Mold requirements

[jdamato]

Do I need a mold certification to do a swab or tape sample if a lab is doing my testing ( I'm In P.A)

[Mark P]

Jason,

Search this site for the word "Mold" and you will get an education. Many folks on this site do not believe there is any purpose in taking mold samples, except to make easy money.

[Les]

listen to Mark.

Jason, if you don't know then it is pretty sure you shouldn't be doing mold for gold.

[hausdok]

Saw this late last night. Had a tough time restraining myself from responding in a way that I'm sure would have offended Jason.

Do what Mark suggests. If, after reading all of those posts, you still want to be a mold-is-golder, do us all a favor and keep it to yourself; otherwise, the rest of us are going to have a hard time considering you to be an ethical, serious and credible inspector.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[jdamato]

The reason I was asking is the water lab asked if I wanted swabs. She also said alot of inspectors will due a swab test to verify it is mold. The lab charges 25$ to do the test. I wasnt aware it was a scam.

[Scottpat]

The reason I was asking is the water lab asked if I wanted swabs. She also said alot of inspectors will due a swab test to verify it is mold. The lab charges 25$ to do the test. I wasnt aware it was a scam.

Well, the scam as it has been called has to do with the fact that just testing for mold spores does not tell you anything that is really of any value. If you see mold or smell mold then you have mold! No need to test for it, you just need to find the reason for its growth make the repair and clean it up per the EPA guidelines.....

[jdamato]

I see why the mold test is pointless. I was under the impression the test from the lab would tell you if the mold was dangerous or not. Thanks for clearing it up Scott. Now if I could only find a septic template to use Id be set.

[jimdietrich52]

Mold testing is a valuable tool in developing a scope of work for a mold contamination project. If you don't properly form a hypothesis and sampling protocol, you cannot determine the extent of the contamination/amplification of the microbial growth. In mold and indoor air quality investigations, it is not what you see, it's what you don't see that separates the gold diggers from the professional consultants! I'm just sayin'. []

[Robert Jones]

And here we go! I take it you have some scientific studies that indicate exactly what types and amounts are dangerous Jim? We just had a big back and forth on a different forum on just this topic. Did you check it out?

[Jim Katen]

Mold testing is a valuable tool in developing a scope of work for a mold contamination project. If you don't properly form a hypothesis and sampling protocol, you cannot determine the extent of the contamination/amplification of the microbial growth. In mold and indoor air quality investigations, it is not what you see, it's what you don't see that separates the gold diggers from the professional consultants! I'm just sayin'. []

No, it's the education and degree from a respected university that separates the gold diggers from the professional consultants.

Just sayin' back atcha'.

[mgbinspect]

FTR, I have vehemently dislike everything about the mold chase, since it first arrived on the home inspection scene. (Not much has changed since Leviticus.)

That being said, I am certified to do the testing. I finally broke down and got certified simply because there were times I was asked to test, by relocation companies, and not being certified was causing the entire inspection to go elsewhere. When they ask me to swab or tape, which thankfully is rare, I do so.

I have never offered mold testing to my own clients, and with rare exception, have always felt pretty bad for what has happened to almost every poor sap that gets their crawlspace tested for mold. It seems to me that most of them end up spending about two to five times the money they should, to satisfy the powers that be (usually corporate machines).

In retrospect, I can't think of one time in my career that I ever ran across that nightmare mold infested home - complete with the poor brain crippled family members, portrayed in one of the big news magazine style TV shows, so many years ago.

We've been living with the stuff (mold) since the beginning of creation, and if it were all that dangerous there'd probably be a huge health insurance penalty for being a home inspector along with personal injury attorneys going after Home Inspection Schools and large home inspection outfits on behalf of all the poor home inspectors across the nation that were crippled by the stuff.

Not a fan of mold, unless it's at the dinner table: Pass the Roquefort please...

PS: I actually didn't mind the certification course. It was rather informative, and didn't promote the ambulance chasing side of the tribe.

[kurt]

I just happen to be involved in a major renovation/cleanup with attendant "mold specialists" doing whatever it is they do.

Even the guys from (name withheld to protect the innocent) the big national company doing the clean up say it's a bunch of crap and wildly overblown, but they're glad to provide the clean up and reconstruction services.

They include "mold consultants" because people think it's necessary, but the testing doesn't provide anything useful, which they (the company) agree with.

