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What To Know About Having Your Home Tested For Mold

24 April 2015 by Kyle Brown

Mold is often an irritant to people who are allergic to it. The problem is you can have mold growing in your home and not even know it. It could be hiding behind the wallpaper or under the carpet. It could be a constant trigger for your allergies until you have it removed. Since you may not be able to see the mold, the first step is to have a mold inspection. Here are a few things to know about going through this process.

When To Have A Mold Inspection

In a way, you may be fortunate if you have an allergy to mold, since it alerts you to the problem. If the mold doesn't trigger respiratory symptoms, it may continue to spread undetected throughout your house. For that reason, you don't want to rely on health symptoms alone to spur you into looking for mold. Other times you should consider getting your house tested for mold include when you buy a new home, when you smell an earthy odor in certain parts of the house, after a water leak or flood, or when you see unusual stains on your walls or ceiling.

How An Inspection Is Done

There are two ways to test for mold. One is to visually inspect your home, and the other is to do lab testing. The inspector may even do both. The lab test can identify the exact type of mold you're dealing with, since some types, like black mold, are more toxic than others. When the inspector comes to your home, he or she will probably collect air samples and also swab the surfaces of your home to pick up mold spores. Mold spores circulate through your home all the time, so their presence does not necessarily indicate a serious problem. That's why a visual inspection is also needed.

The easy part is to look for visible mold. The inspector will examine every area of your home and check it for high humidity and other signs of mold growth. He or she will pay particular attention to areas near plumbing and the roof where water may be leaking. It's also a good idea to let the inspector know if you've ever had a water leak in the past and where it was.

The more difficult part of an inspection is to find hidden mold. To do this, the inspector may need to lift a section of your carpet to see if mold is growing underneath. He or she may also drill a hole in the drywall and pass a camera inside to look around for mold growing in the walls. Since mold needs moisture to grow, the most obvious places to begin looking are near potential plumbing leaks and in rooms with high humidity, such as a damp basement or a room with many houseplants.

What To Do About The Results

Once mold is found and the type is identified, the removal can begin. You may not discover the full extent of the problem until the cleanup begins. As drywall is removed, the contractor will have a better understanding of how much the mold has spread. If the mold is confined to a small area of your home, such as near a sink drain that had a small leak, you may be able to clean it up yourself if you wear the proper protective gear.

Once mold has spread and requires removing drywall or wallpaper to remedy, it's best to call American Environmental Specialists LLC. One of the dangers of cleaning up mold is the release of spores into your home. This is not only a health danger to your family, it spreads the mold from one location throughout your entire home. If the mold inspection determines you have a big problem, or if you have a toxic type of mold, call a mold removal contractor who can use the proper equipment and techniques needed to keep your home and family safe.

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