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How to Use Indoor Wall or Ceiling Stains to Diagnose Indoor Air Quality Problems InteriorAPedia © Enter your search terms Submit search form   Search This Website - InspectAPedia.com

• How to Use Indoor Wall or Ceiling Thermal Tracking & Other Indoor Stains to Diagnose Indoor Air Quality Problems
• A photo-guide to common indoor ceiling and wall stains and what they mean
• Links to more photos of indoor ceiling or wall stains that are not toxic mold

This article describes How to Use Indoor Wall or Ceiling Thermal Tracking & Other Indoor Stains to Diagnose Indoor Air Quality Problems and discusses other interior wall and ceiling stains, building air leaks, and building insulation defects. Often these stains are mistaken for toxic indoor mold. When investigating a building for a mold problem, you can save mold test costs by learning how to recognize Stuff that is Not Mold or is only Harmless Mold but may be mistaken for more serious contamination - save your money. Because some clients have on occasion sent samples to our mold test lab that really should not have been collected, much less looked-at, we provide this library of photographs of things that are "not mold" and don't need to be tested. These are substances that you can easily learn to recognize in buildings. Save your mold test money, and increase the accuracy of your mold contamination inspection or test for toxic or allergenic mold in buildings: review these items to learn recognize non-fungal materials or even possibly harmless cosmetic "black mold" often mistaken for "toxic fungal growth." © Copyright 2008 Daniel Friedman, All Rights Reserved. Information Accuracy & Bias Pledge is at below-left. Use links 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.

How to Use Indoor Stains Like Thermal Tracking to Diagnose Building Air Leaks, Insulation Defects, and Indoor Air Quality Problems

Significance of Other Indoor Stains and Marks for Building Framing Location or Defects in Heating & Cooling System Operation

Since thermal tracking, or soot marking, or "thermal bridging" always tell us about missing or openings in building insulation or about air leaks, we can learn other facts about a building such as those listed in this article on thermal tracking, soot stains, and other indoor building stains. But don't assume that any stain on a building wall is due to poor insulation, moisture, mold, or thermal tracking. In this photograph we see candle soot - sometimes a source of indoor air quality complaints or even lead poisoning if a poor quality or perfumed candle is used to excess. Indoor stains can also tell us of two other conditions that should not be confused with mold or indoor air quality complaints:

• Location & spacing of building framing members. Indoor stains can help find the location and spacing of wall studs or ceiling joists: use thermal tracking marks on building interior surfaces to spot the location of wall studs or ceiling joists when we need to find those members (for placing a picture nail, for example). Observing the spacing between these stains can tell us how a building has been framed.
• Identify unsafe heating equipment or poorly-functioning fireplaces: use thermal tracking marks on interior building walls and ceilings, particularly where they vary from room to room, to diagnose poorly-vented chimneys such as fireplaces that do not work well (also look for soot stains at the hearth face). Such marks may also indicate poor and even unsafe operation of central heating systems since a poorly maintained oil burner will often leak soot into a building interior, and a dangerously un-vented gas appliance may also produce both soot and potentially fatal carbon monoxide gas.

How "Read" Indoor Stains to Identify Indoor Air Quality Concerns

A careful examination of the location of indoor stains permits the observer to use thermal tracking or soot marks on building walls or ceilings as an indicator of possible excessive (seasonal) interior moisture or other potential indoor air quality concerns.

Dark stains on building interior walls may appear in other patterns and could be from other causes - we provide photographs, description, diagnosis, and advice for many of these indoor stains in this article.

Usually soot marks, thermal bridging, or thermal tracking stains appear, if at all, in the building interior locations discussed in the remaining sections of this article.

We welcome more thermal tracking, soot tracking, air bypass leaks, and similar photos of indoor stains as well as text suggestions to expand this detail and would be glad to credit contributors.

Technical Reviewers

Particular thanks are due to experts and also consumers who read these articles and suggest corrections, changes, and additions to the material. Content suggestions, technical corrections and content critique are invited for any of the content at our website.

• Daniel Friedman - InspectAPedia.com ^TM Website Author/Editor
• Thanks to Alan Carson, Carson Dunlop, Associates, Toronto, for technical critique and content suggestions regarding thermal tracking.
• Critique, contributions wanted: Contact Us to suggest text changes and additions and, if you wish, to receive online listing and credit for that contribution.

More Information on Finding and Identifying Mold in Buildings and Building Diagnostic Inspections and Repairs

• Attic Condensation and Ice Dam Leaks - Detection and Correcting Venting and Condensation Problems in Buildings
• Insulation Inspections: Insulation in Buildings: Identification, R-values, Heat loss, Insulation Types, Insulation Characteristics
• Asbestos pipe insulation in buildings
• Brick "Insulation" in Building Walls
• Heat Loss Calculations, Insulation Properties, Definitions of R, K, U values, Insulation Design
• How to Detect and Correct Attic Condensation & Prevent Ice Dam Leaks in Buildings
• Insulation Materials as Indicators of Building Age
• Indoor Air Quality Investigations: Fiberglass in Indoor Air, HVAC ducts, and Building Insulation
• Insulation Identification Photographs - Fiberglass insulation photos, yellow, pink, green, white fiberglass identification in building attics, walls, ducts, other locations
• Insulation Identification Photographs - Cellulose insulation photos, Mineral wool insulation photos, rock wool insulation photos, cotton insulation photos, balsam wool insulation photos
• Insulation Identification Photographs - Vermiculite insulation photos
• Insulation Properties, Table of R-Values, density, moisture permeability, fire safety, aging effects on various insulation materials
• Mold in Fiberglass in Insulation
• Radiant Heat Floor Mistakes to Avoid case history of improper placement of slab insulation and radiant heat tubing
• Thermal Trackingthermal bridging & air leak stains in buildings or on building insulation
• Un-Vented Roof Solutions - How to Prevent Attic Condensation, Ice Dam Leaks, Roof Mold, & Roof Structural Damage in Buildings with Un-vented Roof Cavities
• Vermiculite Building Insulation & Asbestos
• Ice Dam Leaks in building attics and roof cavities, how to inspect for evidence of leaks, identify causes, and correct bad attic ventilation, improper roof venting, and these causes of attic mold or roof structure damage
• Looking for Mold what mold is often found where in buildings - simple technical presentation
• Mold spores in the Home - a Photo ID Library for detection and identification of mold allergens
• Recognizing Allergens: What various indoor allergens look like - identification photos to help identify pollen, dust mites, animal dander, toxic or allergenic mold - Common Mold and other Allergens, Irritants, Remedies & Advice
• Stuff that is not mold but is often mistaken for it - things you may not want to test. Also, not all "black mold" is toxic - here are examples of harmless black mold.
• Animal Allergens: Dog, Cat, and Other Animal Dander - Cleanup & Prevention Information for Asthmatics and regarding Indoor Air Quality.

The Mold Information Center: What to Do About Mold in Buildings, When and How to Inspect for Mold, Clean Up Mold, or Avoid Mold Problems

Use this simple, economical mold test kit by following our instructions on how to collect and mail mold samples to our lab

Environmental Inspection, Testing, & Diagnosis On-Site IAQ, Gas, Air Testing, Mold Investigation, Sick Building Diagnosis, Lab Services, & Remediation Plan Preparation - indoor air quality testing, problem source determination, supporting lab work, written remediation plan addressing removal of environmental and other hazards and prevention of their recurrence.

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