We're doing testing and retesting now. There wasn't much before, there was the same amount after, and the ambient measurements outside exceeded that inside.

I explain all that to the folks.

But, people still want the stupid tests.

I'm getting tired of mold foolishness.

[Jerry Simon]

I'm getting tired of mold foolishness.

What if such foolishness is a brain disorder caused by mold? Think about it. . .

[mgbinspect]

I'm getting tired of mold foolishness.

What if such foolishness is a brain disorder caused by mold? Think about it. . .

I clearly already have it...

[kurt]

I've looked at a bunch of mold tests by now, and it's amazing how they pack pages with data points and make it appear technical and specific.

In analysis, I explained to the person about ambient measurements being higher than interior, and he kept pointing @ a spot outside saying "he took the measurements right there (pointing wildly) "RIGHT THERE! "But, they're outside and they're higher"............."RIGHT THERE".......but......they're........

We shut up and took the measurements. For another test. Which everyone liked the idea of. It was the same. .

[Tom Raymond]

I hope your getting paid by the hour.

[jimdietrich52]

I have run PRV sampling behind some of the national franchises and found they not only did a poor job, they further cross contaminated the other areas of the structure. Hmmmmmmmmm.

[kurt]

I hope your getting paid by the hour.

I am. Handsomely.

The guys are actually doing a very fine job at containment and removal. They're a big national franchise.

Personally, I still think it's a lot of crap. "Oh, oh, oh......the company made it worse, now we have to do it all over again......oh, oh, oh......"

[jimdietrich52]

Kurt are you British? you seem to be a bit...................

[Mike Lamb]

Well, the scam as it has been called has to do with the fact that just testing for mold spores does not tell you anything that is really of any value. If you see mold or smell mold then you have mold! No need to test for it, you just need to find the reason for its growth make the repair and clean it up per the EPA guidelines.....

I agree. I don't care for the EPA guidelines but they have to say something. What if it does cause brain disorders? What if it causes Alzheimers?

Personally, mold makes my eyes itch and I sneeze. Much the same as my allergy to cats. I'm allergic to dogs too, but the reaction is not as severe, and I like dogs alot so I put up with it.

I get this same type of sickness twice a year in Spring and Fall when the flora changes and messes me up good. I think it's called hay fever.

Once in crawl space I had such a reaction to the dampness and mold I could barely breathe. I thought I was going to die. It was like a cat had been taped to my face.

Anyway, if you can see or smell mold clean it up and make sure the trapped moisture that caused it is remedied. Except for the testers, testing is a ridiculous waste of time and money.

[mgbinspect]

I too have allergies. I used to be allergic to cats, but grew out of that one. I still remain allergic to down, which was accidentally confirmed by successive visits to my daughter's homes. They both had down pillows on their guest beds and both times by about 2:30 am I was pretty stopped up. As soon as I pitched the pillows I began to clean up.

Mowing the lawn tears me up - nose running, itchy eyes and congestion. Trailer life is about to eliminate that allergy, and I won't miss it.

Similarly, whenever I am lazy and don't dawn my respirator to go into a crawlspace, which is too often, I'll find myself experiencing a little reaction by about 3:00 am, like right now So, obviously, I am allergic to some forms of mold too.

I just get tired of the hype, and how easily folks can be led astray.

I do need to become more religious about wearing my respirator, or won't make it to 120.

[kurt]

Everyone is allergic to mold in some way, including me. No one is saying mold is fine.

It's just the goofy idea we have to go nuts about this stuff that's everywhere.

[Marc]

The wife and I both had chronic allergy issues for years. We blamed the mildew near our fireplace and on our bath walls, the cats, the dogs and everything else until we tried irrigating our sinuses with a salt solution. It brought immediate relief and the symptoms totally disappeared after 3 or 4 months of once daily irrigations.

That was over a year ago and it hasn't bothered us since. Mildew's still there, so are the cats and dogs.

Marc

[kurt]

Nettie pots are great. I use them regularly.

You're a perfect example of how any ailment or irritation will get blamed on mold.

I had one last Spring......lady had spent over $47,000 doing mold remediation....nothing worked........about to do another round of remediation when she called me......went in the attic, found the 2nd fl. air return disconnected, no filter, sucking fiberglass particles into the airstream.

Subsequent testing by an IH discovered a house awash in fiberglass particles.

Of course, the afflicted customer still thought it was mold. The mold experts continued to insist it was mold.