DIY Mold Inspection

DIY Mold Inspection of Your Home

Do you suspect mold in your home? DIY Mold inspections can save thousands of dollars. If you are suffering from mold sickness, identifying the source of the mold is a critical step to validate your concerns or your physician’s concerns. However, the source of mold can be systemic or concentrated to a specific part of the home. Even when that is the case, physical laws enable mold to spread throughout a home. Accepting this fact is difficult as it may require a significant investment and professionals to fix your home.  In the meantime, you and your family must live in it. What can you do? 

If you are seriously sick from mold and mycotoxins or diagnosed with mold related illness or Lyme Disease, your physician will likely recommend that you get out of your home, take nothing but the clothes on your back with you, and spend significant time in a safe environment to see if symptoms improve. This is obviously ideal except for the fact that we often don’t have the resources to do so. In some cases, DIY Mold Inspection and DIY Dry Fogging can buy you time and save money.

Physician recommendations simply are not followed for a variety of practical reasons such as financial constraints or that we may be renting the home or apartment. However, the body needs clean air to heal. If you are mold sick in a contaminated home, continuous breathing of mold spores will maintain an assault on your immune system and prevent the body’s natural healing process and detoxification from occurring. The only way for the human body to remove toxins is to excrete them. For that to happen, clean air, food (proper nutrition and supplements), and water is needed to heal.

Supplies Needed for DIY Mold Inspection

Recognizing that we are not all comfortable inspecting or fixing our homes, we must rely on some practical steps we can all do to identify potential problems and provide some band aid solutions to remedy. To inspect your home, you only need a few supplies and an able body to assist you if you are too sick. 

For starters, you need a bright LED flashlight. LED light allows colors to be seen more clearly than other forms of light.  Other supplies needed include a hygrometer (measures humidity), a phone camera for documentation, and safety equipment (N95 mask or P100 respirator), Tyrek suit, goggles, and latex or nitrile gloves. You can buy all for <$50). Optional, but very beneficial, equipment includes an infrared camera and moisture meter.

 

DIY Mold Inspection: Start Outside and Work Your Way Inside

Outside

• Walk around your home to see if there is any water, puddles, or moisture settling against your home. Water staining, including salt deposits are another good indicator of moisture intrusion into the home.
• Check around all gutters/downspouts and make sure all water is steered away from the home.
• Inspect windows and entrances for rotting wood.

The Basement or Crawlspace

• Check for visible water and water staining/discoloration under the home in the basement or crawlspace.
• A moldy smell or stench can often be detected in basements and crawl spaces and may be enough to have it checked out by a professional.  If you do enter the crawlspace, proper safety equipment is essential to avoid a particularly harsh exposure that can make you sicker.
• Check the water heater and HVAC system (if present) for leaks or evidence of leakage (both water and air).
• Check for moisture in concrete.  Moisture will stain and it can travel through concrete.
• Check all visible pipes for leaks and condensation.
• Use a hygrometer to check the humidity. Higher humidity in unfinished space is common so be prepared to get a dehumidifier and a fan for air ventilation in basement. A humidity reading above 50% is a concern and action should be taken to lower the levels so that mold will not grow.

  Inside your Home

• With a flashlight, you can inspect walls, ceilings, floors and carpets for water stains or moisture. Moisture stains are often visible.  Take pictures and measure the stain for documentation. Wet walls can appear to be swollen and be soft to the touch. If you have wallpaper, peel back a corner to look for mold. Do the same with baseboards in suspect areas.
• Inspect wood floors for warping, buckling, stains.
• Inspect all carpet for discoloration or dampness. If carpet is damp, it is likely that carpet pads are damp as well. This can be a major source of mold and must be properly removed and replaced if problems are found.
• Inspect windows for interior condensation that indicates excess interior humidity inside or faulty seals. Check internal windows and exterior door frames for mold spots, paint erosion, stains or rotted wood.
• Use a hygrometer to determine humidity.  Humidity over 50% is conducive to mold growth. Keep in mind that common dust is all that is needed for mold to grow with moisture.
• Inspect all visible pipes and surrounding building materials under kitchen and bathroom sinks, looking for water or water stains or visible growth, which can indicate that a pipe or sink is leaking.
• Check bathroom tiles for missing or loose caulking, moldy grout, mold and mildew spots.

  Attic

• If you find ceiling stains, check the locations directly above the stains for water leaks.
• Check all attic pipes for excess condensation. Insulating them can prevent the excess moisture, dripping and subsequent mold growth.
• Check the attic for stains.
• Check insulation for dampness.
• Check flashing around roof vents and chimneys.
• Check the water heater and HVAC system (if present) for leaks or evidence of leakage (both water and air).

Visual Mold

When suspected mold is visually found or a source of musty odor is obvious, it is time to test the problem areas for mold with ImmunoLytics Mold Swabs and send for testing by the laboratory.

After the Inspection

Once you have inspected your home and taken pictures, take some time to review them to determine whether they are small enough to fix yourself. If you discover a significant source of mold confirmed with visual or odor evidence, it is likely best to have a professional inspect for mold to determine the size and scope of the issue.

Solutions for Renters

All of the internal inspection steps above are practical for renters. Landlords are commonly resistant to paying for mold inspections.  However, a proper inspection with pictures will be conducive to landlords addressing the issue(s).  In cases where you discover suspected mold, it is always more effective to test for mold with an ImmunoLytics test kit to properly document the issue(s) which often leads to a more urgent response from your landlord. Once the issues are fixed or if there is a long delay before fixes are implemented, you can use any of these Bio-Balance fogging and misting kits to help address the systemic mold in your indoor air.

• Fogging rooms with the HavenFog Mini Kit (for <1,000 sq. ft.)
• Fogging the entire home with HavenFog Kit (for <4,000 sq. ft)

These solutions will reach all areas of the home including corners and crevices to reduce the fungal air count dramatically. These packages do not replace identifying the source of mold, removing it, and fixing it! To learn more about Bio-Balance DIY Fogging solutions, click HERE. Maintenance misting using a cold water-based solution that aerosolizes Bio-Balance Maintenance Misting Solution diluted with purified water is a quick and easy way to regularly reduce fungal air count and surfaces in the home.

• The HavenMister is an inexpensive way to address maintenance issues in rooms, furniture, carpets, cars, of closets. This mister weighs less than 5 lb. so you can ably reach all areas including cabinets and above furnishings.
• The HavenMist Large Kit can be used for large homes. This mister weighs less than 10 lb. and comes with a shoulder harness to carry the weight with a delivery hose to allow for agile misting throughout the home like the smaller HavenMister.