I was talking to a REALTOR about a home I inspected recently and she explained that the deal was in limbo due to a mold inspection. I recalled that I had discussed mold with the client and did not observed any mold conducive conditions during my inspection. The REALTOR said that the client looked at the mold disclaimer and decided to get the home tested. The client paid a company $350 and the company said that there was evidence of black mold in the home. The REALTOR did not know any more details.

Since I had spent several hours in the home I was curious and wanted to look out for the best interest of the buyer. I spoke to her and ask about the results and where the mold was found. She said that without more tests they could not localize where the mold was. I ask her permission to talk to the company and she readily agreed. At this point she was comtemplating backing our of the deal because of the mold. I was surprised because this was an 8 year old home built by a reputable builder and well maintained.

I spoke to the "Mold Testing Company" and all that they would tell me is that they did a settling plate (petri dish) and that the home tested positive for cladospirium. They could not give me any spore counts.  I ask them about what levels were unhealthy and they were very vague. I also asked about whether they did a baseline test and they did not know. A baseline test is done on the exterior of the house to establish the level of mold outside the home. Mold is part of our ecosystem especially here in the Pacific NW. Homeowners who keep there windows open can have high readings without having issues in the home especially when they have a pond or mulch pile nearby.

Now most people don't know that there are over 700 types of mold and cladospirium is commonly found in most bathrooms and is not considered by expert to be toxic. In most cases it is found on the surface of bathroom walls and can be black in some circumstances. This type of mold can also take on the color of the foods it eats.

I called my client back and advised her to ask some hard questions of the testing company:

Why are they calling this black mold? Isn't that a generic term?

What levels of cladospirium do they consider unhealthy?

Why did they not locate the source of readings in the original tests?

Is it possible this is bathroom mold?

Do they do mitigation, what will they do? (isn't this a conflict of interest??)

I hope most REALTORS realize that the mold testing industry is unregulated and there are no health standards that can be used to differentiate between a healthy home and a unhealthy home. Companies can recieve a MOLD Testing Certification in as little as 4 hours. Mold mitigation companies routinely use the term BLACK MOLD to describe common household molds. This scares the homeowner into wholesale remodels or expensive mitigation. I have seen some of my clients spend thousands of dollars on mold cleanups when something similar could have been done with TSP or bleach and water.

I am curious to see what experiences others have had with mold testing????

//Rick

Rick Bunzel, CRI
Pacific Crest Inspections

NPSAR Affiliate of the Year 2006-2007
WWW.PacCrestInspections.com
360-588-6956
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Toll Free 866-618-7764