a health waiver before being able to view the house.

I know there are ways to de-mold a house without tearing out all the drywall, and I have access to the foggers and fluids, I'm just trying to get an idea of the process and involvement.

My basic question is; will this be a bunch of red tape with the municipality and require a special mold abatement company, or is it something that I can do with a hammer, a fogger, and some spackle? If it is something I can have done for $5000, its worth it to me for the cheap house. If its three years of labor and red tape, I'll pass.

Anyone done it? Anyone have any insights? Long story short, its an $80k bank-owned sale in a neighborhood where it comps at $250k all day, so its a good investment any way you slice it. I just don't want to get into an $80k house and have to spend another 80k to get it livable.

I'm no expert, but I believe ozone generators are helpful when it comes to mold remediation. The commercial, vacate the premises type, not the little household general use ones

The bigger question you'll need to answer is "why is the mold so bad/extensive" remediation is a waste of time if the issue that caused the mold isn't identified and rectified.

You can't de-mold moldy drywall. It will have to be torn out. As daeman said, you have to find the source of the water intrusion.

Yeah, stop the water coming in first. Dry wall will probably have to be replaced. Then get some Multiquat on teh amazon or wherever. Mix it per the directions, or an ounce per gallon and spray that around everywhere.

all drywall and insulation will need to be replaced. both relatively cheap though. you could rip it all out treat it an pay to have it redone.

Will have to remove drywall, insulation, carpet and pad, identify the source of moisture, treat framing and flooring, replace the interior of the house.

It is also in the HVAC system, almost certainly.

Big job. Two, t'ree days.

I have been doing mold abatement extensively for the last couple years. In hospitals (extremely expensive and difficult).

It's unlikely you are going to have many obstacles from local authorities because, honestly, they don't know crap.

If you have financing involved, I seriously doubt a bank will touch it without professional abatement.

If you try to do it yourself, you will likely not do a very good job. It might not get you sick, but will drop your resale value to zero if you can't prove it was properly abated (including proper air testing baselines, protocols, and followup). The air testing alone would probably cost over $10K.

I used to think it was no big deal. That was before I understood the depth of the issue. It makes asbestos look like child's play.

I am professionally trained and certified. I would NEVER spend my own money on a house that had been marked as a bad mold house. I'd sooner flush it down the toilet.

BTW, no one has mentioned it, but wood is is a perfectly good home for mold too, and no, spraying it with Chlorox isn't anywhere near good enough.

One more thing...

You are mistaken. There are no ways to "de-mold a house without tearing out all the drywall".

It's an organic growth that likes dark, damp, porous, stagnant spaces, like pretty much EVERY cavity, nook and cranny in a house.