When Dan and Julie moved into their new 4,000 square foot home in Winston-Salem, they were delighted that it had won first place in the Parade of Homes that year. But Julie was dumbfounded when she noticed a gray fuzzy substance on a shelf in the basement.

Dan and Julie’s builder called in a consultant who identified the substance as mold.  He found the humidity in the basement exceeded 80% RH (relative humidity). Mold was also found growing underneath the carpet as well as on sheetrock walls and behind vinyl wallpaper. It was determined that poor basement waterproofing caused the moisture problem that led to the mold. The problem was aggravated by an air conditioning system that was oversized by 200%.

The consultant recommended the basement be excavated to install a proper water management system and that all of the mold be properly cleaned. This meant sheetrock and carpet that was infested with mold had to be removed and thrown away.  Dan and Julie were devastated at the expense of fixing their new home.

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John and Barb loved everything about their new two-story home in Lexington. That was until ugly stains started showing up on the carpet.

No matter what cleaners and abrasives Barb used, the stain at the baseboards and underneath the bedroom doors would not come out.    

Someone at work suggested to John that the gas furnace might be causing the stains. So Barb called the heating contractor who installed the system, who in turn hired a consultant.

It was determined that the stains were caused by air leaking under the baseboards. As the air leaked under the baseboard, the carpet acted as a filter, leaving dirt and stains in the carpet fibers.

The consultant recommended that the air leaks be sealed and the home properly pressure balanced. After the repairs were made, Barb had to completely replace all the carpet in her two year old home.

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Jerome and Chrissy were starting their third year in their first home, a three bedroom in Clemmons. For two years, they had complained to their builder that the front spare bedroom was so cold in the winter that it couldn’t be used. One Christmas, it was so cold that Jerome’s brother, Michael, had to sleep on the couch in the den.

To his credit, the builder had made several attempts to fix the problem. The heating contractor installed another supply and return vent in the troublesome bedroom. The insulation contactor added another 12 inches of insulation in the attic. But nothing helped.  The only allowable occupants of the bedroom were arctic Polar Bears!

Eventually, the builder called in a consultant who used a high tech infrared device to discover missing insulation under the concrete floor and inside the exterior walls. Also, complex engineering calculations determined that both the furnace and air conditioner were oversized.

Testing revealed poorly designed ducts, leaking 20% of the heating and cooling into the attic.  Heating and cooling that Jerome and Chrissy were paying to use to heat the attic storage space!

In the end, the consultant recommended that the builder remove the siding and dig up the foundation to replace the missing insulation, a costly and bothersome solution to a problem that could've been prevented with proper building techniques and quality control.