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 Mobile ViewMOLD INFORMATION CENTER BASICS YOU NEED FLOODS & MOLD CLEAN/PREVENT MOLD ACTION GUIDE - WHAT TO DO MOLD or INDOOR AIR EMERGENCY RESPONSE MOLD EXPERT, WHEN TO HIRE MOLD RELATED ILLNESS MOLD DETECTION & INSPECTION MOLD TEST METHODS, ACCURACY MOLD TEST PROCEDURES MOLD TEST REASONS MOLD TEST KITS MOLD CULTURES MOLD CLASSES, HAZARD LEVELS MOLD CLEANERS - WHAT TO USE MOLD CLEANUP COMPANIES MOLD CLEANUP, DO IT YOURSELF MOLD CLEANUP GUIDE- HOW TO GET RID OF MOLD MOLD CLEANUP with BLEACH MOLD CLEANUP - WOOD FLOORING MOLD CLEANUP - WOOD FRAMING & PLYWOOD MOLD CLEANUP HEALTH RISKS MOLD CLEANUP MISTAKES to AVOID MOLD CLEANUP - SAFETY WARNINGS MOLD CLEARANCE INSPECTIONS MOLD LEVEL REPORTS MOLD INVESTIGATION REPORTS Are Mold Reports Useful? Examples of Bad Mold Reports Example of Good Mold Investigation Report MOLD LAB REPORTS Mold Lab Qualifications MOLD REMOVAL or CLEANUP MOLD CLEARANCE INSPECTIONS ODORS & SMELLS PREVENT MOLD, HOW TO TECHNICAL PROCEDURES ODORS & SMELLS OTHER IAQ CONCERNS OUR FIELD SERVICES OUR LABORATORY SERVICES More Information |
This article provides a sample site inspection and mold test report, explains what to look for in a valid and useful mold report, describes invalid and not-very useful mold reports to avoid, and helps you interpret your mold lab report. A professional site investigation for mold, allergens, or other bioaerosols or indoor air problems and a mold test lab report can produce a lot of information. In fact it could sound overwhelming. Is there a mold or IAWQ problem? What is the evidence? Where is the problem source? What containment and cleaning are needed? What building repairs are needed to prevent future problems? How will we assure that the work is properly done? A competent report should identify, right up front, what is important and what needs to be done. It should support these opinions with competent detail and professional, reliable lab work. That's what we provide. Our reports also include professional photo documentation of our observations at the inspection site as well as our microscopic findings in the laboratory. Clients are very welcome to call to discuss our findings and to ask for further explanation or guidance without incurring additional cost. For a discussion of valid and not very valid mold test lab reports for mold exposure, also see Mold Lab Reports. © Copyright 2012 InspectAPedia.com, All Rights Reserved. Information Accuracy & Bias Pledge is at below-left. Use page top links to major topics or use links at the left of each page to navigate within topics and documents at this website. Green links show where you are in a document series or at this website. Are Mold Lab Reports Useful Without a Building Investigation?If you see a large area of mold in a building a simple lab test can confirm that it is or is not a harmful (versus cosmetic) mold. And a carefully-collected sample of settled dust or other types of mold screening samples have some use in a rough building screen for evidence of hidden problematic mold. But a "bare bones" mold-lab report which simply offers some counts or numbers or culture results, when provided by an investigator who was supposed to have performed a "screening inspection" for mold, but who did not also perform a thorough visual inspection of the building is not a good value. A superficial mold test risks leaving the client with ambiguous results, or even if the test suggests that a problem mold is present, the client has no idea where the problem is, if any, and what to do about it. If you suspect that there is an indoor air problem in the building involving mold or allergens, you need to know the following:
The mold report must be useful: In other words, in exchange for being paid a substantial professional fee to investigate a building, a mold investigator should provide accurate and useful diagnostic and prescriptive information to his or her client, and should include not only an identification of problematic mold, but an indication of where the problem is, how big it is, and what work is needed to remove it - a mold remediation plan. An ethical mold or environmental investigator should interview the client carefully before the inspection to assist in deciding if such a costly inspection and test process is really appropriate and cost-justified. In cases where there are not occupants at special risk of mold-related illness or respiratory illness, and where there is no building leak history, and where no substantial mold is visible nor suspected, a costly mold investigation may not be appropriate. Our MOLD ACTION GUIDEM guides you through a series of steps to deal with mold, including the decision of when expert inspection and testing are needed. We get a lot of calls from people asking us to help them interpret their "mold inspection report." What we often learn is that there was no actual mold inspection. The "inspector" simply collected some test samples, sent them to a mold test lab, and returned the mold lab test report to the client with no supporting explanation or interpretation. That sort of "mold inspection" is not very helpful as no one can really interpret what the report means. Adding difficulty to interpreting a mold lab test report is the usual practice by the mold test "expert" of omitting any description of the mold test conditions. Was testing passive - did the inspector tiptoe into a room and collect a tape or air or culture sample? Or was testing aggressive - were rooms occupied by active people, were fans running, were windows open or shut? Without knowing more about these site conditions, without an actual detailed visual site inspection for causes of or evidence of mold, without taking a site history and client history, and adding that the level of airborne particles in buildings varies enormously from minute to minute depending on these conditions, interpreting your "mold lab test report" is a slippery problem. What should you watch out for in reading a report from a mold testing labLimitations of of Confusing Mold Test Reports Without Expert Site Inspection
