InspectAPedia ® | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, Repair, & Problem Prevention Advice |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| InspectAPedia Home |
| | Air Conditioning |
| | Electrical | | | Indoor Environment |
| | Exteriors | | | Heating | | | Home Inspection |
| | Insulate Ventilate |
| | Interiors | | | Mold Inspect/Test |
| | Plumbing Water Septic |
| | Roofing | | | Structure | | | Contact Us |
| Directory of Professionals to Inspect or Test a Building | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mobile View ENERGY SAVINGS in BUILDINGS ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS GUIDE ALLERGEN TESTS for BUILDINGS ALLERGENS in BUILDINGS, RECOGNIZING ALLERGY TESTS for PEOPLE ALLERGY TEST ACCURACY ANIMAL ALLERGENS / PET DANDER ASBESTOS in Buildings Carpet Dust Carpeting and Indoor Air Quality GAS MEASUREMENT TOOLS Gas Toxicity Levels House Dust Analysis MOLD: A COMPLETE GUIDE TO MOLD INSPECTION, TESTING, CLEANUP & PREVENTION MOLD INFORMATION CENTER ACCEPTABLE MOLD LEVEL ACTION GUIDE - WHAT TO DO ABOUT INDOOR MOLD AFTER THE MOLD CLEANUP ATTIC MOLD BASEMENT MOLD BASICS YOU NEED to FIND, TEST, REMOVE MOLD Basketball Mold Syndrome - BBMS BOOKSTORE - ENVIRONMENTAL BUYERS GUIDE - home inspections for mold CARPET MOLD CARPET STAIN DIAGNOSIS CARPET TEST GUIDE CAT DANDER CRAWLSPACE MOLD DO IT YOURSELF MOLD CLEANUP DO-IT-YOURSELF WARNINGS DRYWALL MOLD ENERGY SAVINGS in BUILDINGS ENERGY SAVINGS PRIORITIES ENERGY SAVINGS RETROFIT CASE STUDY ENERGY SAVINGS RETROFIT LEAK SEALING GUIDE ENERGY SAVINGS RETROFIT OPTIONS FIBERGLASS INSULATION MOLD FLOODS & MOLD CLEAN/PREVENT HARMLESS BLACK MOLD FIND MOLD in BUILDINGS, HOW TO INDOOR AIR QUALITY & HOUSE TIGHTNESS INDOOR AIR QUALITY IMPROVEMENT GUIDE Whole House Ventilation Strategies Air Filtering Strategies Particles in Indoor Air - Chart Air-Cleaner Types Air Filter Effectiveness Finding & Reducing Air Pollutants Radon Hazards Formaldehyde Hazards Biological Pollutants Volatile Organic Compounds VOCs Pesticide Exposure Hazards Lead Exposure Hazards Asbestos Hazards Carpeting and Indoor Air Quality Combustion Appliance Contaminants Backdrafting Appliances Fireplace & Woodstove Contaminants INDOOR AIR HAZARDS TABLE INDOOR COMBUSTION PRODUCTS & IAQ INDOOR AIR QUALITY METHODS COMPARED Air Sampling Equipment Bulk & Surface Tape Sampling Cultures, Swabs, Home Test Kits for Mold Sampling for gases Mold Test Laboratory Procedures Indoor Air Investigation Reports What to do about mold-Key References INSULATION MOLD ITCHY FABRICS MOLD ACTION GUIDE - WHAT TO DO ABOUT MOLD MOLD APPEARANCE - WHAT MOLD LOOKS LIKE MOLD APPEARANCE - STUFF THAT IS NOT MOLD MOLD ON or IN CARPETS MOLD ON DIRT FLOORS MOLD CLASSES, HAZARD LEVELS MOLD REMEDIATION CLEARANCE INSPECTION MOLD CULTURES MOLD DETECTION & INSPECTION GUIDE MOLD DOCTOR NEEDED? MOLD EXPERT, WHEN TO HIRE MOLD EXPOSURE RISK LEVELS MOLD EXPOSURE STANDARDS MOLD FREQUENCY in BUILDINGS MOLD GROWTH on SURFACES, GUIDE TO MOLD INSPECTORS & MOLD TESTERS MOLD TEST KITS MOLD TEST KITS for DIY MOLD TESTS MOLD TEST PROCEDURES MOLD TEST REASONS MOLD CLEANUP GUIDE- HOW TO GET RID OF MOLD MOLD CLEANUP with BLEACH MOLD CLEANUP - WOOD FRAMING & PLYWOOD MOLD CLEANUP HEALTH RISKS MOLD CLEANUP MISTAKES to AVOID MOLD REMEDIATION CLEARANCE INSPECTION MOLD KILLING GUIDE MOLD LEVEL REPORTS MOLD LEVELS IN BUILDINGS MOLD by MICROSCOPE MOLD ODORS, MUSTY SMELLS MOLD PREVENTION GUIDE MOLD RELATED ILLNESS MOLD SPRAYS, SEALANTS, PAINTS MVOCs & MOLDY MUSTY ODORS MYCOTOXIN EFFECTS of MOLD EXPOSURE ODORS & SMELLS DIAGNOSIS & CURE RENTERS & TENANTS GUIDE TO MOLD STUFF THAT IS NOT MOLD STAIN DIAGNOSIS & GUIDE TECHNICAL & LAB PROCEDURES THERMAL TRACKING TRAPPED MOLD BETWEEN WOOD SURFACES USING LIGHT TO FIND MOLD IAQ ISSUES, OTHER OUR FIELD SERVICES OUR LABORATORY SERVICES More Information InspectAPedia Blog - News Updates Air Conditioning & Heat Pumps Bookstore Electrical Environment Exteriors Heating Home Inspection Insulate Ventilate Interiors Mold Inspect/Test Plumbing Water Septic Roofing Structure Accuracy & Privacy Policies Contact Us |
