Today, I'm still not living in the house I fought so hard to buy three months ago. As I was fixing a hole in the wall, I found black mold covering the back side of my drywall. On every wall. I can't afford to fix it. FML
Collection
Halloween
A failed costume, stolen candy and a very real scare: Halloween, the one night when fear is allowed.
Today, I found out that my house has termites and my family, from whom I'm renting the place, says I might have to move. I don't have the funds for that right now. FML
Today, after several days of deep-cleaning my house, I found a huge section of my room covered in black mold. I almost puked when I saw it. Not only could that have put anyone in the hospital, but it also explains why I've been getting sick all the time as of late. FML
Today, after months of telling my landlord about the weak floorboards in my living room, I fell through them as I was trying to repair them myself. FML
Today, our boiler broke. Yesterday, it was our fridge. The day before that, the deck collapsed, and a few weeks ago the dishwasher flooded the kitchen. This is after we spent a ton of money to have the house gutted due to a mold problem. We only bought the house a year ago, and have lived in it even less. We need to move. FML
Today, I found out that my toilet leaked into the apartment's ceiling downstairs and it's going to cost over $2000 to fix the ceiling and the clear all of the mould out. I have two different types of insurance and neither of them are likely to cover it. FML
Today, it's been months since I inherited a nice house, only to discover it overrun with squatters. I had to legally evict them, costing thousands. When they were ordered to vacate, they set the house on fire. Now I have a blackened ruin and depleted savings. FML
Today, after spending two weeks renovating my room and $1000 on paint and a new floor, my landlord told me that he's sold the house. Also, he was kind enough to inform me that unless I paint the walls back to white, I won't be getting my $500 deposit back. FML
Today, I came home to my family remodeling our (extremely) out of date bathroom. I was SUPER excited to help them get it done. I walked down the hallway and opened my bedroom door to find a huge, gaping hole in my wall and my room covered in dust. I had to sweep every surface in my room. FML
Today, my mom finally believed me when I said I smelled mold. I lifted up the couch, and it was covered in mold. So were the bottoms of all our furniture, our beds, and my grandma's vintage chair. We've been living in mold for the past 4 months. FML
Today, I started packing up the flat I have been renting. As I took a picture off the wall I also ripped half the wallpaper. That's my deposit gone. FML
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Top comments
RichardPencil 32
Sorry to hear your house burned down. Hope you can get a nice replacement with the insurance money. Oh, it hasn't happened yet? Shhhhhhh!
LilyEvans2736 8
Did you not have it inspected before you bought it? If not, you deserve it.
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Comments (36)
LilyEvans2736 8
Did you not have it inspected before you bought it? If not, you deserve it.
evilplatypus 39
Inspectors don't rip holes in the walls to see if there's mold back there.
mike3775 39
When I bought my house years ago, my home inspector checked for mold behind the drywall by using already cut sections for pipe access to look and take readings. When my friend was looking for a house, he passed on the house he really wanted because his inspector found mold behind drywall inspecting the same way mine did years earlier.
tounces7 28
The problem is that's on the inspector, and LOTS of inspectors are terrible. And there currently isn't a way to find inspectors liable for sucking at their job. OP CAN get the price of the inspection refunded though.
evilplatypus 39
Yes, but that relies on the black mold being relatively close to a preexisting hole. We don't know if the hole OP was patching was there before they moved in or not.
LadyAthena 20
When I bOught my home earlier this year there was no need to rip holes. My inspector set up and collected spores from the air and tested those. We did have a mild problem which the seller then had to fix before I bought my home.
RichardPencil 32
Sorry to hear your house burned down. Hope you can get a nice replacement with the insurance money. Oh, it hasn't happened yet? Shhhhhhh!
DanaeZee 18
Those damn kids on Halloween....
