Nervous About Mold Inspection?

Here's the scenario: you think you may have mold in your home or business. You want to have someone come out and do an inspection to check it out and develop a mold combat strategy if you do have a mold problem. But you've got a lot of anxiety about what that might look like or how people go about searching for mold. Learn about the steps of calling for and getting a mold inspection, general costs, and what happens next.

In the first place, you'll want to make an appointment. The mold inspection service may allow you to make one online, but most likely you're going to have to call and schedule one. That's okay! Don't tell them the whole story about why you think you have mold over the phone. The person who carries out your mold inspection would probably like to know, so save that story for them. Just agree on a date and time.

If you have seen some mold spots, sometime before the mold inspector gets to your home or place of business, what you might want to do is clear the path to the mold spots. If there's furniture pressed up against that wall, pull it away, if there's a rug on the floor roll it up.

When the inspector arrives is a good time to tell them why you think you have mold. You may have picked up on the smell, for example, or found a few dots on a baseboard and have concerns — whatever led you to feel you needed a mold inspection. This may just mean leading them to the wall that's clearly got a bunch of mold on it.

The inspector will likely use several methods of detecting mold. The first is the same method, more or less, that you used — looking around. Now, heavy mold can be detected by scent, so they may notice as soon as they walk in that there is mold growth. Possibly it's a smell that you've grown so accustomed to over time that you haven't even noticed it until it was pointed out to you.

They also are likely to take samples. They may take air samples as well as samples from the surface. They could also do a moisture reading to determine if you're having excess moisture somewhere. It's hard to combat entirely the possibility of having mold in your home or business; you can much more easily control moisture, which is what makes such a thriving environment for mold.

Once they have assessed your property, they are probably going to need to run some lab tests, and then they will be able to get back to you about how to tackle the mold and moisture in your building.

The average cost of a home mold inspection is probably going to run you somewhere between $300 and $500, but of course, larger homes or businesses are likely to be more expensive.

For more information about mold inspections, contact a company like Environmental Testing and Consulting of Kentucky LLC.