This document lists and compares classes of mold, air, gas, test methods used in indoor air quality investigation methodology in searching for possible causes of respiratory illness, asthma, immune system disorders, rashes, skin disease, psychological and neurological disorders, eye infections, or other symptoms which may have a physiological and environmental component. Methods of inspection and testing building air quality for toxic mold, allergen or other sick house investigations, mold lab testing services, information on mold, mildew, moisture, pollen, dust mite, & environmental testing for home buyers, home owners, consultants, as well as a service to provide on-site field investigations and expert mold laboratory testing, and mold identification services are offered. Links here organize the indoor air quality methods portion of our environmental website and take the reader either directly to an in-depth article or to the collection of such articles addressing a particular environmental or IAQ topic. © Copyright 2009 Daniel Friedman, All Rights Reserved. Information Accuracy & Bias Pledge is at below-left. Use the links at page left to navigate this document or to go to Other Website Topics. Green links at left show where you are in our document & website. Air Sampling Equipment & Mold Testing ProtocolsAir sampling equipment includes some useful, expensive tools, but if used alone, air sampling is not reliable for characterization of building conditions. In short, a "negative" (no mold problem detected) result is not reliable because the level of airborne particles in indoor air varies by several orders of magnitude from minute to minute in a building. Waving a notebook, turning on or off a fan, opening a door, even walking across carpeting can completely change the level of airborne particles. A mold inspector who relies only on tests and who omits thorough visual inspection, history taking, occupant interviews,etc. is not making a reliable mold-assessment of a building.
Bulk & Surface Tape Sampling Mold Testing ProtocolsTape to collect mold or other surface sampling methods provide useful, inexpensive tools which, combined with careful visual inspection, are reliable and inexpensive for characterization of building conditions. Particles collected are very useful for genera and often mold species identification.
Cultures, Swabs, "Home Test Kits" Mold Testing Protocols
Mold Sniffing Dogs as a Building Screen for MoldMold sniffing dogs are unreliable, though fun. For details, see INEFFECTIVE MOLD PRODUCTS for an explanation of why mold sniffing dogs make poor mold detectives and why it's not good for them anyway. There's no doubt that a dog can be trained to smell mold. What is the dog smelling? MVOCs. Not all molds generate MVOCs, and even molds that do generate MVOC's don't do so all the time. If the humidity, temperature, light, and other factors don't cause a particular MVOC-generating mold to release this gas, you're not going to detect it on the day of the inspection and test. Just later. Even if we detect MVOCs, is that the problem mold in the building? Beagles are short as dogs go - and are not good at sniffing out MVOC's that telltale a mold problem high in a building wall or in a ceiling. Beagles are cute, though. Infrared, Thermography, & MVOC Testing as a Building Screen for MoldThese good tools form a part of the arsenal of building investigation tools for many uses and problems, but they are unreliable as a building screen for mold. IR and Thermography detect temperature differences, not mold. In short, IR, or thermography, which are wonderful and fun tools to use, only detect temperature differences. If your building has a mold problem in a wall or ceiling due to a leak that occurred a long time ago, the cavity may now be quite dry. The mold is happily growing along on ambient moisture, but the IR won't detect a thing. IR and thermography are good at seeing leaky windows and doors, though. At one of our investigations a "mold killing" company had charged our client a few thousand dollars to "spray biocide into the moldy walls". Our acquaintance who owns the company was excited with his new IR camera and used it as a "mold detector" - now this is a smart thing to do if you're looking for what building cavities have just gotten wet due to a leak. But in this case what he detected was cool spaces around windows and doors - which is where he sprayed his biocide and "mold killer". When we cut open those walls we found absolutely no indication that there had ever been mold present, nor leaks, nor anything but lower temperatures. The mold problem (there was one) was in a completely different area of the home. IR and thermography are great tools in the hands of an expert. They're not a mold detector. For details see INEFFECTIVE MOLD PRODUCTS for an explanation of why this is so. Sampling for Mold Volatile Organic Compounds - MVOCs and other Mold-Related Gases in BuildingsNot all molds generate MVOCs, and