With a little detective work, you can easily find signs of unwanted mold spores dwelling in the corners of your home.
These spores can pollute the quality of your indoor air and even aggravate allergies and trigger health issues such as asthma.
If you are suspicious that your home has this unwelcome visitor, then you can test your whole household with a mold test kit as well as use some helpful testing tips.
Testing can be as simple as buying a viable mold testing kit. With this, you will collect samples from around your home and then find out if the results are negative or positive.
If the results come back positive for mold, you should send the findings to a laboratory so they can determine what kind of mold is lurking in your home and the best course of treatment.
There are some areas where you should focus on with your mold testing kit. Some of the most common areas where mold can go undetected are:
- Below sinks
- Behind drywalls in wall stud spaces that have plumbing lines
- Behind the refrigerator
- Under stacks of papers or cardboard
- In ventilation ducts
- Under carpeting or floorboards that were once water damaged
- Behind the wall around leaking windows
- Behind a previously flooded drywall
When you search these areas for mold, use your mold test kit which can be bought from home improvement stores or online retailers.
To test for mold spores, invest in a viable mold test kit such as the Mold Armor FG500 Do It Yourself Mold Test Kit. The testing process should take a few days. If you find you have mold spores, you should then send it off for lab analysis which can cost around $40 to $70.
How can you test the air in your house for mold?
If you can’t physically see any mold but suspect there may be some lingering around your home, you should test your home’s air.
Surprisingly, the air inside your home can be five times more polluted than outside air so Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) should be taken seriously.
While some devices test the air in your home, such as an indoor air quality monitor, these will not pick up any traces of mold.
A home mold testing kit won’t be as useful for testing the air in this instance.
You need to discover how excessive the mold spores are in your home first.
This is done by comparing the concentration of mold spores floating around the air inside to the concentration of mold spores outside.
This has to be undertaken by a professional. Search online for professional mold removal services and they can conduct an air test for any signs of mold spores.
A professional mold inspection should be able to answer all the key questions you may have regarding your home’s situation.
The cost of these inspections usually ranges from $300 to $400 for average-sized homes but prices can vary depending on the company and house size.
You should schedule these tests even if you think you may have mold but are unsure.
The telltale signs are usually a musty smell in the air or if you find yourself coughing or sneezing more frequently than usual.
Here are the signs when you should seek professional help:
- You experience allergic reactions such as headaches, a stuffy head, runny nose, or a scratchy throat
- You smell a musty odor
- You think you can see mold but you’re unsure if it is mold
- If your home has had previous leaks or water issues
- You have removed mold but want to test the air once and for all
- You are buying or selling a house
- Your landlord or tenant require evidence of any possible mold
Is there a mold detector?
As we have mentioned, you can test your home for mold whether it is in the air or in your walls, floors, or ceilings.
There are simple home testing kits such as the DIY Mold Test from Mold Inspection Network. Easy-to-use tests such as these can detect different types of mold in just a few days.
It is worth investing in a top-quality kit to get assured results. Afterward, you can choose to send the mold to a lab for testing or hire a professional to remove the mold as soon as possible.
The steps of using these kits are as follows:
- Remove the petri dish from the packaging when you are ready to use it
- Place this dish right side up on a flat surface
- Remove the petri dish’s lid but do not touch the inside of the dish. Now pour the mold medium content into the dish
- Replace the lid. Shake the dish gently until the medium contents are covering the bottom. Leave for an hour for the contents to harden
- Check for mold after a day or two
