Most of my clients know me as The Thermal Home Inspector but I also am known as The Mold Man.  If you have read my other articles on mold then you will know that every home has mold of some type.  My job is to assist you by taking professional samples and sending them to a lab to qualify the type of mold you have in your home.  When I come to your home to perform a mold inspection I do a visual inspection to develop a hypothesis of what type of mold inspection you will need.

My client from the Darien home inspection has concerns of mold in the foreclosure home he wanted to buy.  Thats why we were performing a mold inspection in his possible new home.  There are several type of tests thatwe can do for different situations that may come up.

• Air sampling is a must at all mold inspections that Pinnacle Property Inspection Services performs.  We always do a in home air sample.  We like to an exterior sample if the weather allows for this measurement to happen.  This measurement gives us an overall if the home has any active mold spores.  This is generally the first test we  suggest to our clients unless we see or smell obvious reasons to do other tests.
• Bio tape or swab test are done in areas where there is suspected mold and we need to test the mold to identify the type of mold that is present.
• Carpet sampling can give a great length of history of what type if any was or is present in the home.
• In wall sampling is another test that can not be done in a home that is not owned by the client without written permission from the owner.  This mold test will identify any possible mold growth or breeding in the walls.

All of these mold tests have special features but can be used at all mold inspections together if needed.  The Darien home inspection had what we call visible moisture that we found with our Fluke Thermal imager and Tramex moisture meter.  This gave us evidence to suggest to our client to get bio tape tests to identify what type of mold is present.

My clients from the Darien home inspection were concerned with the cost of a mold inspection.  We price our mold inspections by the amount of  cartridges we have to use thus send to the lab.  A standard air mold test is $179.00.  You can get the 2 air samples and 1 bio tape mold test for $285.00.

Mold is not something you want to play with because mold can effect your structural integrity of your home, cosmetic looks of your home and possible health issues for the occupants of the home.  I explained to my client from the Darien home inspection that mold inspections can save you money with construction costs and possible medical bills.

As you can see it is really up to you what you want to do.  If you think you have mold in your home and have more questions about how to precede then please contact  me at ~ The Mold Man or 312-961-4228.

Thanks for stopping by and stay safe.

Jim Kolke