RavenousRiley 2
Are you suggesting that he commits insurance fraud?
doemetoch 28
As much as that sucks for you, I do think it's a bad idea to buy a house if you don't have some extra money to invest in it. Most houses that aren't brand new will need some fixing up. Also, never buy a house without first getting an expert opinion on the state the house is in and the amount of work you'll need to do in it.
ThrottleJockey 36
I had two home inspections done before I bought my house and there were still some issues that they missed.
doemetoch 28
Of course that can happen. That's exactly why it's necessary to foresee some extra money when buying a house, there's always gonna be costs you didn't plan for.
JEHR 13
'Some extra money' doesn't exactly cover the tens of thousands of dollars it could take to rip the walls down, replace everything molded (including support beams if it's that bad), and then re-drywall and paint/paper an entire house.
zunair74 16
your just plain unlucky
1991stealth 21
Getting rid of black mold likely cost more than the house is worth, the average homeowner can not do it themselves as they need special respiratory and disposal equipment. I saw a show once where a multi million dollar home was condemned because it cost too much to get rid of the black mold.
amazed_71 14
since this was undisclosed prior to closing, can't you sue them to fix?
evilplatypus 39
Not if the previous owners didn't know. Usually you sign a paper acknowledging that the state of mold, radon, and several other easy-to-miss problems is unknown and you accept that.
almost_there44 26
You should always get a potential house inspected. Paying that extra 300 dollars will not hurt you, compared to taking out a 200,000 dollar loan to buy a messed up house.
Ise_fml 6
In Denmark we're ensured against this. If someone sell you a that turns out to be bad, they have to pay as well... That way, you can't screw someone over
bretzeller 13
In the US you can't lie. But the seller can't be responsible for everything. They don't rip their own walls apart regularly.
trucker2 33
Call habitat for Humanity- it's for low income ppl. They usually want to see the last 3 years of tax returns. There are a group of volunteers who will either fix your house or buy it from you. My friend did this. She had to rent apartment for a year, whilst habitat renovated her home. She doesn't not have to pay them back or buy any materials. She, only has to live in the house for 5 years once it's done, if she sells it before that time frame, they receive 5 percent. Win - Win
PenguinsLaugh 24
Each Habitat for Humanity affiliate works differently. The one in my county doesn't renovate homes, it only builds new. Each house has the same basic floor plan, and you have to put in a bunch of hours working inn the house. After its built, you have a 25 year mortgage based on the value of the home.
bloodyfreak_fml 4
Homeowners insurance may cover some of the cost. May want to consult a lawyer since it wasn't disclosed by previous owner prior to the sale so may get compensation there.
Mortimer14 9
This is one reason that you get buyers insurance. If anything goes wrong in the first year, the insurance is supposed to cover it. Things like replacing the furnace, new roof, and I'm pretty sure it would cover mold/mildew.
Lizzy500 16
These policies only cover breakage due to normal wear and tear. I just paid 1700 bucks to fix improper wiring the previous homeowner did himself. It was NOT covered. And yes I had an inspection. Jackass didn't have enough open slots in the circuit box, so when he added air conditioning, he just double wired existing circuits. The inspector would have had to disassemble the circuit box to find it. I could probably sue the previous homeowner, if I could find him. I have evidence he's a broke ass deadbeat.
rldostie 19
If you had it inspected before you bought the house and the inspector missed the mold infestation, you can sue the company for the price to fix it. I'm not a sue-happy kind of person, but this is one of those cases where it's warranted and there's a legal precedent. If you didn't have it inspected, then sorry. YDI.
evilplatypus 39
Nope. Inspectors have no right or ability to rip out a wall to check behind it. They can't alter the home in anyway and so can't be held responsible for problems that would require alterations to uncover.
dope_mcfly 24
The absolutely can pull off registers, electrical outlet plates, and vents. They just never do. You get what you pay for, lazy, cheap inspectors give crappy results. Plus a simple moisture meter shows where the mold is, even when it's hidden behind walls. I may have done a few hundred inspections.