How to Use Do-It-Yourself Toxic Mold Test Kits

Article by: Phillip Fry

VANCOUVER, CANADA. Many homeowners, landlords, renters, property , How To Choose Awnings For Your Home Or Business managers, business owners, and employees want to know, and need to know, the precise identities of the various toxic mold species inhabiting their home, , Kit s: Popular for Over a Century rental property, , Improving Your Bottom Line Through Vastu or place , Duvet Covers of Fine Cotton Are Very Luxurious of work, according to Phillip Fry, Certified Mold Inspector and author of the mold book Do-It-Best-Yourself Mold Prevention, Inspection, Testing, and Remediation.

To identify correctly toxic mold species, take these two steps: (1) use do-it-yourself mold test kits to collect mold samples during a thorough and complete building , When is it time to buy a new bed? mold inspection and investigation; and (2) send the collected mold test samples to a mold laboratory for mold analysis and mold species identification.

Testing Visible Mold Growth

If a resident or occupant sees mold growing , Kit Homes: Popular for Over a Century on a wall, , What to Look For When Purchasing an Air Compressor ceiling, floor, , Things To Consider When Buying An Intercom heating or cooling duct register, or any other surface, he can scrape mold particles off the mold growth area onto the sticky surface of the opened mold test kit.

During such scraping of the mold growth, the tester needs to wear rubber gloves and a full-face respirator mask with organic , The Best Time to Inspect Your Home! vapor filters (such as the 3M brand from a large hardware, , Tools - A Sea Of Saws home , Memory Foam Mattress Pads Solutions improvement, or safety , Kit Homes: Popular for Over a Century store) to protect against toxic mold exposure.

To do the scraping, use a new or thoroughly disinfected (with ethyl or rubbing alcohol) paint , Things You Should Know About Selecting Hardwood Flooring scraper. Disinfect the scraper after each individual sampling to remove any possible mold contaminants, and thus avoid mold cross-contamination in the sampling process from one sample location , Home Inspections: Investment or Expenditure? to another.

Print clearly and neatly on a large pressure sensitive label the property , British Petroleum – Solar Products Manufacture owner's name, the property , Landscape Architecture address, the precise test location , Home Inspections: Investment or Expenditure? at that address, the testing date, and the type of sampling method ("mold test kit settling"Â), time duration of the test (e.g., thirty to sixty minutes) along with the tester's name and contact information. , British Petroleum – Solar Products Manufacture

The label should also include each individual test number, as listed on the mold chain of custody form, available free from the mold laboratory. Attach the label to the bottom of the mold test kit that contains that respective, numbered mold sample.

Mold Testing of the Indoor , Glass Deck Railings – Where Class Should Be Visible Air

Use a separate mold test kit to collect a mold sample from the air , Developing a Garage Addition Building Plan and Estimating Garage Addition Costs of each of these areas---

1. Heating/cooling duct register. Expose the sticky side of an open mold test kit (one for each duct register) to the outward airflow from each separate heating/cooling duct register. Tape the open test kit to the duct grill so that the airflow directly hits the sticky surface.

Run the heating/cooling system on fan ventilation for 10 minutes prior to removing the mold test kit from each tested duct register. Then close, seal, and label each mold test kit.

2. Room Air , Choosing and Buying Inexpensive Laminated Flooring by the Settling Method. Mold test the air , Kit Homes: Popular for Over a Century of each room, , Things You Should Know About Selecting Hardwood Flooring attic, basement, , Choose Trex Decking – The Last Material For Your Deck crawl space, and the garage , Kitchen Faucet Buying Tips by first running a cleaned fan to stir up each room , Hiring the right contractor or area's air , What You Should Know About Steam Showers all around for about 15 minutes.

Thoroughly clean the fan blades and fan guard with rubbing alcohol or ethyl alcohol after the fan's use in each separate testing location. , Used Appliance Parts

Then shut off the fan, open up a mold test kit, place , Plastic Laminate Countertops Explained it open side upwards in the middle of the room , You Say Jacuzzi and I Say Whirlpool [on the floor, , The Best Time to Inspect Your Home! or upon a table or chair] for thirty minutes to one hour to allow airborne mold spores to settle down onto the sticky surface of the mold test kit.

Be sure to use the same time for all air , How To Give Your Home More Space test locations , There Are Several Basic Types Of Air Purifiers for the standardization of the mold test results. Then close, seal, and label the mold test kits.

3. Outdoor , 10 Easy Tips To Refresh Your Space For Spring And Summer 2006 Mold Control Test. The mold lab results of the indoor , Used Appliance Parts mold tests have the most significance when the results of each indoor , Introduction on How to Lay Floor Tiles With an Epoxy Adhesive location's testing can be compared with the results of the outdoor , Tips on Selecting a Futon Bed mold control test.

