u/Cozy11197

First of all, I want to thank you in advance. Any replies are going to help this worried pregnant mama a lot. This is cross posted to 2 different subs, so i'm sorry but just hoping to get some feedback!

I spotted visible mold in several areas of our 2 year old house only recently. I am an absolute mess and all over the place. half of our house which has visible mold are taped up, closed off and I have a HEPA filter in every single room of the house We are confined to the areas of the house that do not have mold, from my limited understanding.

Home was purchased directly from the builder less than 3 years ago. installed gutters immediately after closing. We installed a french drains and a dry creek as well according to the city water drainage plan, as the builders grading was frightening. So sitting water around the home is not the issue.

"musty smell' was reported during the initial 1 year warranty. Sadly, the builders did not take it seriously and I ended up calling mold remediation whom confirmed the obvious musty smell (I still have the report) and they recommended several things, including taking all the carpet out, sanitizing the concrete slab foundation, doing a window leak test etc. Long story short, builders laughed at the inspection I paid for and did absolutely nothing and gas lighted me. My husband left a negative review and the builders then purposely made things hard for us and wouldn't service to us any longer during the warranty period. Once the 1 year ran out I moved on and believed that I was crazy and must have just been smelling normal foundation slab musty smells. This was a 4.9 star highly rated 'local builder' for reference...

I believe this has to do with an envelope system failure? You cannot see it in the inspection photo, but both of those specific weep holes facing the wall with 99% moisture are jammed with mortar clearly in the air gap area. One more than the other. Many of the other weep holes around the house are not blocked though - I can clearly see the black plastic house wrap when I look in the weep hole.

The other image was when I pulled the trim off from under my daughters window. I noticed there was a deep 'earthy' smell in her room and the trim was separating itself from the wall. I cried when I saw what was behind it. does this look like a window leak? more envelope failure? flashing defect? the moisture reading was normal here when the inspector checked. My sons room was similar when I pulled the trim off from under the window, only much much less. Only the start of some green fuzzy mold.

The issue is - the extent of these issues feel enormous. I have no idea what is behind the walls. Even this inspector saw nothing abnormal on the thermal imaging camera, it was only with the moisture reader as seen in the image. I don't know what to do next.

I do fully believe this is the builders fault and that if they truly looked for the root cause, this could have been solved 2 years ago. And yes I have begun the legal process, but I still need more information to KNOW what to advocate for. This is not my expertise. The builder is most likely going to come and do their own inspection, before they decide what they will do/pay/fix under the '4 year latent defect' law in my state. I am afraid they will undermine this or blame me (truthfully I haven't recaulked the windows because the builder told me the window caulking lasts 10 years) There are no residential building envelope specialists in my area, but there are engineers. The original builder is still open but has since been bought by Lennar and they have taken it over. I don't know yet if this is going to be a good thing or a bad thing. Lawyer just said to get as much information as I can so we can get a better idea of what is going on.

Nicknaming this the 'Green Bay Packers' Casserole! The dash of tumeric did its job aha.

It's very wholesome, cheesy, cozy and best part - it costs around $5 for the entire dish. To make it a full meal - you could mix in some shredded rotisserie chicken before baking.

2 Bags Frozen broccoli (1.88)

2 cups cooked Rice (.25)

8oz block of sharp cheddar cheese - grated (1.70)

5 tablespoons butter (.75)

5 tablespoons flour (.10)

3 cups milk (.55)

2 tbsp dried diced onions

½ teaspoon paprika

½ teaspoon salt - or to taste

Black Pepper - to taste

DASH of Tumeric - optional for color

garlic powder to taste (1/2 - 1 tsp)

Optional - around 1 cup crushed crackers, breadcrumbs, cornflakes in 2 tbsp melted butter

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan on medium. Once melted, add the flour and make a rue. Slowly add the milk and whisk continously until combined. Add all spices. Once it thickens, add the shredded cheddar and continue whisking until it makes a velvety cheese sauce. Tur

Meanwhile, either cut the frozen broccoli pieces by hand to SMALL pieces/florets (we don't like the huge chunks, here) or, throw it in the blender or food processor to chop. The stems are just fine if you can chop them small enough : ) add the chopped broccoli and cooked rice to the cheese sauce. TASTE for seasoning - then spread in a 9 x 9 glass baking dish, bake for 30 mins @ 350°F.

Fyi - I buy Jasmine Rice in bulk from costo (avg .70 cents/lb) and salted butter is under $3/lb at the moment. The broccoli I use is either from Aldi or Walmart - which is under $1/ bag. To make the 8oz of cheese stretch - buy the sharpest cheese you can. your prices might be slighly different!

Nicknaming this the 'Green Bay Packers' Casserole! The dash of tumeric did its job aha.

It's very wholesome, cheesy, cozy and best part - it costs around $5 for the entire dish. My kids especially love it. To make it a full meal - you could mix in some shredded rotisserie chicken before baking.

2 Bags Frozen broccoli (1.88)

2 cups cooked Rice (.25)

8oz block of sharp cheddar cheese - grated (1.70)

5 tablespoons butter (.75)

5 tablespoons flour (.10)

3 cups milk (.55)

2 tbsp dried diced onions

½ teaspoon paprika

½ teaspoon salt - or to taste

Black Pepper - to taste

DASH of Tumeric - optional for color

garlic powder to taste (1/2 - 1 tsp)

Optional - around 1 cup crushed crackers, breadcrumbs, cornflakes in 2 tbsp melted butter - sprinkle on Casserole before baking

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan on medium. Once melted, add the flour and make a rue. Slowly add the milk and whisk continuously until combined. Add all spices and onion. Once it thickens, add the shredded cheddar and continue whisking until it makes a velvety cheese sauce.

Meanwhile, either cut the frozen broccoli pieces by hand to SMALL pieces/florets (we don't like the huge chunks, here) or, throw it in the blender or food processor to chop. The stems are just fine if you can chop them small enough : ) add the chopped broccoli and cooked rice to the cheese sauce. TASTE for seasoning - then spread in a 9 x 9 glass baking dish, bake for 30 mins @ 350°F.

Fyi - I buy Jasmine Rice in bulk from costo (avg .70 cents/lb) and salted butter is under $3/lb at the moment - although I paid $2/lb personally last time I stocked up at Costco. The broccoli I use is either from Aldi or Walmart - which is under $1/ bag. To make the 8oz of cheese stretch - buy the sharpest cheese you can. your prices might be slightly different!