Mold sample - advice needed

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

I just finished Shoemaker's book, Mold Warriors, and it tells how to

collect a mold sample on a piece of tape and where to send it.

I think it costs $35 per sample, so I want to start with only one. I'm

having trouble deciding where in our house I should take the sample.

FIRST POSSIBLE PLACE:

Should I take a sample from the stone wall that lines the stone stairs

that go down into our basement? I've read that mold lives on

cellulose, but how about stone? There's space between the stones where

the masonry has fallen out, and water sometimes seeps in there.

The stone wall is black in a couple of places, and it could be dirt,

not mold. If it is dirt, is it okay to stick the tape right on the

dirt? Or should I scrape the dirt off and put it on the tape? Would

the mold be in the dirt?

Occasionally I notice a moldy smell as I go down these stairs, and a

few times it has made me cough.

If I took a sample in the basement itself, I wouldn't know where to

begin. There's a dirt floor, and every time it rains two or three

inches of water comes in, drains to the sump pump and is pumped out.

Sometimes mushrooms grow in the dirt. The funny thing is, I never

noticed a moldy smell down there until we put fiberglass insulation

bats on the basement ceiling. We got a dehumidifier and I don't notice

the smell any more.

SECOND POSSIBLE PLACE:

I few years ago our roof leaked into our attic and the particle board

floor turned black under the leak.

THIRD POSSIBLE PLACE:

Soon after we had the attic leak I noticed in the bedroom below, that

the place where the wall and ceiling meet had turned gray, just a strip

an inch or two wide. It has not been painted since then.

(Now I'm wondering about something else: when you can see gray dimples

where the sheetrock was nailed to the ceiling, could that be mold

caused by moisture condensing on the nails?)

I'm new at this mold stuff, but want to send a sample today, so would

appreciate advice.

Sue ,

Upstate New York