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How to Recognize & Diagnose Stains at Heating or Air Conditioning Supply Registers InteriorAPedia © Enter your search terms Submit search form   Search This Website - InspectAPedia.com

• What Causes & how to We Recognize Wall or Ceiling Stains at Heating or Air Conditioning Supply Registers
• 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 or are not toxic mold

This article describes How to Recognize & Diagnose Stains at Heating or Air Conditioning Supply Registers and explains how to distinguish these common debris marks from possibly more serious mold, thermal tracking, thermal bridging 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.

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.

How to Diagnose Stains and Debris at Ceiling and Wall Heating or Cooling Air Supply Registers

Dirty HVAC duct work, lack of air filter maintenance, or furnace malfunctions can all be indicated by black stains that appear around warm or cool air delivery registers in building ceilings or walls. (This is usually a deposition of house dust, rarely is it mold, and rarely is it related to thermal tracking. An investigation of what was at first called Killer House Dust from an HVAC system showed that the dust of concern turned out to be cotton and other carpet fibers having nothing to do with the Heating or Cooling equipment was discussed at our Fear of Mold WebLog or "Blog" where we periodically post results of interesting forensic investigations.

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.

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.

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.

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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