Getting The Most From Your Mold Testing

Posted on: 31 March 2015

Once you suspect that your home has been contaminated by mold, your first instinct may be to rip out your walls until you find the source. Instead of acting rashly, however, it is usually wiser to invest in thorough mold testing to pinpoint both the location and species of mold in question. Working with a professional mold inspection and removal company can make the whole process smoother and more efficient, but there are certain steps you should take to ensure that the test is as accurate as possible. 

Inspect for Mold Beforehand 

If the mold in your home is obvious and visible, mold tests may not be needed at all. Inspect all of the most likely places in the house for mold growth. This includes anywhere that could be exposed to water, such as along pipes or inside the kitchen and bathroom. Testing may still be useful to determine that there is no other mold hidden in the house, but finding it yourself can save valuable time. 

Test on Multiple Days

Although it may look like lifeless scum, mold is a living organism that changes its behavior over time. A mold test performed in one part of the house one day may show completely different results than a later test conducted in another part of the house. It is important to run several mold tests over the course of a few days, preferably in the rooms that are suspected of containing mold. 

Run Several Different Tests

Mold can be detected in a number of ways. Most tests follow one of three methods. Air testing examines the air in your home to capture mold spores and then measure their type and density. Surface tests collect samples from surfaces such as walls or counters in the house to find the spores. Finally, there is bulk testing, which involves removing a chunk of building material from your home to be analyzed. Running two or more types of tests can help guarantee that all traces of mold inside your home are found. 

Test for Mold After Mold Removal

A few months after you have found the cause of your mold and removed it all, you should perform another round of tests to confirm that no mold escaped. This will both give you peace of mind and catch any surviving colonies before they can spread too far, saving you from going through the trouble of finding and destroying the mold all over again.  

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