If you suspect you have a mold problem in your home you are going to need to detect the mold. In this section we will go over some of the ways that mold is classified either by the public or by the microbiology community.
I will also show you where in the home you can detect the mold visually.
If you are worried about mold impacting your health, it's always best to hire a professional.
Type Of Mold
There are over 365,000 known species of mold. While there is such a wide variety, only a handful are known to grow in a building environment. Some are toxic and need proper mold removal.
Some of the most common species of mold found in homes are:
- Penicillium
- Aspergillus
- Cladosporium
There are many more types of mold but depending on your location, these are the most common.
Materials
Mold needs three things to grow:
- Water
- High Humidity
- Food
The food in this situation is building materials which allows the mold to colonize.
Mold doesn’t grow on certain types of materials while it thrives on others. It’s important to know the materials mold grows on.
Mold Testing
Once you find mold growing, in order to actually determine the species, you will need to perform mold testing.
- Air
- Swab
- Dust
There are many different types of mold testing that can be taken, all accomplishing different aspects however with the overall similar goal of determining if there is mold present.
Meet the author: Brad Fishbein is an ACAC council-certified Microbial Investigator. In the fall of 2012, he became a Licensed Mold Assessor in the State of Florida through the Department of Business & Professional Regulation. Brad has helped homeowners with over 5,000 successfully completed Mold Inspections since 2009.
