Expert On-Site Mold Detection, Diagnosis, and Remediation Advice For Mold Problems in Buildings
MoldAPedia ^©

	Enter your search terms Submit search form
	Search This Website - InspectAPedia.com

• Environmental services offered by Daniel Friedman

Building air quality, toxic mold, allergen or other sick house investigations, mold lab testing services, and information on mold, mildew, moisture, pollen, dust mite, & environmental information for building owners, occupants, inspectors.

This website provides contact information for expert services and in-depth information about indoor air quality problems: causes of respiratory illness or other symptoms such as neurological or psychological problems, air quality investigation methods, and remediation procedures such as mold cleanup, handling toxic mold contamination, and building or HVAC repairs. © 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.

Mold Services: On-Site Diagnostic Inspection & Lab Testing for Mold and Other Indoor Air Quality Concerns

Our Field Investigation Service our senior expert goes where no one else wanted to look, uses non-invasive tools and sophisticated testing equipment for mold, gases, moisture, air quality, contaminants, building problem diagnosis. Before hiring someone to investigate for mold: see When to hire a professional. For What to Do About Mold: how to inspect, test, clean-up, and prevent mold problems and critique of valid and invalid mold and IAQ tools and procedures: see Mold Information Center

Our Laboratory Analysis Service includes identity, photomicrographs, medical details, remediation advice. On-Site Mobile Lab Service is available for immediate on-premises particle determination.

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

What to Do About Mold: When & How - -Mold IAQ Site Inspection & Mold Testing Lab Services(this page) - -What Mold Test Methods are Valid? - -Technical & Laboratory Procedures, Bibliography - -Other Indoor Air Concerns - -Mold and IAQ References, Bibliography - -Contact Daniel Friedman

Field Investigation Services by Daniel Friedman, American Home Service Co.

Our building investigation services include thorough on-site studies for residential and commercial buildings in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, with service available world wide on advance notice. We also provide expert 24-hour mold testing lab service for our clients and the public. The result of field and lab work is a complete field investigation report indicating our field findings, laboratory test results, and detailing just what remediation or other actions are appropriate. Basic medical information about allergenic or toxic mold or other contaminants is also included when available.

We investigate complaints of respiratory illness, asthma, allergies, neurological and other health concerns, and we identify sources of these and other hazards that may contribute to a wide range of health complaints associated with buildings. To identify and address indoor air quality problems, we identify conditions which may cause or contribute to allergy, asthma, "sick building syndrome -- SBS," other respiratory illness and distress, as well as possible neurological or other health problems which may be caused or aggravated by mold or other particles in the air.

Field investigation methods include taking site and client history, visual inspection of the property and building and its mechanical systems, bulk/surface/vacuum sampling, calibrated air sampling combined with light microscopy and laboratory analysis to identify common bioaerosols, allergens, pet dander, dust mites, fleas, mold, pollen, fibers, and other potential irritants. We also are equipped to test for specific contaminant gases such as produced by building fires or heating equipment as well as mold or other contaminants. 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. No one needs to wield an axe to investigate a building. And no one needs to bury important findings among pages of vague language. We use special equipment such as this borescope permitting examination of hidden wall/ceiling/floor cavities using non-destructive methods. We may use other equipment to actually obtain particle samples from wall/ceiling/floor cavities by the Wall Check™ method, When conditions warrant and permission is obtained, we also are equipped to make modest test cuts or to perform other more invasive inspection methods. A variety of non-invasive infra-red and moisture measuring tools may also be employed if recent or current leaks are suspected.

Our mold and air quality investigation report includes field observations, laboratory test results, medical information regarding toxic or allergenic mold or other contaminants identified, and remediation advice including both mold cleanup and building repairs which are necessary to help avoid future problems. Technical documentation is accompanied by photo documentation of field and lab findings. A simple report summary provides a "guide to action" for each property we inspect.

Our laboratory procedures are described below at Laboratory Services. More information about our indoor air mold testing and field and laboratory investigation methodologies and a description of some of our equipment is at Investigation methodology.

Principal investigator & website author: Daniel Friedman, Member: American Industrial Hygienists Assoc. AIHA#149892, American Society of Home Inspectors ASHI#00577, BOCA, IAEI, ICBO, NPCA Mr. Friedman offers sick building, air quality, and mold investigations and home inspections and for problem diagnosis, research, expert witness, legal documentation, & failure claims assistance.

Schedule an appointment for a mold or indoor air investigation or see a published fee schedule (Inspection fees and fees for other services will be reviewed with you and committed before any work is performed. The fees in this table are subject to change without notice.)

Our Mold Testing Laboratory Services -- Contents

Laboratory Analysis Services by Daniel Friedman, American Home Service Co.

