Both parts are important, but they must be done in tandem — you can’t just count on one to tell the entire story.

Rather than write abstractly about why you need both an inspection and testing, I thought it would be more useful to provide a number of examples to make my case.  This posting will be the first of serveral hypothetical case studies I’ll present.

Our client, Mr. Brown, is in contract to purchase a new home.  He wants to make sure that he has no water intrusion or mold problems that could cost him money to repair or that would cause his family health problems.  But, Mr. Brown is concerned about the cost of the inspection and the testing.  He believes his home inspector will do a thorough inspection, so he just wants mold testing in a few rooms and wants to skip the mold inspection.  We warn him against this decision and try to explain the need for the mold inspection, but he won’t be swayed.

He asks us to collect air samples in a few rooms in the home; including the master bathroom and master bedroom.  All of the air samples come back from the lab as ”normal”.  Mr. Brown purchases the home and believes everything is ok from a water and mold standpoint.  About a month after moving in, he notices a really musty odor in his master bedroom and is seeing some swelling of the drywall adjacent to the master bathroom shower.  He hires a plumber to investigate.  The plumber opens up the access panel to the shower plumbing and finds the inside of the wall full of mold.  Mr. Brown is upset because he had mold testing performed in both the bedroom and bathroom and the air samples were normal.  How could this happen?

A proper mold investigation requires both a mold inspection and mold testing.  Had Mr. Brown paid for the mold inspection, the inspector would have used their moisture meter around all plumbing areas and places where water and mold are often found — like the areas adjacent to the shower.  The inspector would have found elevated moisture and would have observed the staining and swelling of the drywall.  The inspector would have recommended a wall cavity sample or invasive testing or both.  The mold inspection service would have uncovered the mold problem.

Now, Mr. Brown is faced with a very expensive mold remediation project and repair of the drywall and shower.  Since he has already purchased the home, he will likely have to pay for it himself.  Had he spent just a little more money for the mold inspection during his due diligence, the responsibility to repair the shower and pay for the mold remediation would have been the seller’s.

That said, Mr. Brown did pay for mold testing of the air in the master bathroom and bedroom.  How were those samples “normal”?  The mold growth had an active source of water and food.  Thus, it was not actively sporulating.  And, it was trapped inside a wall cavity.  Under these conditions, it is perfectly normal to have an air sample with no elevated spore counts in the air even though there is active mold growth in the area.

Again, this is why you need both a mold inspection — a big part of which is a moisture intrusion investigation — and mold testing.

Knowing what levels of allergens that are present inside your home is the first step in determining if you are being exposed to allergens that may be causing adverse physical conditions.  Minimizing your exposure to the allergens that affect you is a crucial step towards controlling your symptoms.

It may be impossible to completely eliminate all of the allergens in your home, but even reducing them can lead to a significant decrease in symptoms, less need for medication and improved indoor air quality.

What can be done if you are allergic to something in your home?

• We can test your home for many different allergens
• The most common test we perform for allergens is the ‘Allergen Screen’ or ELISA (Quantitative Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay)
• The Allergen Screen will determine if significant levels of some of the most common allergens are found in your indoor environment.
• If allergen levels are found to be elevated, we will provide recommendations on ways to reduce the allergens in your home.

Our Allergy Tests – The Details

The “Allergen Screen” will test for the following four most common allergens: Dog, Cat, Cockroach, and Dust Mites.  Keep in mind that often times, you cannot see these allergens with the naked eye.  In fact, the allergens are microscopic and can easily float in the air.  Some allergens, such as dog and cat dander, are sticky and commonly cling to walls, furniture, flooring, and personal belongings, making them difficult to remove.  If you live in a home or an apartment that was previously occupied, there could be high allergen levels due to the previous occupant’s pets.  Allergen testing may be the first step to improve your indoor environment and overall quality of life.

Would you like to view a sample allergen report?  Sample ELISA Allergy Report

Are you interested in learning more about these allergens?

Mold is an important part of our environment.  Its purpose is to break down dead, organic material.  If this didn’t happen, our world would probably be very dramatically different place. Just picture what a forest would like if every tree that had ever fallen was still there, and never went anywhere.  It would start to add up after a while, and I’m guessing it wouldn’t be a very inviting place.  So, molds purpose is to break these materials down, and therefore recycle that energy back into the environment.  To do this, mold has to find a food source and a water source.  It typically does this by releasing spores into its surrounding environment, generally through the air.  You can think of mold spores as seeds, which then spread out into the world looking for new food sources and water sources.  Once those are found, it can begin to grow, create a new mold colony and in turn break down its food source.  Therefore, continuing its existence, and completing it’s life cycle.  This is great news for the environment, when it happens outside of our home.  But when these processes begin to happen within our living spaces, it can create an unhealthy environment.