The control test should be a mold test kit left open on the ground outside , Home Air Purifier: What You Need The Most the building , The Best Time to Inspect Your Home! and at least five feet beyond the drip edge of the room. , Handel Lamp History Use the same time (thirty minutes to one hour) that was utilized in the indoor air , Designing With Hardwood Floors tests for the settling method tests. There should be no rain or snow , How to Estimate Home Appliance Energy Use falling.

Self-Interpretation of Mold Test Kit Results

The tester can then either watch the test kits himself for mold growth, with self-interpretation of the mold test kit results, over a seven day time period, or send the mold test kit to the mold lab immediately, or after the self-observation growth period.

Here is how to , Kit Homes: Popular for Over a Century self-interpret the visible mold growth in the mold test kits after seven days of mold growth---

1. If the tester observes and count a greater number of mold colonies of any particular mold colony type (possessing the same or similar color, , Buy A Cordless Drill shape and/or structural pattern) growing , Landscape Architecture in one indoor , Landscape Architecture mold test kit than in the outdoor , The Facts About Acoustic Ceiling Tiles control mold test kit, then the tester can reasonably decide that there is a possible indoor-generated mold infestation in the area/location involved in that particular mold test.

2. If the tester observes a particular mold colony type growing , Kitchen Faucet Buying Tips in a particular indoor , Improving your Home with Drywall mold test sample that is NOT present in the outdoor , Glass Deck Railings – Where Class Should Be Visible control mold test, then the tester can reasonably conclude that there is a possible indoor-generated mold infestation in the area/location in which he conducted that particular mold test.

3. If the tester observes three or more of the same mold colony type growing , The Best Time to Inspect Your Home! in one mold test kit, then the tester can reasonably conclude that there is a possible mold infestation in the area/location in which he conducted that particular mold test, regardless of the number of similar mold colonies present in the outdoor , British Petroleum – Solar Products Manufacture control test.

Why is that conclusion possible? Consider this rat analogy: if there are only three rats living inside , Glass Deck Railings – Where Class Should Be Visible a particular area of one's home , Considerations When Using Wood Heaters or building, , Things To Consider When Buying An Intercom is there no indoor , Home Air Purifier: What You Need The Most rat problem just because there are more rats living immediately outside , When is it time to buy a new bed? of the home , What to Look For When Purchasing an Air Compressor or building?

It is the time-cumulative exposure and body intake of even modest numbers of indoor , Moving Across The US? Consider An Auto Shipping Company To Move Your Family Vehicles. airborne mold spores that makes residents or occupants sick from mold exposure. Because residents or occupants spend many hours per day indoors , How to Estimate Home Appliance Energy Use in a home , Hire a General Contractor or workplace, they are continually inhaling or ingesting mold spores.

When the mold spores enter into the residents' eyes, nasal/sinus areas, lungs, stomach (eating and drinking food , Moving Across The US? Consider An Auto Shipping Company To Move Your Family Vehicles. and beverages upon which airborne mold spores have landed), or open body sores, the mold-spores, once inside , There Are Several Basic Types Of Air Purifiers the body, can begin dangerous mold growth inside , Shutters Basics the body because of the abundance of body moisture , Buy A Cordless Drill and food , There Are Several Basic Types Of Air Purifiers to eat (people's bodies)!

4. If the tester observes three or more of the same mold colony types in several or many mold tests taken from different areas of the home , Handel Lamp History or building, , Home Air Purifier: What You Need The Most the tester can reasonably conclude that the mold species is possibly widespread in its contamination of the tested home , Moving Across The US? Consider An Auto Shipping Company To Move Your Family Vehicles. or building. , What You Should Know About Steam Showers

The most dangerous mold species to residents and occupants are the molds that are omni-present through out the home , Inspections: Investment or Expenditure? or building, , Hire a General Contractor thus causing widespread, cumulative mold exposure and body intake.

For more information , Considerations When Using Wood Heaters about the use of mold test kits, mold laboratory analysis, and mold species identification, please visit:

http://www.moldlab.biz
http://www.moldinspector.com
http://www.moldmart.net

Mr. Phillip Fry, a Certified Mold Inspector and a Certified Mold Remediator is also the author the widely read mold advice , Make Existing Dinnerware Fancy and Fashionable ebook "Do-It-Yourself Mold Prevention, Inspection, Testing and Remediation" and "Mold Health Guide." He also co-authored "Mold Legal Guide."

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