Is Your Mold Inspection and Testing Company in San Diego Doing a Good Job?

Here is what you should expect from your mold inspection and testing company in San Diego, California!

An important part of a mold inspection is a visual inspection where the mold inspector is looking for mold growth, water stains, color changes or warping to the walls, ceiling, flooring and baseboards.  They need to look outside too, because sometimes the water problem started outside, not inside.

If the inspector finds what might be mold, they will take a surface sample with tape or a swab to have it identified by the lab. The mold inspector will also take moisture measurements to see if there are wet building materials. Mold needs water, moisture or dampness to grow.

The mold inspector may take air samples inside and outside.  To collect the air samples the inspector will use a pump that pulls a specific amount of air into the sampling container.

The sample is then sent to the lab to find out what mold spores are in the air samples. It is important to take several air samples so there is enough scientific information to decide if there is a mold problem or not.

Some mold testing companies take one air sample inside and maybe one outside and based on that little bit of information tell you everything is fine or everything is horrible.

It probably isn’t enough data to make that decision.

You want to have a written report that has all the information from the visual inspection, the laboratory report and an explanation of what it all means and what actions you need to take. Some mold inspection and testing companies in San Diego just give you the laboratory report and don’t help you understand what it means or what to do next.

If the inspector finds a mold problem in your building you may need to have a professional company called a mold remediation company remove the mold safely. You want to make sure the mold is removed correctly so it doesn’t cause problems in other areas of your building.

The mold inspection and testing company can write instructions, called a Scope of Work for the remediation company to follow.  Once the mold remediation company removes the mold, but before they remove their equipment, you should have another mold inspection done in the work area.

This inspection is called a clearance or post remediation verification (PRV) inspection. This inspection makes sure the mold remediation company removed all of the mold and damaged building materials and that the air in the work area is clean enough for the mold remediation company to take out their equipment without causing problems in the rest of the building.

During the clearance inspection the mold inspector should do a visual inspection to insure that all the mold growth was removed, that any water damaged materials have been removed and take moisture measurements to make sure the building materials are dry.

Air samples inside the work area and outdoor air samples are collected to verify that the work area has mold spore levels that are acceptable.

Make sure they give you a written report that describes the area that was repaired and says it is dry, the damaged materials have been removed and the mold spore levels are OK. This report is the disclosure paperwork you may need if you sell your property in the future.

Thanks for reading! Let us know if you found this helpful.

ET&T is a certified San Diego mold inspection and testing company who offers mold testing, a customized plan for the appropriate mold removal (Scope of Work) and clearance testing. Call ET&T at 760-424-2259 for a free phone consultation or send us an email at info@etandt.com .

Tags: commmercial mold testing, indoor environmental issues, moisture damage, mold inspections, mold issues, mold testing, residential mold testing, warnings signs of mold, water damage