"No-Content" Mold Lab ReportsHere is another "no content" mold test report. What does the number mean anyway? Is it high, low, dangerous, safe, typical exposure, peak exposure, minimum exposure? Five mold genera/species are named as represented by a single count. What can that possibly mean? Mold Inspections by Untrained People
Inaccurate or Misleading Mold Inspection and Test ReportsWhat about inaccurate, misleading reports? These defects can be quite dangerous: if a significant quantity of toxic material is present in an environment and in the samples collected, it ought to appear in the report. At the same time, a report which "protects" the investigator or laboratory by too-broad warnings risks wasting the client's time and money on a wild goose chase. A good mold test lab report should identify dominant and significant levels of particles which are found present in air, surface, vacuum, or other samples. Where the laboratory is unable to "speciate" the genera it should so indicate. Sometimes even the presence of a few spores can be significant if they are highly toxic, as they might indicate that a problem material is present or growing somewhere in the building. But a distinction should be made between what is obviously significant by visual inspection (or if necessary by actual quantitative measurement if it was an air sample), and what was found as present but not necessarily significant. A vague mold test report might, for example, identify a major and common genera like "Cladosporium" by indicating that "Cladosporium sp." was found. Because Cladosporium is perhaps the most common mold genera, and because it's a pretty big family with perhaps 40 or more members or sub species, and because perhaps one of those members or species is toxic, a hasty lab might protect itself by an asterisked note indicating "* Some members of this genera are toxic." Further, some species are usually found in and associated with outdoor air; others are quite common indoors. This distinction might be a clue about the building condition and its air quality. Without actually identifying the presence of a dangerous species, would it be appropriate to launch a very costly remediation program? Maybe not. To be fair, depending on the sample quality, condition, and content, it is not always possible to determine species by visual inspection. Lack of Repeatability of Mold Test Results Limits the Meaning of Some Mold Inspections and TestsThe almost total lack of repeatability of mold test results in buildings is due primarily to the almost total lack of observation of and documentation of building conditions at the time of the inspection and test. Simply turning on or off a fan can completely change the level of airborne particles in a building, in a period as brief as a minute or two. What inspection methods and testing techniques form the basis of your indoor air/mold investigation report? Mold cultures are unreliable for overall characterization of fungal contamination of indoor air. Home test kits, settlement plates, samplers which collect spores onto petri dishes, and sterile swabs all have a place in the arsenal of tools but not for overall building characterization. A Decent Field Investigation and Mold Determination Laboratory Report is organized as followsThe IAQ Field Investigation Report outlined below is typically 20-50 pages in length and contains complete detail of field observations, lab findings, a conclusion regarding the presence or absence of an environmental problem in the building, and if a problem was detected, the report includes detailed specifications of the remediation work needed both to remove the problem and to prevent its recurrence. © Copyright 2010 - 1986 Daniel Friedman, all rights reserved The outline which follows just below describes the content of our building diagnostic mold or indoor air quality inspection and report and the supporting lab work. A description and outline of a basic mold test sample lab sample report, such as that received by a client who sends a mold sample to our lab, is at Lab Report Sample. We also provide non-diagnostic mold screening surveys for real estate transactions and post-mold remediation (cleanup) project onsite inspection and clearance test reports. Other professional services include odor source detection, gas testing, and building condition of property and pre purchase inspections. Diagnostic Building Mold or Indoor Air Quality Inspection and Test ReportEXECUTIVE SUMMARY Field investigation indicates: Initial