Mold Testing

There are about 1,000 varieties of mold that are commonly found in the many households across United States – all of which have varying degrees of toxicity. Mold testing is generally conducted to make an educated comparison on the levels and types of mold spores that are found in the affected area. However, all types of mold are treated the same way, so if you can see early signs of infestations in any part of your home, you need not bother with any mold testing.

More often than not, residential owners cannot easily detect molds and some are totally in the dark as to the gravity of allowing mold to breed in their homes. Aside from serious respiratory illnesses, molds are among the notorious carriers of airborne allergens that trigger a host of health complications. So once you smell that telltale musty odor, chances are there are mold and mildew encroaching your property and immediate action is definitely needed.

A lot of people would naturally want to know the full scope or size of the contaminated area in order to carefully plan a thorough clean-up and take safety measures as to prevent home dwellers to further exposure. The rule of the thumb here is the greater the infected area; the more cautioned should be exercised. Mold testing can easily help you determine the size of the affected area, especially since more often than not molds are well hidden from sight. A mold test conducted by professionals can greatly help if you want your insurance company to cover the expenses incurred for treatment and rehabilitation of your home.

With a mold test kit, you can now easily conduct you own mold testing just like the way professionals do it. Among the best brands that are readily available is the MOLDetect kit that contains four test strips that you can use to test affected area. Most of the manufacturers will ask you to mail the sample of the mold spores for laboratory inspection. Within a few days, the results of the test will be mailed back to you. Black mold testing and inspection can now be easily done without the need to hire the services of the professionals. The average cost of a mold kit would be roughly around $90.

However, as mentioned earlier, ocular inspections should probably be enough if you know where to check and can easily pinpoint the critical areas of the house. The basement is definitely among the favorite breeding spots of mold. You can also check your windows, underneath the carpets, any poorly ventilated cabinets and closets, behind some peeling wallpapers, and food storage areas. You also need to check your rubber pillows, stuffed furniture pieces, draperies, bathroom tiles and tubs as well as roof tiles and any other unsealed slabs of concrete.

Normally, professional services for mold testing can be quite expensive. However, a lot of experts do not entirely see the need for mold testing mainly because it yields very little or insignificant difference to conducting thorough and careful inspection. In fact, even the New York City Department of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency do not entirely endorse testing for molds. What is more required to address mold growth in homes is a more direct approach – meaning pinpointing the causes and critical areas that lead to the growth and proliferation of mold and taking actions to correct it. Simply stated, the money that you’ll spend in mold toting should be better allocated to help rehabilitate and clean up mold deposits instead of merely dallying on laboratory test that may actually be irrelevant in finding the remedy since molds in general can be treated in similar approaches.