If the mold growth in your house has reached significant levels, you need mold testing from a mold remediation service. With their equipment and testing supplies, they’ll be able to give you If you or your family members have recently experienced symptoms that seem to baffle your doctors, you might look to your house as the cause of the problem.
Toxic mold exposure can cause a variety of different symptoms and runs the gamut from mild (sneezing, itchy eyes, scratchy throat) to extreme (depression, dizziness, intestinal problems). Mold can become a very big problem that can get out of hand quickly. If you suspect you have mold, you may need to have your house tested.
Mold Testing: Where to Begin
Testing for mold, unfortunately, isn’t something you can do on your own. You may have seen the over-the-counter mold testing kits in your local hardware store, but these don’t produce accurate results.
When we are called to a home for mold remediation we do a pre-test and a post test. The pre-test is one of the first steps we take and this is where we test the air outside of your home and compare it to the air inside your home.
Because mold is as natural living organism, it’s going to present outside no matter what. We need to see if the levels of mold inside your home are significantly higher.
There are a few different tests mold remediation companies can conduct.
Air Sampling
Air sampling is part of the pre-test. This type of test is one that collects a sample of air from any of the rooms you believe to be affected by the presence of mold. We collect the air in a specialized container and have it analyzed for mold spores. This will tell us if the levels of mold in your home are elevated once we compare it to the levels of mold outside your home.
Lift Tape
A lift tape test is as simple as it sounds. We adhere a piece of tape to a surface in the room where we believe mold to be present. When the tape is removed, if there are any mold spores present on the surface, some will become stuck to the tape. Next, we place the tape on a micro slide and seal it in a container for it to later be analyzed at a lab.
Tape Swab
With a tape swab test, a swab is ran across surfaces in the affected area of the home and sent to a lab for analyzation. This test is used infrequently because it only tells us what type of mold spores are present in the home. When we are testing for mold, we need to know the levels of mold and not just what kind. Regardless of what kind of mold is present, we remove it, so the tape swab doesn’t give us the information we need.
Professional Mold Remediation
Mold can wreak havoc on your everyday life. It can cause unsightly stains and illness in your family and pets, but it’s not an impossible problem. We can help you rid your home of mold and get your family back on track to a healthier, less stressful environment. If you suspect you have mold in your home, contact us. We can answer any questions you might have. Contact us today!
Photo by Lucas Vasques on Unsplash
