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Rules of thumb help decide when a mold professional is needed How to avoid conflicts of interest when hiring mold companies Advice from U. Minnesota and others

These simple "rules of thumb" can help you decide when a mold problem in a building merits hiring a professional to investigate or clean up mold or other allergens. A mold professional may have some neat gadgets to find or test for mold, but a real expert knows that a thorough building inspection and an understanding of how buildings work and where they leak, as well as an understanding of mold itself, are critical in finding hidden mold problems and in specifying the cleanup work needed.

These guidelines aid in protecting the building occupants not only from potential health concerns but also from inappropriate expenses. This document provides information about how to decide when to hire a professional to investigate for the presence of allergenic and toxic mold in residential or office buildings. Also see the Mold Action Guide. © Copyright 2008 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.

WHEN TO HIRE A MOLD TESTING PROFESSIONAL - Rules of Thumb for Deciding When to Hire a Professional to Inspect for Mold & Prepare a Mold Remediation Plan To be effective and to produce advice which is based on more than a wild guess, building investigations for mold, allergens, gases, or other indoor air quality concerns must take a broad approach to site and building examination for probable sources of moisture, bioaerosols, toxic/allergenic mold, or other allergens. In order to have some confidence that we understand the building, how it works, where the risks and problems lie, we examine at the entire structure, inside and out, and its mechanical systems are examined as well. Partial inspections, like partial remediation, risk the cost of having to repeat the process if it was not proper and complete the first time. In the photo above, though not much mold is visible on the drywall, the presence of fungal fruiting bodies or "mushrooms" growing indoors at the wall baseboard trim tells us that this building was very wet for some time - professional inspection is needed to define the location and extent of moldy material removal and cleaning.

If your ONLY concern is the identity of the mold you've already seen, and if you are confident that there is not a possible problem elsewhere on the property, you could simply send a mold sample to our lab (or to any mold lab) for determination.

Instructions for an inexpensive and easy way to test mold or to screen settled dust for mold are at http://www.inspect-ny.com/sickhouse/bulksamp.htm and our Lab services are described at http://www.inspect-ny.com/sickhouse.htm#labwork

Here are some reasons to consider a more extensive on-site investigation for toxic or allergenic mold:

1. People in the building are at particular risk: elderly, infant, immune-impaired, asthmatic, history of respiratory illness or other medical complaints which might be caused by or aggravated by mold, allergens, or other bioaerosols
2. The building has or is suspected of having had a history of leak events or even a single event which flooded some areas: plumbing leaks, roof leaks, ice dam leaks, basement water entry, sewer backup, ventilation problems, air conditioning system problems; forced-air central heating/cooling concerns
3. Water damage or mold have been seen and you need an estimate of the extent of demolition and mold remediation which will be needed to make a proper cleanup and repair. If you are confident that the amount of mold is less than 30 sq. ft. of contiguous mold then the NY City mold remediation guidelines suggest that professional remediation is not appropriate. If more than 30 sq. ft. you need professional advice as more serious health risks may be involved.
4. Contractors have bid a variety of approaches to building cleanup/remediation and you need an unbiased, informed professional to help sort out these proposals

Should You Clean Mold in Advance if You ARE Going to Hire a Mold Expert

If you are thinking of hiring a professional to inspect, diagnose, and test your building for mold or other problems we prefer that you do NOT conduct a "do it yourself" cleanup ahead of time. Cleaning up the mold that you see does not preclude an expert's ability to find areas of suspicion or even to find mold, but

1. Cleaning up the mold you see may remove some easy-to-identify materials that are useful to compare with what we find in other screening measurements find in the building - that is, it's useful to know some apparent sources of particles that we may later find in screening samples in the building.
2. Contamination risk: Cleaning up a large area of mold risks cross-contamination of other areas in the building
3. Illness risk: Doing a large mold cleanup without taking proper precautions could make someone sick

Want more mold guidance? See THE MOLD ACTION GUIDE

Can You Clean Up Small Areas of Mold Yourself?

If you're not able or interested in hiring a mold professional, and/or especially if the total known moldy area is small

1. Remove small mold areas yourself: For small areas of mold, it's appropriate to just remove it - if you are sensitive, fragile, or sick, have someone else do the work.
2. Collect and hold on to some samples. If you're going to proceed anyway, try collecting some tape samples of what you see. Instead of sending these samples off to a lab, just keep the samples, but prepare them by following the sample collection instructions at Six Easy Steps to Get and Mail a Mold Test Kit - you can always save them to give to an investigator later if it becomes necessary to investigate further
3. If you stumble onto a large area of mold during your cleanup (more than 30 sq ft) you should stop and consult an expert

Want to clean up your own mold? See DO IT YOURSELF

U. Minnesota general rules of thumb for deciding when to inspect for mold

IF

• Fungal spore count or visual presence indicators are high (air or bulk)
• Fungi indoors are different from outdoors or non-complaint control areas
• Fungi are allergenic or toxic
• The area is likely to be disturbed
• There is or was a source of water or high relative humidity, AND
• People are occupying the area or have contact with air from this area
• There are immune compromised individuals or individuals with elevated sensitivity to molds
  and I add
  or other people at special risk: elderly, infant, asthmatic,

THEN mold may be a problem in the building. -- N. Carlson, U. Minnesota

See our main website (below) for very important additional information such as mold testing, cleanup and mold remediation guideline resources.

More expert information on this topic

More Information on Mold and IAQ Investigation, Environmental and Building Diagnostic Inspections and Repairs

• Mold Action Guide: an easy step by step outline of what to do
• How to Look For Mold - list of articles describing how to find problem mold
• How to Test For Mold - list of articles describing which mold testing methods are valid
• How to Collect and Send a Mold Sample to our mold testing lab
• Find a mold inspector: A Directory of well qualified Mold/IAQ Service Providers
• Associations: Sick House, Sick Building, SBS - Air Quality, Government, Private Associations and Information Resources
• Mold Risk Levels in Buildings Based on Visual Inspection help decide on action
• Classes of Mold & Mold Contamination Levels - Degrees of Severity
• Mold Clearance Inspections: When & How to Perform a Mold Remediation Clearance Inspection
• Contact Us to arrange mold/IAQ Building on site inspection and testing.

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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