litigation mold test question

[Guest guest]

Hi...I am new to the group and joined because I feel I have mold

issues in a home I just bought. I am really hoping someone can

answer my questions or give me their thoughts..it would be so

greatly appreciated. We purchased this house 2 months ago. When

the real estate agent showed it it smelled so nice inside and was

nice and cold since she had the air real low and cool (it is HOT

this Summer!) and had a plug in in every outlet. I thought it was

just because she was a good agent. I know, I know. Duh. When we

moved into the house immediately I took out the wall thingys because

they were giving me a headache. In a day I started to smell a moldy

smell. As soon as you walk in you can smell it. Only me and a few

others smell it and my husband thinks I am crazy but I have great

smell and I smell it as soon as I walk in. In my 8 year olds room

it smells VERY musty. Like someone shut up wet carpet for a

while..ick. My 10 year olds room smells of cat pee. These were all

masked by those darned air fresheners. As time goes on we found out

that our house has no gutters and a crawl space. We have always had

slab and don't know a THING about this. It seems the water just

flows under the house and obviously was a real problem at one time.

The owner before us installed a sump pump which seems to be keeping

the underside dry NOW but I think there was water damage and the

owner hid it from us. On the seller's disclosure she put NOTHING

about water problems in the past or damage. I called the guy who

installed the sump pump and he said he told her about the problem

and also that there were a zillion cats living under the house and

he complained because it smelled to bad and there was feces, etc.

that he had to clean out. So I know she KNEW of the problem. The

smell of the house, while not REAL overpowering to the average

person, is driving me NUTS because I am worried for my kids'

health. I hate that they sleep in rooms that stink. We are all

itchy eyes and coughing in the morning, headaches, etc. since we

moved in. Unfortunately, we don't have a savings so I could not

hire a specialist to check the air but I just KNOW there is a

problem. I have checked under the carpet in certain areas and don't

see any mold or anything anywhere in the house but the smell! Sore

subject, I know, but I did buy 3 of the mold test from Home Depot.

I did one in my son's room that is the stinkiest, one in the HVAC

and one outside. The one in my son's room 24 hours later showed up

with a black spot (which scares me after reading the posts here)

that was sort of greenish when it started and a white spot. The

HVAC had about 10 spots of black and white. The outside one was

ridiculous. Right away it showed up black and white and

everything! It is awful and fuzzy and scary looking! I guess that

is good that it is worse outside than in but I am nervous. My

questions ARE: Can the person who sold this to me get away with

this or do I have grounds for litigation to have her fix the odor,

moisture problem and also, do you all think new carpet and a

dehumidifier, air purifier will solve the problem? HELP! Really,

ANY advice would be so appreciated. We are on one income so just

don't have a ton of money to do much. Laurie J.