3 Important Facts about Mold Testing Passaic County, NJ
When your house, basement or any other structure develops a musty smell and you call mold removal experts, the first thing they will do is mold testing. Mold testing entails inspecting and taking samples of either the surface that is suspected to have mold or the air in the building that is suspected to have a mold infestation. It is important to do mold testing because when you embark on the mold removal process, you want to be sure that you are actually removing mold. 
Below are details about what mold removal technicians will do when they test your house or basement for the presence of mold.
Visible mold
In some cases, it is possible to detect mold by simply looking for spots that have mold growths. So the first thing that mold removal technicians will do when you call them is to inspect your building for visible signs of mold. The most visible types of mold can easily be spotted.
Technicians will look for black spots or larger colonies of mold on surfaces such as damp walls, showers, painted siding, deck boards, basement walls and the floor. Other areas that need to be inspected include sites near plu
mbing leaks and hidden places such as behind the refrigerator, below sinks, under carpets, beneath cardboards or piles of newspapers, and behind drywalls that have experienced flooding.
When inspecting surfaces for mold, the point of interest is usually to determine whether any black spots and patches are actually mold or just dirt.
Surface testing for both visible and invisible mold
In addition to looking for visible signs of mold, mold removal experts go further by taking samples of surfaces that are suspected to have mold. Three types of samples can be used:
- Bulk sample: The technician will take a piece of the sampled area, which is sent for testing in the lab.
- Swab sample: A swab of the surface that is suspected to have mold is taken and sent to the lab for testing.
- Tape sample: A clear tape is pressed against the area that is being sampled and then removed. The debris that is picked by the tape is sent to the lab for mold testing.Air testing
The most common method that is used to test for the presence of mold in air involves the use of a spore trap. A known volume of air is passed through a sticky surface as the air is pumped through a spore trap sampling equipment.
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