Mold Testing Washington, DC

If there has ever been water damage, plumbing leaks or flooding, mold could be hiding in your home or building and you won't even know it.

Testing Methods

There are many testing methods that can detect molds. They can be used to find mold particles suspended in air, in settled dust, or growing on surfaces of building materials and furnishings. Some methods can identify a portion of the types of live (viable) molds in a sampled environment, but these may also miss or undercount those that are not live or won't grow well on the nutrients used to incubate the sample. Other methods are better able to characterize the total amount of molds in a sample (including the non-living portion), but are not very effective for identifying the specific types of molds. Even tests that are done well only give a partial estimate of the amount and types of molds actually collected in a sample or in the sampled environment. Protect The Investment offers various ways to test and detect if your home or business has a mold problem.

Bio Aerosol Air Impactor

Mold can eat through building materials, and if undetected and untreated, can cause structural damage to your home or building. Toxic mold or high levels of allergenic mold can cause severe health problems for you and your family and even make the home or business uninhabitable.

Everyone is affected differently. Molds that may not bother you may severely affect someone else.

There may be several signs in your home or business that may suggest you have a mold problem: visible mold, musty odor, visible water damage or stain, construction defects.

If any of these signs are present, we at Protect The Investment can help you in determining if your home or business has a mold problem.

Household Environmental offers various ways to test and detect if your home or business has a mold problem.

Air Sampling

This test is done with a bio aerosol air impactor for the viable sampling of mold and fungi. When air is drawn through the sampler, multiple jets of air direct any airborne particles toward the collection surface, which then can be collected and analyzed for a wide range of molds and fungi that are present.

Results of air samples vary according to sampling techniques, sample duration, and sample dates which are compared only with results taken with the same techniques and procedures.

There are general guidelines. Air samples that are taken in the home should also be taken outside using the same sampling procedures. The reason being is that both samples can be compared and analyzed to determine if the mold and fungus in your home is a problem or if it consists of the same mold and fungus spores that are present outside.

Swab Sampling

Swab or surface sampling is a sound approach to locate and identify sources of mold and fungus growth. For swab sampling, a sterile swab is dipped in a suspension solution and then used to swab a suspected area. The swab is then returned to a vial and sent to the laboratory to determine the types of mold and fungus that are present.

Carpet Sampling

Carpet sampling can effectively uncover previous or undetected mold problems because carpet tends to contain a "history" of mold that has previously been present in a property. Mold spores can land between the carpet piles where they can lay dormant or grow while protected by all but the most vigorous vacuuming or carpet-cleaning efforts. The same air pump used for air sampling is utilized for taking carpet samples.