So, let’s now discuss what happens when mold is found within a home.  It needs a couple things to get started, one of which is a food source.  As we now know, that can be any dead organic material.  Unfortunately for us, this is readily available in any home.  It could be the paper backing on drywall, the wood framing used to construct the home, construction debris, even the skin cells that we leave behind in the form of dust.  Next, it needs a water source.  This can be introduced into a home of number of different ways, but the most common would typically be related to plumbing problem, and issue with the exterior of the home (bad siding, bad roofing, poor drainage) and/or poor ventilation and humidity problems.  So, if we now have a food source and a water source, mold can begin to grow.  Once mold begins to grow, it’s goal is to complete its life cycle, and part of that is to spread out and finding new food and water sources, i.e.  releasing microscopic spores into the environment.

Now that we have all of that out of the way, how can we tie it all together with air sampling.  Ambient air sampling is used to determine the type and quantities of mold spores within the air.  If we suspect there is a mold problem within a home, an ambient air sample is typically collected in the suspect area, and then compared to an outside sample (control or baseline sample) collected at that same day and time.  When we start to see spikes in the quantities and/or types of mold spores, as compared to the outside sample, we can start to relate that to suspected indoor sources of mold.  So, if I suspect there is a hidden mold source within a wall cavity, and the air sample collected in that location shows elevated spore types/concentrations as compared to my outdoor sample, it is very likely that there is an indoor mold source within that area.  We have used ambient air sampling to tell us what we can’t see, and had some fun in the process.

The same holds true for a “free” mold inspection.  There are two primary, and necessary, services when it comes to indoor mold problems — mold inspection and testing and mold remediation (mold clean-up).  Those two services should be performed by two different companies.

Mold inspection and testing companies perform a professional consulting service that will:

• Inspect your home or business based on industry standards;
• Collect microbial samples as needed; and
• Prepare a written report of findings, conclusions, and recommendations.

In the recommendations section of the report, the consultant will write a “scope of work” for remediation (clean-up) work, if needed.  This scope of work is what the mold remediation company will follow when they prepare their estimate for the work.  Mold remediation companies make their money based on the size and scope of a project.  Most companies are honest and want to do what’s right for the customer.  But, it is a conflict of interest for a remediation company to perform an inspection or to bid on a project without a scope of work from a consultant.

A quality mold inspection and report can take from a minimum of 3 hours to hundreds of hours.  Even for the smallest of jobs — say a bathroom, the drive time plus the on site inspection time, plus the report creation time, plus the telephone consultation time adds up to real hours of professional level work.  Ask yourself a simple question: “would anyone actually do this work for free?”

A “free” mold inspection is simply a way for some remediation companies to get their foot in the door and to get money from you for mold remediation and likely build back construction services.

Do yourself a favor and actually save yourself money and headaches in the big picture.  If you believe you have a mold problem, hire a professional, certified, mold inspection and testing company to perform an initial investigation and a post inspection and testing, after mold remediation, if applicable.

After many years of experience in working with both tenants and landlords, I have the following advice for renters:

• If you believe you have a mold problem, begin by discussing the concern with your landlord.  How they react will dictate your next step.  If they are concerned and want to do the right thing, let them.  Just keep a couple of things in mind: 1. Make sure the company the landlord hires is certified or licensed and has a good reputation with organizations like the Better Business Bureau and 2. Inform the landlord that you would like copies of all reports issued.
• If your landlord is anything but cooperative and professional, you need to hire your own company.  This will ensure that 1. You hire the right company and 2. You will have access to the reports and information.  Assuming it is determined that you do have a mold problem, it is appropriate to present the report to your landlord and 1. ask for reimbursement for your costs and 2. request that they have the problem addressed by a professional remediation company as outlined in the report provided by the company that inspected the property.  Once the remediation work is performed, you will want the original inspection company to return to inspect the work of the remediation company and perform post air sampling.  On the flip side though, if it turns out that you do not have a mold problem, it is appropriate that the renter does not request reimbursement from the landlord.

Our company does work for both landlords and tenants.  We are fair to both parties and report the facts and condition of the property as they are.  However, we do only work for one party and the party that engages our services, signs our service agreement, and pays our invoice is our client.

Dealing with mold problems, especially as a renter, can be confusing and frustrating.  You want to be fair to your landlord while ensuring the health of the occupants of the home.  Each step you take should be carefully measured.

My recommendation is to start by calling a reputable company and discussing your options and the best plan of action.  Our company operates in Texas, Colorado, California, Oregon, and Washington.  If you live in one of those states, please contact us.  We can help.

A complete list of our locations.

One of the most important sections of the wiki is our section about Mold and your health.  In this section, you can read published, current, peer reviewed documents related to mold and your health; including the various impacts of water damaged buildings to occupants.  I speak to a lot of people that ask me about the symptoms of mold exposure.  The documents posted on this section of our wiki answer that question in great detail.

We also have a section that allows potential clients to download our sample reports.  This way, our potential clients can see exactly what they receive when they engage our company.

Also of interest are some various links to some good resources about mold; including the definitive source for mold information and resources — Planet Mold.

We hope you enjoy our wiki!