Mold Inspection in Cottontown, TN

When a Cottontown home needs a closer look

• A smell like wet cardboard or damp soil rising through floor registers.
• Rusty nail tips or dark staining on the underside of the roof deck, seen from the attic hatch.
• Soft flooring near a toilet, tub or the back door.
• Mildew returning on window sills every summer even after you wipe it down.
• Any water under the house after a hard rain.

Conditions around Cottontown

Cottontown is a small rural community along State Route 25, northwest of Gallatin and about 24 miles from Nashville. Like much of Sumner County, it sees flash flooding when heavy rain stalls overhead. On the morning of May 19, 2017, flash flooding hit Cottontown, and the water had begun to recede by later that day. A flood that brief can still soak crawl space insulation and the bottom edge of drywall, and those materials stay damp long after the yard dries out. The county's Flood Insurance Study notes headwater streams rise quickly in intense local rain, with major floods most often in late winter and early spring. Add Middle Tennessee's humid summers, and a crawl space that took water in April can be growing mold by July.

Because Cottontown is unincorporated, permits for repairs after mold work, like new subfloor, framing or drywall, come from the Sumner County Building & Codes Department in Gallatin.

Cost factors

Nationally, Angi reports $303 to $1,075 for a mold inspection, with an average of about $689. Prices across Middle Tennessee vary. A one-story home with a roomy crawl space sits toward the simpler end; a larger house with a tight attic, a finished bonus room and several problem areas takes longer. If the inspector suggests a mold test, Angi's national range for that is $250 to $500, so ask what question the test will answer.

What to expect from the call

You'll be connected with an independent local company; this site does not do the work itself. Expect questions about the age of the house, what sits underneath it, and when the problem started. After the visit you should have photos, moisture readings and a written scope. If you go on to have mold removed and the job reaches $25,000 or more, Tennessee requires a contractor's license, and the mold remediation (S-F) classification is the one to look for on TDCI's Verify a License search.