Our San Diego mold inspectors are certified by InterNACHI and the International Association of Certified Indoor Air Consultants (IAC2). We carry high-tech instrumentation during our mold investigations including inertal impaction spore traps with proprietary bio-aerosol media collection devices, sophisticated moisture meters, an assortment of bio-tape and swabs for surface sampling, and powerful extraction devices to pull mold and other contaminants from the carpets within your home. The lab we utilize for our mold testing is accredited by the American Industrial Hygiene Association and is staffed with some of the top mycologists in the industry. We are serious about our mold inspection services because our clients demand absolute confidence that they will consistently receive accurate and reliable results on time.

Our San Diego mold inspection begins by performing a visual inspection of your property looking for signs of moisture in and around your home. Our sophisticated tools allow us to test for moisture within your walls, above your ceiling and even below your concrete floors. If the mold inspector identifies areas in your home with elevated moisture, further testing is usually conducted which may include carefully removing electrical outlets to examine interior wall cavities, removing plumbing fixtures to determine if mold exists behind the tile in your bathroom shower, or gently lifting your carpet to determine if mold could be growing underneath.

This method of mold testing involves collecting one or more air samples from within your home where mold is suspected. A minimum of two samples are collected, one inside your home and one outside your home. The outside air sample is considered the "baseline" sample and it is used to make comparisons between the types and concentrations of mold found in and around your home. It is expected that the concentrations and specific species of mold found inside your home should mimic those found outside. It is important to note that both the indoor and outdoor mold samples will come back from the laboratory positive for several species of mold. This is simply a fact of nature. Mold is everywhere. What we are specifically interested in while performing air sampling is to determine if the types of mold and/or their concentrations differ inside your home as compared to outside. Once we receive the lab results in 2 to 5 days we interpret these results and provide you with a written report of our findings.

Surface sampling is conducted if visible signs of mold are found in an area of the home. A mold inspector cannot reliably identify a mold genera or species growing on a building surface by the naked eye, so lab testing is performed to determine the types of mold that are living within the home. This data is used for post-remediation clearances and is useful if one of the building occupants is sensitive to mold to inform their physician, pulmonologist, or allergist about the molds to which they have been exposed. Depending on where the suspected mold is found, different collection methodologies are used to collect both viable and nonviable specimens for laboratory analysis.

One significant facet of many Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) microbial investigations is the assessment of the carpeting and dust in an occupied building. Carpet is listed as one of the nine potential sources of biological agents in an occupied space. Even the cleanest homes have mold spores trapped deep within their carpet fibers. Mold found in carpets can often indicate that the home has had some type of significant moisture event such as a flood at some point in the past. Many experts feel that this type of mold sampling is much more accurate in determining whether or not the home has a mold problem as opposed to performing a single-point-in-time air sampling.

The person who evaluates your property to tell you what cleanup work is needed certainly should not be the same person who is going to perform that work. There's no reason to pay for a potentially costly mold cleanup job when it may not be warranted. Similarly, after a mold cleanup (remediation) job has been completed, the person who inspects and tests to certify that the work has been done properly should have no connection with the company who performed the cleaning.

 

Click here to schedule a San Diego mold inspection. 

 

 

Areas Served:

We perform buyer home inspections in the areas listed above as well as many others. If you do not see your city please contact us. We will be proud to have our San Diego home inspectors serve your city as well.