even molds that do generate MVOC's don't do so all the time. If the humidity, temperature, light, and other factors don't cause a particular MVOC-generating mold to release this gas, you're not going to detect it on the day of the inspection and test. Just later. Where's the mold smell or musty odor problem source? Even if we detect MVOCs, is that the problem mold in the building? If we don't detect MVOC's does that promise there is no problem mold? No. Please see MVOCs & MOLDY MUSTY ODORS for details about this topic. Readers should also see MOLD ODORS, Musty Smells in Buildings and see MYCOTOXIN EFFECTS of MOLD EXPOSURE. Production of toxins and microbial volatile organic compounds (MVOCs) by fungi in an environmental sample is dependent upon many factors, such as the substrate on which mold is growing, relative humidity and temperature in the moldy environment; the relative importance of each of these factors in toxin production is poorly understood. Our Indoor Gas Sampling Plan for Residential Buildings describes gas testing procedures, instruments, detection limits, and it lists some of the toxic (or other) indoor gases for which we can test, depending on the building complaint and building conditions. Good Mold Testing Laboratory and Microscope ProceduresTECHNICAL PROCEDURES describes proper mold testing laboratory procedures, and sample processing not by a "supervised" technician but by a qualified expert are critical in making sense of field samples. Competent, trained, experienced aerobiologists, mycologists, and microbiologists can identify sample contents with good accuracy. Depending on the experience of the laboratory, it is also possible to interpret the meaning of the sample for the building and its occupants. Laboratory professionals who have also performed the field inspection can often offer useful interpretations of even low levels of certain particles or classes of particles found in indoor air or surface dust. For example, if a field test for mold detects certain fungi not usually found on indoor surfaces, those molds may not themselves be a likely health hazard to building occupants, but they may be common water-indicators that suggest that further investigation of the building is in order to look for the presence other, more problematic molds that the initial investigation failed to detect. Indoor Air / Toxic Mold Investigation ReportsMOLD INVESTIGATION REPORTS provides a document outlining what to look for in a toxic mold field investigation report or mold test laboratory report. we have been troubled that some very costly "mold investigators" simply collect a few air, culture, or swab samples, toss them over to a mold testing lab, and give their clients the lab report. A valid and useful mold investigation needs to include a detailed visual inspection to identify problem sources, the presence and extent of a mold or other problem reservoir, and then it needs to provide the supporting lab work to justify what may be a costly cleanup (i.e. let's not spend a lot cleaning up "cosmetic" mold). The end product of the investigation needs to include the following
What to do About Mold - Here are the Key References
... Technical Reviewers & References
Use links just below or at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.
ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS GUIDE
Sick Building Sick House Investigations, allergy, allergies, allergens, asthma, asthmatics, dust mites, mold, mildew, fungi, indoor air (C)trap Daniel Friedman Construction failures contamination Cooling quality, flooding, water damage,air quality measurements ASHI American Society of Home Inspectors Air Conditioning Asbestos Electromagnetic radiation fields, environmental hazards (C)trap Daniel Friedman residential properties for home buyers home owners Heating drinking water contamination contaminants professional ASHI home inspections inspectors |
||||||
|
ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS GUIDE MOLD INFORMATION CENTER More Information InspectAPedia® Home & Site Map Air Conditioning Bookstore Electrical Environment Exteriors Heating Home Inspection Insulate Ventilate Interiors Mold Inspect/Test Plumbing Water Septic Roofing Structure Accuracy & Privacy Policies Contact Us |
More Information on Building Diagnostic Inspections and Repairs
|
10/26/2009 - 08/13/1995 - InspectAPedia.com/IAQMethods.htm - © 2009 - 1988 Copyright Daniel Friedman All Rights Reserved - InspectAPedia® is a Registered U.S. Trademark - InspectAPedia® is a Registered U.S. Trademark