Our laboratory service includes analysis of our own expert-prepared field samples as well as processing of consumer-prepared bulk-tape mail-in samples of mold or other particles. Our mold testing lab provides identification services for bioaerosols such as mold, mildew, dust mites, pollen, and other allergens. We have considerable experience examining samples collected on tape, Zefon cassettes, MCE filter cassettes, slides, impaction air samplers, carpet, furniture, and other soft-goods vacuum samples, and in bulk material. Mold culture and bacterial surface contamination evaluation is available, and we also offer testing for carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide, formaldehyde, and other gases.

Our laboratory education and experience include fungal spore, organic, and inorganic particle and fiber identification, mold culture methods and culture speciation. Our equipment education and experience include biological microscopy, forensic microscopy, particle identification using microscopic particle manipulation, microchemistry, transmitted light microscopy, polarized light microscopy, dispersion staining, determination of refractive index, interference patterns, phase-contrast, darkfield, focal screening, and other advanced techniques.

In the lab we make use of a variety of microscopes: low-power stereoscopic examination of samples for characterization and high-power microscopic examination (up to 1920x) for particle identification using both transmitted and polarized light for identification of biological particles such as mold spores, pollen grains, animal allergens, and non-biological particles in house dust and debris. These methods help assure that the lab report accurately represents the character of the samples which were submitted.

Mobile Microscopy Lab: For immediate on-site particle determination where emergency response or remediation/salvage operation evaluation is necessary we offer mobile field microscopy lab service including field preparation of test samples and light microscopic examination for particle identification.

Field samples are used to prepare slides for examination by light microscope. Our own field work collects mold or biological particle samples using a variety of methods. From the public our lab also accepts mold surface samples using clear tape. Chemical treatment and mounting media are selected based on the sample type, often including potassium hydroxide, acid or basic fuchsin, Calberla's solution, lacto phenol cotton blue, or other preparations. When lab work is in support of legal proceedings or if otherwise appropriate we prepare permanent-mount slides using glycerine jelly or other media. Slides are examined at magnifications of 10x, 100x, 400x, and 1000x using tungsten and polarized light, darkfield, etc. as appropriate.

Identification of toxic mold species:
Genera/species identifications are made based on experience, education, reference texts, comparison with known samples, and when appropriate, consultation with fellow mycologists and other experts. There are more than 70,000 mold species which have been identified and an estimated 1 million remaining to be identified, so it is common to encounter unidentified spores. However fortunately, in most areas there common protagonists which have been studied and which can be identified to genera and often to species. Because mold toxicity varies widely within a particular genera, speciation is an important step, omitted by some high-volume labs.

A detailed written mold test laboratory report of laboratory finding, medical information, and recommendations is provided.

The lab report describes:

• "Significant/dominant particles" in each sample examined: likely to be most important in the building
• "Other spores/particles present" in each sample at notable but not dominant frequency, possibly important
• "Incidental spores or particles detected

which in special cases may still be diagnostic.

Using clear, specific definitions of "mold levels"

• Quantitative analysis such as fungal spore or particle counts per cubic meter of air sampled are also available when such measures are appropriate.
• Significant microscopic observations are documented in our reports using microphotography ™These are my tips for taking digital photographs through the microscope ™ photomicrographs, or microphotographs if you prefer.
• Photographic documentation of site conditions and laboratory observations are included with our site and lab reports.
• Lab reports also include a summary of contemporary medical information about particles identified.

Independent inspectors as well as many building owners or occupants may also use our mold testing laboratory service. If you do not want to bring a professional investigator to your property, here are instructions explaining how to collect and mail mold samples to our lab for identification, analysis, and advice. If you wish to send samples collected by means other than described in our guidelines, please call first for special instructions and fees. If you have questions about our instructions for mailing a mold sample to the lab or if you need to request special field or lab services, contact our lab to request services.

In-depth advice about recognizing and cleaning up mold can be read at this website - www.inspect-ny.com/sickhouse.htm.

What to Do About Mold: When & How - -Mold IAQ Site Inspection & Mold Testing Lab Services - -What Mold Test Methods are Valid? - -Technical & Laboratory Procedures, Bibliography - -Other Indoor Air Concerns - -Mold and IAQ References, Bibliography - - Contact Daniel Friedman

More Information on Building Diagnostic Inspections and Repairs

...

InspectAPedia® Home & Site Map - Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, Repair, & Problem Prevention Advice: In-depth research & advice on diagnosing, testing, correcting, & preventing building defects & indoor environmental hazards. Unbiased information, no conflicts of interest.

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.

Building Inspection, Problem Diagnosis, Forensic Investigation & Testing, Repair Consulting

Contact Daniel Friedman for website content suggestions or for fee-paid consulting

	Enter your search termsSubmit search form
	Search InspectAPedia.com