Investigative Hypothesis: Laboratory determination of sample contents indicates: Conclusions and Exposure Assessment : Recommendations: INSPECTION REPORT 1.0. Property Overview 1.a. History 1.b. Property Condition 1.c. Reported Health Complaints 2.0. Extent of Visible Mold & Recommendations for Cleanup 2.a. Extent of Visible Mold 2.b. Mold Cleanup/Removal Recommendations 2.b.1. Containment required before demolition and cleaning 2.b.2. Demolition and Cleaning for the Subject Property 2.b.3. General mold cleanup/removal suggestions 2.b.4. Handling materials stored in the building 2.b.5. Investigate Further 3.0. Exterior, Interior, & Mechanical Systems: Observations & Recommendations 3.a. Exterior Inspection and Recommendations 3.a.1. Exterior observations and recommendations specific to the subject property 3.a.2. General Exterior Recommendations 3.b. Interior Inspection & Recommendations 3.b.1. Interior inspection and recommendations specific to the subject property: 3.b.2. General Interior Recommendations 3.c. Mechanical Systems Observations & Recommendations 3.c.1. Heating, Cooling, Ventilation Systems 3.c.2. Plumbing & Other Systems or Equipment 4. Follow-up Clearance Inspection & Testing Recommendations LAB REPORT 5. Laboratory Determination Report - List of Samples and Test Results 5.a. Individual Test Sample Identity & Contents 5.b. Test Sample Result Summary & Significance 6. Field & Lab Procedures 6.a. Field Methodology & Sampling Plan 6.a.1. Purpose of Site Visit: 6.a.2. Inspection Procedure: 6.b. Laboratory Methodology 6.b.1. Purpose of lab work: 7. Limitations, Exclusions, Standards, and Definitions 7.a. General Information about Mold, Exposure Standards 7.a.1. Sampling versus human exposure: 7.a.2. Mold exposure standards: 7.b. Addendum - Quantitative Particle or Spore Levels in Samples 7.c. Addendum - Non-Quantitative Particle or Mold Levels Based on Samples 7.d. Addendum - Mold Risk Levels in Buildings Based on Visual Inspection 8. References 8.a. Moisture Control in Buildings 8.b. Health Effects of Mold - Clinical References 9. Definitions 10. Field & Laboratory Photographs & Annotations Mold Testing Laboratory qualificationsWe wouldn't expect an aerobiology or "mold test lab" to operate without someone at hand who actually has some appropriate knowledge and experience. But watch out for laboratories that are over-worked, processing perhaps thousands of samples monthly with a too-small or under-trained staff. The fact that a laboratory has some certification does not assure you that the "certification" is pertinent to the work being performed in your behalf, nor that the individual actually doing the work is properly trained. In one class I attended a mold test lab supervisor showed me the "cheat sheet" she provides to her afternoon high-school aged employees who are "trained" to look through the microscope for one of the eight common mold species whose photograph appears on a colored card. An under-trained lab technician may be tempted to stop examining a sample as soon as s/he finds one of the "important eight" on the card. In a similar case we found a lab which over-reported the presence of Stachybotrys chartarum which was less important as an airborne presence in that particular building than a very large colony of Aspergillus niger . Why was this error occurring? Because Stachybotrys chartarum is a comparatively large black spore which is easily recognized in a sample while the Aspergillus niger spores are tiny and nearly colorless, requiring more careful and patient microscope work to recognize. But wait a minute! One can hardly expect a laboratory to diagnose a building based simply on a few samples collected by someone else, possibly by someone with no proper experience. The best a competent mold test lab can do when working only from a mold sample (that is, with no expert building inspection results) is tell you what's in the sample collected, not whether the sample represents the building and not whether the sample captured the most important problem in the building. How can you be more confident? Inspect the building with knowledge and care. Collect historical and occupant data. Then perform good lab work and lab interpretation based on the site data. Can you understand your toxic mold test lab report? Finally, you should be able to read and understand your lab report. If you paid a field investigator to examine your building you should be able to ask that person for additional advice concerning the lab results, and you should also be able to ask the lab director questions if the report is not clear. Investigators who disclaim any responsibility to you, saying "ask the lab," and laboratories who say "we just process the sample, ask the investigator" are not being as helpful as they should. Questions & Answers regarding this article. Ask a Question or Search InspectAPediaHTML Comment Box is loading comments...
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OTHER IAQ ISSUES: How To Find and Address Other Indoor Air or Indoor Environment Contaminants Besides MoldMold or allergens may not be the only or even the main indoor environmental contaminant. Don't let media attention to mold cause so much enviro-scare fear that other, possibly more urgent hazards go un-addressed.
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