Buying an older Dallas home: which mold, lead and asbestos tests to order

What to test, in order of priority

On an older Dallas home, order a mold and moisture inspection if the general inspection or your own walk-through shows stains, musty smells, soft drywall or signs of past leaks; a lead paint inspection or risk assessment if the house was built before 1978, especially if you have young children or plan to repaint or replace windows; and asbestos sampling of any ceiling texture, flooring or insulation you plan to disturb if the house dates from before the early 1980s. Schedule all of it inside your option period, and use the federal lead testing window for pre-1978 homes, so the results arrive while you can still negotiate or walk away.

Property investors and buyers use my inspections for exactly this reason: so the cost of remediation is known before closing rather than discovered after. The rest of this guide covers the timing, what the general home inspection does and does not tell you, what I look for in each category and how to use the results.

The clock you are working against

In a Texas purchase, the option period is the window in which you can terminate the contract for any reason, and it is often short. Every inspection you want has to be scheduled, completed and, ideally, reported within it. Asbestos results usually come back within 48 hours of testing, and other lab work takes its own time, so a visit booked for the last day of the option period leaves no room to act on what it finds.

For houses built before 1978 there is a second, federal timeline. The EPA's lead disclosure rule requires sellers to give homebuyers a 10-day period to conduct a paint inspection or risk assessment, which the parties can change by agreeing in writing, or the buyer can waive. Sellers also have to disclose what they know about lead-based paint and hazards, share available reports and give you the EPA pamphlet on lead. Do not waive that window without thinking about it, particularly if you have small children.

Because closings do not always wait for business hours, I offer emergency, weekend and holiday inspections, which may carry an additional fee. Book environmental testing at the same time as the general inspection, not after reading its report.

What the general home inspection does and does not cover

A general home inspection is valuable and you should get one, but it is a visual survey of the whole house. TDLR, which licenses mold assessors in Texas, says a real estate inspector does not need a mold license to visually observe and note the presence of mold. To collect air or spore samples, the inspector must be licensed as a mold assessment technician or consultant, and the samples must go to a licensed laboratory.

So a home inspection report line about suspected microbial growth or past water intrusion is a flag. It tells you where to look, not how far the problem goes or what it will cost to fix. Lead and asbestos are usually outside a general inspection altogether, because you cannot identify either by looking. That gap is what environmental testing fills.

Mold and moisture in a house you do not own yet

In a house that is for sale, the evidence is often deliberately or innocently hidden. Fresh paint on one ceiling, new baseboards in one room, a strong air freshener, a dehumidifier running in a closet: each can be innocent, and each is worth a closer look. I focus on where water gets into houses and where it has been, and I measure moisture behind surfaces rather than trusting how they look.

• Ceilings below bathrooms and around the air conditioner closet
• Walls and floors near tubs, showers, sinks, the water heater and the washer
• Window sills and the drywall below windows after rain
• Attic decking, ducts and bathroom fan exhaust
• Signs of past flooding at the bottom of walls and under flooring
• Fresh paint or patching that may cover an old stain

Ask the seller for the paper trail

If the house has had water damage or mold work in the past, ask for the records: plumbing invoices, insurance claim paperwork, the remediation protocol and the Certificate of Mold Damage Remediation. Under TDLR's guidance, the licensed remediator must provide that certificate to the property owner, so a seller who had licensed remediation done should have it. Ask for any lead or asbestos reports too; for pre-1978 homes, the lead disclosure rule requires sellers to share the reports they have.

Records do not replace testing, but they change what testing needs to do. A documented leak that was repaired and cleared two years ago calls for a check that it stayed dry. An undocumented patch over a ceiling stain calls for a fuller investigation. No paperwork at all after an obvious repair is itself information worth weighing.

Lead paint in a pre-1978 house

If the house was built before 1978, lead-based paint is possible, often under newer coats. Whether it matters depends on two things: its condition and your plans. Intact paint that will not be disturbed is a different situation from chipping window sills in a house where a toddler will live, or original trim that a contractor will sand next month.

An inspection tells you where lead paint is, surface by surface, which is what a renovation budget needs. A risk assessment tells you whether it is a hazard now; mine also tests dust, soil and water. For families with young children, my guide to lead paint in an older home with young children explains how to choose between them.

The water sample matters in an older house where original plumbing fixtures may still be in place, because lead in water cannot be seen or tasted, and a purchase is a good moment to find out before you are living with it.

Asbestos in the materials you plan to change

Asbestos testing during a purchase is most useful when it is tied to your plans. If you intend to remove a popcorn ceiling, replace old flooring, open walls for a kitchen or bath, or touch attic and pipe insulation, sample those materials before closing so the cost of handling them is part of your numbers. I use 1980 as a rough guide for when asbestos becomes less likely, but I have found it in popcorn ceilings in houses built as late as 1983.

Materials that are intact and staying put are a lower priority; undisturbed, they are usually best left alone. My guide to asbestos and lead testing before a remodel explains how the sampling works and what happens if a result is positive.

What older Dallas houses tend to have in common

Many Dallas neighborhoods were built out in the decades when lead paint and asbestos-containing materials were in common use, and plenty of those houses have been updated in layers rather than gutted. That is why I find new flooring laid over original tile, fresh texture sprayed over old ceilings, and replacement windows set into original painted trim.

The climate adds the moisture side. Long, humid summers put heavy loads on air conditioning, and condensate lines, sweating ducts and attic bathroom vents are frequent sources of hidden water. Heavy spring storms test roofs and windows. An older house is not a bad buy because of any of this; it just deserves an inspection that looks for it.

Turning results into a decision

Environmental results give you three options: ask the seller to fix the problem, ask for a price adjustment or credit so you can fix it yourself, or walk away within the option period. A written report with a defined scope makes any of these easier, because both sides can get remediation or abatement quotes against the same document instead of arguing about guesses.

If you are an investor buying to renovate or rent, the calculation is slightly different. You are less interested in whether the seller fixes things than in an accurate budget. Knowing before closing that the kitchen floor has an asbestos-containing layer underneath, that the original windows carry lead paint, or that the hall bath has a long-running leak inside the wall lets you price the renovation properly and schedule the right contractors in the right order. For a rental, it also tells you what lead-safe work rules your contractors will need to follow.

Keep your agent and the title process in the loop, since repair agreements and credits have to be written into the deal before the deadlines pass. This guide to what the title company is doing while you are under contract shows how the rest of the transaction runs alongside your inspections. If remediation is needed, hire it separately from the testing, and plan for a clearance check before you move in or start renovating.

Booking before your option period runs out

Send me the address, the year the house was built if you know it, the end date of your option period, what the general inspection flagged and what you plan to change after closing. I will tell you which tests make sense, what they will cost and when I can be there. If you want to understand how I approach a mold and moisture inspection in particular, my guide to a musty smell and a stain on the ceiling walks through it.

I inspect homes and small commercial buildings across Dallas–Fort Worth, Northeast and East Texas and Louisiana, and the person you speak to is the person who comes out, explains the findings on site and writes the report.

Questions people ask me