The Most Popular Mold Testing Methods

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The Most Popular Mold Testing Methods

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Distribution Date and Time: 2009-10-13 15:12:00

Written By: Daryl Watters

Copyright: 2009

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The Most Popular Mold Testing Methods

Copyright © 2009 Daryl Watters

A Accredited Mold Inspection Service, Inc.

http://www.floridamoldinspectors.us/

Below are the five most widely used methods of taking mold spore

samples from the air during mold inspections. They are used by

scientists, industrial hygienists, and mold inspectors.

These mold testing methods have been proven over and over by

time, legal trial, and third party scientific lab verification

for reliability taking into account many complex factors related

to aerodynamics and physics. Surface sample methods just do not

provide as much quantitative info as the following 5 air sample

methods.

1) An Air-O-Cell non viable spore trap with pump calibrated and

run at 15 LPM typically run from 1 to 15 min.

2) A Micro5 non viable spore trap with pump calibrated and run at

5 LPM for 1 to 5 min.

3) A CyClex non viable impactor with pump calibrated and run at

20 LPM for 1 to 10 min.

4) A CyClex-d non viable spore trap with pump calibrated and run

at 20 LPM for 1 to 10 min.

5) A single stage viable impactor plate, such as an Andersen

Impactor or one of it's exact duplicated clones (such as an

Aerotech 6, or ems E6 with a pump calibrated and run at 28.3 LPM

for 1 to 5 min.

The Cyclex from method # 3 above is not used as much as some

other methods because it requires a larger up front investment on

the part of the mold testing firm. $400.00 one time purchase of a

reusable sampler as apposed to the free one time use plastic

cassettes provided y labs. In addition to testing 200 liters of

air with each sample the CyClex sampler developed by

Environmental Monitoring Systems also has a cut off diameter

(d50) the size of the smallest spores, this means tiny pen / asp

spores just 2 or 3 microns across do not pass through the device

and escape unnoticed. Also, the Cyclex typically samples 200

liters or 1/5 of a cubic meter of air, thats a good amount for an

air sampler, the more air sampled the more statically reliable

the results.

The first four methods above are non viable spore traps, this

means that live and spores are collected in the sample device to

give an idea of the total estimated number of spores per cubic

meter of air. This sampling method does not miss spores. This is

very important because often spores can be allergenic or

potentially toxigenic, regardless of whether they are live.

The fifth method above is used for viable air testing. It is not

as widely used by mold inspectors because like the CyClex it to

has a higher initial investment in equipment around $500.00 for a

stainless steel impactor plate with 400 tiny precession drilled

holes, as apposed to a simple plastic air testing cassette

provided for free by the lab. Also, viable sample results have a

longer turn around time 7 to 10 days as apposed to about 3 days

for viable methods. Viable sample means that only live mold

colonies from live spores or live colony forming units are

counted. Though this method does not allow the counting of

spores, it is a very important and respected sampling methodology

used by professionals for around from the 1950's to the present.

It allows for the culture of live mold in the lab. Thus, entire

colonies can be examined in the lab for more accurate

identification of mold types, sometimes even to the species

level.

Indoor v.s. Outdoor Mold Spore Levels

The most widely accepted guideline across the nation to help

determine if indoor mold spore levels are indicative of a

possible mold problem is the comparison of indoor and outdoor

mold spore levels. Indoor mold spore levels should be similar to

or lower than levels found outdoors, and the types of mold spores

found in indoor mold test samples should be similar to types

found in outdoor test samples. The below listed organizations and

governing bodies support the above comparison method and have

determined that indoor mold spore levels should be similar in

number and type to outdoor mold spore levels and types: NYC DOH,

ACGIH 1989, Canada M & H CO. 1991, ACGIH 1993, OSHA 1994, and

Brazil 2000.

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Daryl Watters is president of A Accredited Mold Inspection

Service, Inc. He provides home, mold, and indoor air quality

investigations in South Florida. He is also the creator of MIR

forms designed to aid inspectors in the production of computer

generated indoor air quality and mold inspection reports. For

more information visit: http://www.florida-mold-inspection.com/

http://www.floridamoldinspectors.us/Typical-Mold-Testing-procedures.htm

http://www.floridamoldinspectors.us/South-Florida-Mold-Testing-Kits.htm