Mold Inspection in Sharpsburg, GA

Sharpsburg and the homes around it

Sharpsburg is a very small historic town in eastern Coweta County, incorporated in 1871 and named after local judge Elias Sharp, about 32 miles from downtown Atlanta. Georgia State Routes 16 and 54 cross the area, and East Coweta High School sits nearby. Most people with a Sharpsburg address live outside the town's small center, on larger lots where houses are often set among trees and built over crawl spaces. Shade, clay soil and long humid summers make those crawl spaces the first place to look when a musty smell shows up indoors. Older farmhouses may also have had additions built at different times, and the seams between old and new rooflines and foundations are common leak points. Newer homes on the same roads have ductwork and air handlers in attics, where a blocked condensate line can quietly wet a ceiling.

For permits, Coweta County's Building Permits and Inspections Division in Newnan handles county permits; if your home is inside town limits, confirm with the town or the county which office covers your repairs.

Inspection compared with testing

Signs to look for

• A smell in rooms above the crawl space, especially in summer.
• Standing water or wet soil under the house after rain.
• Dark spots on joists or subfloor seen through the crawl space door.
• Mildew on shoes, luggage or boxes in closets.

Timing and seasons

Late spring through early fall is when crawl space humidity peaks, so that is when most problems surface. A spring storm that sends water under the house can start growth within a couple of days if nothing dries it out. If you are buying a home in eastern Coweta, an inspection inside the due diligence window gives you time to negotiate repairs. Renters should put repair requests to the landlord in writing and keep copies. Angi's Atlanta cost guide reports $352 to $1,262 for an inspection; travel to a rural address and a tight crawl space can push a quote higher.