Mold Spore Testing FAQ

Not in MOST CASES – the most popular certifications are often made up by the companies that sell the mold testing equipment. Usually the training involves watching a DVD or attending a short course. These are also very low cost in most cases which is why they are so popular!

Yes, our inspector is licensed as a Mold Assessor. However, when this licensing started in the State of Florida, so did a HUGE SWARM of “Mold remediation” companies as well as “Mold assessors”; these “professional remediators” do not even resemble a REAL mold remediation company requiring hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment and typically possessing over a dozen certifications in the environmental and building sciences making them true professionals. Many of the “licensed assessors” are using $25 laboratory testing with home owner grade equipment rather than professional equipment that costs thousands of dollars and lab testing that usually is a minimum of $350 just for one sample. However, they are in most cases Florida Licensed (unless they are working under their 2nd uncle’s license), but you are definitely getting what you pay for in this case, and sometimes, not even that.

There is no documented Elevated Mold Level. There is no published guideline on safe or unsafe Mold Levels.

This testing is only operated for 5 minutes or a little more and is unreliable in determining “mold levels” in the home. As a matter of fact the same home, tested at different times can have dramatically different results. See the chart below that we picked up from a mold remediation company:

The above levels were taken from multiple tests at the same home at different times of the day. So are the mold levels high or not?

Answer: There is no way of knowing by using this method!!

Yes, but it is not from Mold Spore air testing. Instead we perform a completely different service to address this concern. This is what I would call “true” Indoor Air Quality testing which is testing for “actual” quantities of VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) and MVOCs (Mold Volatile Organic Compounds). Now you have departed from the myth and are touching on reality. Mold spores that are “actively off-gassing” into the air produce these MVOCs. With equipment and methods that are quite costly, we can determine the “quantity” of MVOCs in the air of YOUR home or workplace. Though this can’t be measured against established toxic levels, since there are none, these can be measured against tens of thousands of similar tests performed in all different environments across the U.S. Then you are provided where your test falls from what has been determined by these other tests to be Normal, Moderate, Elevated, High, and Severe. Now, in our experience, when this test comes back as “Elevated” or higher, you have a GENUINE problem. Yes, this is how we determine “high mold levels”. Go to our Indoor Air quality Service page to read more about this service.

• Did you notice that in our “Mold Services” page we spend most of our time explain why you probably don’t need them? Yes, we have nothing to do with the “swarm” of services that have come along to take advantage of people’s fears of mold problems.
• We only recommend this service when we deem it TRULY is needed after a visual inspection.
• We use actual professional grade instruments and tools, technology, and lab services for detecting and mold testing in any environment.
• We DO NOT provide remediation services and we don’t take kick-backs from remediation companies.
• And yes, we are Florida licensed.
• We provide each client with a detailed report that genuinely helps in understanding and locating the mold issue.