Regardless of whether you are doing your own check for black mold in your home or a professional is doing it, the first and most basic thing you will be doing is testing and sampling to show if there is any mold to worry about. Prevention may be the best way to deal with black mold, but there are many times where you will have to test first, such as a home inspection to buy property or if someone with a weak immune system is moving in. If you are hunting for black mold in your home, there are two ways to go about it. Air testing and surface testing are the two main ways to check for black mold and while they use different methods of detection, they also compliment each other.
Testing the Air
Air testing for black mold is done by measuring the level of spores you have floating around in the air. The more spores you detect, the greater the risk is for black mold in your home and the greater health risk there is. The equipment used is usually a flat surface connected to a way to draw in air like a fan so that spores are captured and can be measure. It’s a easy, affordable and non-invasive way to test for black mold, but it will not tell you where the mold is or in precisely what quantities. Air testing is most useful to give you an idea of the health risk which spores are posing in your home.
Swabbing for Black Mold
Sample testing is used if you find mold, but you don’t know what it is! Surface testing is done by cutting a piece of the mold from your home and sending it off to a laboratory for verification. While this is an invasive form of testing, it will give you a good idea of how extensive the mold is and of course, what kind it; many molds are hard to identify by sight alone and even if you think you know what it, you may not necessarily know and that can mean the difference between thousands of dollars and hundreds. It can also help to tell you what kind of mold remediation to do. Surface testing won’t tell you the level of spores in the air though and it’s the spores which cause the health problems.
Both air and surface testing are best when searching for black mold because they compliment each other. Both of these methods are fairly simple to do and are inexpensive while still delivering results you can work with. Testing is a bit of a nuisance, but it’s very important to do so that your health is protected. Black mold is toxic, even fatal, so if you are worried that there may be a mold problem in your home, test. You can get kits you need to use online or in stores or you can call in the professionals; whatever makes you comfortable. Once you know what the problem is, you can fix it, so it’s definitely worth doing.
Black mold can be a serious problem in all most anyone’s home, and it’s become a normal decision to just ignore it in your bathrooms and window sills. Educate yourself by reading our blog on black mold removal.