Inspection Report

This inspection for mold or fungi is performed for a fee to visually inspect for signs of a mold-like substance, fungi or growth. It also includes an air test performed outside the home and inside the home and the lab fees associated with the air tests are included. It does not include any surface tests or any lab fees for surface tests. Surface sample tests performed (if any) is at your request and upon your authorization will be sent to the laboratory. A fee is charged per sample. All fees must be paid prior to sending in any samples. Sample tests should be considered at each area that visible evidence is present.

Whether this report reveals mold in the building or not, the customer, building owner or potential buyer should consider:

1. Whether or not to have any sample tests performed at any area that was noted in the report: "Visible Evidence Present".

2. Whether or not to hire a qualified mold remediation company or industrial hygienist for further consultation, inspection or corrective procedures either now, before the lab tests results, or afterwards.

Comment Key or Definitions

The following definitions of comment descriptions represent this inspection report. All comments by the inspector should be considered before purchasing this building. All costs associated with further inspection fees and or remediation should be considered before you purchase the property.

No Visible Evidence (NVE) = The inspector did not visually see on the surface area any mold-like substance or growth and the surface was visually acceptable and appeared normal.

Visible Evidence Present (VEP) = There was a mold-like substance or growth seen on the surface that would suggest the presence of mold, fungi or microbial activity (past or present). This is not normal and a laboratory test of this area by obtaining a sample should be considered by the building owner or prospective buyer. Or, the building owner or prospective buyer should consider further inspection or consultation by a qualified remediation contractor or a qualified industrial hygienist.

Sample Collected for Laboratory Test (SAM) = Upon the discovery and indication of "Visible Evidence Present" a surface test sample is collected automatically by the inspector but is held (for up to 48 hours) until authorization is given to the inspector (along with payment for lab fees) by the customer, building owner or prospective buyer. The surface test sample is collected automatically to save the customer cost in a second trip charge to collect samples should the customer want them. The samples are sent to the lab by express mail and the results are back within 5 days from receipt of payment from the customer to the inspector.

Un-Authorized (UA) =Did not send sample to the laboratory- This means that the sample collected was not sent to the laboratory to be analyzed and is in a 48 hour hold until the customer authorizes which sample or samples to be tested and has paid in full. If the customer does not authorize any sample within 48 hours of the time the sample was taken, the samples will be destroyed and there will be no results and samples will not be analyzed. Should the customer want to authorize samples to be tested, the customer will need to print out the sample authorization form that is attached to this report and state which samples are to be tested and sign the authorization. Payment must be made before samples are sent. Authorization needs to occur with 48 hours of this report or an extra trip charge to take another sample will be required.

Authorized (ATH) = This means that the customer has already paid for this sample to be tested and no other payment or authorization is needed for the inspector to mail in the sample. The sample will automatically be sent to lab by express mail and the results will be delivered to the customer within 72 hours.

Moisture Evidence Present (MEP) = This means that moisture signs are present. Moisture causes mold to grow or appear. Moisture can exist without mold and if no visible signs of mold are present, then the issue is to find the source of the moisture and stop it. Mold can form after the inspection on items that were recently wet but conditions did not allow the inspector to see the mold at time of inspection. Any comments in this report regarding moisture should be referred to a moisture intrusion specialist or qualified person. Moisture left uncorrected can create mold or wood rot.

Potential Concern (PC) = This comment is used to describe any item, component or condition that may be suspect to cause moisture intrusion or to allow moisture intrusion or potentially create a problem in the future if not corrected. A qualified person should inspect further and correct as needed.

Taking the Guesswork out of Mold testing:
There are 2 main types of mold samples, air and surface. The air test is the most important test. This test must be conducted outside the building and inside the building. The surface test is performed when Visible Evidence is Present. The preferred surface test method is with a conditioned swab. The swabs are hermetically sealed in a container until the time the sample is collected and then resealed.

Air Test: It can be typical to have mold spores in the air outside and inside. Mold spores can travel from outside into the home through windows and doors. The level or concentration of the mold inside compared to outside determines its significance. One air sample test accurately describes the amount of spores in the air at the time of the test and can and does vary from moment to moment or day by day. The air test is usually performed once per 1000 square feet indoors and once outdoors. A commonly asked question is why a test is needed outdoors? The answer is that an outdoor test is the baseline, or the reference to compare to the spore count indoors.

An excellent illustration is smoke: Let's say that we have a smoke count of 3 in the building. What does this mean? Answer, who knows? Now, lets say we do an air test outside and the smoke count is 3 also. What does this mean? That the windows must be open because the smoke inside the building is the same as the smoke outside. Now, let's say the outside smoke count was 3 but the inside smoke count was 9? Then we better call the fire department because the building must be on fire. Likewise, the air test outside gives you a way to gauge if the air in the building has less or more mold than the air outside. If the mold count is higher inside than outside then we definitely know that there is more mold in the air inside the home than there is in the air outside. This would suggest for you to seek further consultation as to the cause and to determine the corrective procedures needed by a qualified remediation company.   

Surface test: A surface test is performed when there is Visible Evidence Present in order to identify the type of mold on that surface. It does not identify the species but the type. There are more than 1 million different species of mold. The swab test performed during this inspection will identify the family of species but not the actual species. This test would require the laboratory to grow the sample which can be done but usually is not necessary as long as the mold can be identified to a specific family or category.

Why do surface tests? Why not just do an air test? Because the mold in the air may be different than the mold on the surface test. Comparing the two tests can reveal if the mold is in the same family or category.  

So, if I see mold on a surface, why can't I just test that surface. Why do I need an air test? Another great illustration is cheese: You open the refrigerator and there in a plastic bag is some cheese with mold on it. You take a knife and cut out the mold. Is there a problem with that? If you did an air test inside the refrigerator and there was an elevated count of cheese mold all over the other food items, then you have a problem that involves more than the piece of cheese that had mold on it. Likewise if you have mold in your home, why can't you just remove that one piece, either by cleaning or cutting away the drywall in that one area? The answer is maybe you can, but without an air test, you don't know if the mold spores are everywhere or just on that piece of drywall.

Important: If you do have mold and it must be removed, there can't be enough said about finding a qualified remediation contractor who will take extreme care to remove the contaminated materials without contaminating the home during the removal process. Many times remediation contractors use large vacuums and fans to reduce the risk. There should be an air test performed after remediation by a person other than the remediation contractor.