There’s a lot more to a Mold Inspection than the collection of a few mold samples. Unfortunately many mold inspectors are selling the collection of air samples for mold as a complete mold inspection. The collection of mold samples IS NOT a mold inspection. If the only thing you recieve from your "Mold Inspector" is a laboratory report then you did not recieve a mold inspection. You paid for the collection of air samples for mold which isn’t a full mold assessment.
If you’re interested in the assessment of your indoor environment for Mold or anything that may be compromising your indoor air quality, then you need an Indoor Air Quality Professional, You need Indoor Air Quality Solutions, IAQS.
If you want a “Mold Inspection” Hire only Florida Licensed and Insured Mold Assessors. All of the Consultants at Florida Indoor Air Quality Solutions, IAQS are individually Licensed by the State of Florida as Mold Assessors.
If you want the very best in Mold Inspections then Hire only Florida Indoor Air Quality Solutions, IAQS individually Licensed Mold Assessors who are also Council Certified Indoor Environmental Consultants, CIEC’s.
As CIEC’s, all Florida Indoor Air Quality Solutions Consultants have earned the most respected certification in the field of indoor environmental consulting. The CIEC Certification is based on training and field experience in building sciences, industrial hygiene and indoor environmental risk assessment. The certification documents the Indoor Environmental Consultants skills and knowledge regarding design, construction and operation of buildings with respect to the quality and efficiency of the indoor environment in a manner that could be relied upon by individuals and organizations seeking Florida Indoor Air Quality Solutions services as a consultant or advisor for the assessment and management of their indoor environments.
What is a Professional and Informative Mold Report?
A professionally prepared Mold Report should clearly answer the following questions:
Is there a mold or IAQ problem?
What was the cause?
Where is the problem source?
What containment and cleaning are needed?
What building repairs are needed to prevent future problems?
How will we ensure that the field investigation work is properly done?
How will we ensure that the mold test lab work was actually collected by a Florida Licensed Mold Assessor?
A mold test lab report can produce a lot of information but it does not answer any of those questions.
A Florida Licensed Mold Assessor should have the ability to do more than hit the on switch of the sampling pump and hand the client a lab report.
Our reports will answer all of those questions and more.
Are Mold Lab Reports Useful Without a Visual Inspection?
A mold report from the laboratory which simply offers some counts or numbers or culture results is not a good value. Not when the mold inspector was supposed to perform a "screening inspection" for mold, but did not perform a thorough visual inspection of the home or office.
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 a mold problem in your home or office you need to know the following:
Is there a mold, allergen, or similar environmental problem in the building?
If there is a problem, where is it and how big is it?
What does the lab work indicate about the level of risk to occupants or workers? Are we looking at a "cosmetic-only" concern?
Is a mold remediation protocol necessary?
What is the extent of demolition or cleaning needed, and based on the lab results, what is the level of containment and care needed?
What needs to be changed or repaired in the home or office so that problems don't recur?
After the cleanup has been completed, was it proper and complete?
A professionally prepared mold report must be useful:
In other words, in exchange for being paid a substantial professional fee to investigate a building, a Florida Licensed Mold Assessor 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 Protocol.
In cases where there are no occupants at special risk of mold-related illness or respiratory illness; where there is no building leak history, and where no substantial mold is visible or suspected, a mold investigation may not be appropriate. Instead an indoor environmental assessment for allergy or asthma triggers would be more appropriate.
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 conducted.
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 laboratory report interpretation.
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 active - were rooms occupied by active people, were fans running, were windows open or shut?
What were the other indoor environmental conditions that are vital to an indoor environmental assessment such as temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and particulate levels?
Was the home at a positive or negative pressure?
Was the A/C running?
Were any windows open?
How many people were coming and going in the home?
Pets?
House plants?
Cooking?
Without knowing more about these site conditions, without an actual detailed visual 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 simply not possible.
These mold laboratory reports have some great graphs but they also have
no building inspection,
no building history of leaks or observed mold problems
no client history of building related complaints,
no mold risk assessment,
no interpretation of the lab's findings, and contradictory indications.
so ... No one knows what to do next.
What’s worse all mold laboratory reports have a disclaimer that states something to the effect of;
The Laboratory bears no responsibility for sample collection activities or analytical method limitations. Interpretation and use of test results are the responsibility of the client
or
The client is solely responsible for the use and interpretation of these recommended action guidelines.
And the inspectors often add in their agreements the following helpful clause;
The client is solely responsible for the use and interpretation of the test results and reports requested from home inspector. The inspector is not able to assess the degree of any potential hazard resulting from the materials and areas analyzed. Therefore, we respectfully suggest that you review this report with your personal physician or health care person(s) for information that may affect the inhabitants of the home.
In other words, in exchange for being paid a professional fee to investigate a building, the mold inspector should provide accurate and useful diagnostic and prescriptive information to his or her client; not state that he or she is not responsible for the interpretation of the sample results that they have collected.
A Professional Mold Inspection is much more than the collection of samples.
Unless the sample collection was combined with an expert visual inspection of the building, one cannot be certain of the extent of mold or other particle contamination in a building.
Similarly, without an expert visual inspection one cannot determine if a sample accurately represents all of the molds present in the building.
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 the collection of the necessary indoor environmetal conditions at the time of the inspection.
Our Clients are aways welcome to call to discuss our findings and to ask for further explanation or guidance without incurring additional cost, at anytime.
ACGIH: Bioaerosols: Assessment and Control, Janet Macher, Ed., American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists, Cincinnati, ON (1999).
IESO: Indoor Environmental Standard Organization: 2nd Edition 2003. Standard of Practice for the Assessment of Indoor Environmental Quality: Volume 1: Mold Sampling: Assessment of Mold Contamination
IICRC S520 2008 ANSI approved national standard: 2nd Edition 2008
EPA 402-K-01-001 Mold Remediation in Schools and Commercial Buildings
American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality (ASHRAE 62-2001) and
Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy (ASHRAE 55-2004)
Call Microshield Environmental Services, LLC, Indoor Air Quality Solutions for answers to all your indoor air quality questions. We can provide you with a superior Indoor Environmental Assessment or Orlando Mold Inspection. Call Lydia Today! 407-383-9459
5840 Red Bug Lake Rd. Suite 220 Winter Springs Florida, 32708
1170 Tree Swallow Dr. Suite 330 Winter Springs, Florida 32708 51 E Jefferson St Orlando FL 32801 - 424 East Central Boulevard Orlando FL 32801 - 8870 Boggy Creek Road Orlando FL 32824 - 2607 Edgewater Dr Orlando 32804
Indoor Air Quality Solutions, IAQS Microshield Environmental Services, LLC.
The Indoor Air Quality Solutions Consultants are Certified Indoor Environmental Consultant, Certified Mold Inspector, Certified Mold Investigator, Certified Microbial Consultant, Certified Mold Remediation Supervisor, Florida Licensed Mold Assessor. Indoor Air Quality Solutions provides Florida with the best Orlando indoor air quality Inspection, Orlando Radon Testing, Chinese Drywall Inspection, Mold Remediation Protocols, Orlando Air Testing. We offer the best affordable Orlando Mold Inspection, Asthma and Allergy Testing, & Orlando Mold Testing by Florida Licensed Mold Assessor Microshield Environmental Services, LLC & John P. Lapotaire, CIEC The most trusted names in Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Orlando indoor air quality inspection, Orlando Mold Remediation Removal Florida
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