How To Test for Mold

7/28/2020 (Permalink)

Mold can cause a significant amount of damage to your home in Rosemont, IL. Unless you can smell its telltale musty odor, though, it’s not always immediately apparent that you have a fungus growth somewhere in the house. A professional mold assessment can determine whether you need remediation.

Drawbacks of Home Tests

There’s no such thing as a house that doesn’t have any mold present. There are several ways spores can get into your home:

• Pets
  
• Clothes
  
• Shoes
  
• Bags
  
  

If you suspect you have black mold, you may decide to get a testing kit at the hardware store. All that kit is going to tell you is that mold spores are in your home. It doesn’t indicate where, how much, or what kind of fungus is there. To get the results you need to make an informed decision about the next steps to take, you need a professional mold assessment.

Benefits of a Professional Test
When certified mold specialists or environmental hygienists visit your home, they use a much more sophisticated test than you can buy at the store. They take air samples to figure out where the spores are most densely concentrated. This helps them find the location of the growth. A surface test can determine if the growth is mold or some other type of fungus such as mildew. Technicians can also remove items from your house and have them tested in the lab to determine if they can be salvaged. Finally, a culture test can reveal the species of mold that is present. Professional testing gives mold remediation experts the information they need to mitigate the damage to your dwelling and restore it to its former condition.
If you suspect you have a mold problem in your house, a home test isn't going to give you definitive results. A professional mold assessment from a certified environmental hygienist is necessary.