Your sister-in-law moves in with your family after her divorce to get back on her feet, but after a couple of weeks, she states that there is mold in your house because she can feel it—she’s coughing, sneezing, and her eyes are always watery. You’ve lived there for 20 years, and no one in your family has ever complained of feeling sick, nor has anyone seen any signs of mold. Tired of her complaining about it, you buy a do-it-yourself mold test kit from one of the big box stores in your area for less than ten bucks to perform a mold air test, plus the lab costs. You take it home, follow all the instructions, and then ship it to a mold testing lab for analysis.
What can be wrong with this?
First, do-it-yourself kits that use a Petri dish have a gelatin substance used to collect deposits of mold spores, and if you have mold, it will grow in the Petri dish. There are some severe drawbacks to the method, as mentioned above. One of the significant issues with do-it-yourself mold kits is that they have probably been sitting around on store shelves or in a warehouse for months. The gelatin material inside may have already expired by purchasing one of these kits.
Since these kits don’t have an expiration date, you have no idea if it is still usable. Utilizing a piece of expired equipment will likely give you false results. The Petri dish does not collect non-viable spores, which also happen to cause health problems. You will not capture some colonies of mold spores since some require a specific airflow rate, so a mechanical pump with an adjustable flow rate would be necessary to get these other spores. When shipping out the Petri dish, extreme weather conditions during transit and handling the package can also negatively affect the results. But chief amongst the drawbacks of using a do-it-yourself mold air test kit is the lack of a hired professional who will conduct a proper inspection, provide expert advice and interpret the results provided from the test.
What is the best way to test for mold in the air?
A diaphragm or electric vacuum pump as a mold air test solution will be more accurate. A cassette media is attached to the pump with a filter or gel slide inside to capture the mold spores. Plus, these machines will use an adjustable airflow regulator that will enable the device to catch all the mold spores present—viable and non-viable fungi- so you can get the full picture of the situation.
How much is a mold air test?
You can probably rent a mold vacuum pump to conduct a mold air test if you know what you’re doing and are up to it. This testing method is typically performed by a trained professional—and industrial hygienist or a mold inspector. You can probably rent a mold pump for betwee$30-$50 per day plus $ 50 per sample. But if you want to hire an expert, it will cost about $150-$250 for a service call plus $50 per piece, and there are at least two samples needed for a mold air test—one indoor and one outside for the baseline.
Asbestos Testing Lab
5 Microns Inc. conducts thousands of mold air tests every year. If you are interested in getting a mold air test, call us, and we will be happy to provide a no-obligation estimate. We hope this article answers some of your questions, but don’t hesitate to contact us; we are glad to assist you.
Mold testing near me
5 Microns Inc.
7100 Fort Dent Way #100
Tukwila, WA 98188
