Professional mold test vs. do-it-yourself mold test

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10 News Extra: Professional mold test vs. do-it-yourself mold test

http://www.tampabays10.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=20744

Video Story

St. sburg, Florida - Holly Kestenis and her 8-year-old son have

recently been dealing with some serious health problems.

Holly Kestenis, Might Have Mold:

" I'm concerned with my son, because he's always complaining about

headaches all the time. And recently in the past couple weeks, I was

having some sharp pain headaches and I've never had those before. "

So she called a professional home inspector to see if mold was the

cause.

Tim Glisson, Glisson Inspections Services:

" From what I've seen, there are some red flags that I've indicated

in my initial investigation, so we're going to take some mold

samples inside the house, and let the lab determine that. "

Once Tim finished his test, we asked him to try out another test. We

wanted to find out if a do-it-yourself mold test kit was just as

effective.

Tim Glisson, Glisson Inspections Services:

" My equipment is pretty definite. When you suck the air in through a

filtration system, you're actually collecting mold. Those dishes, it

just happens to fall on it. And if it doesn't, you may think you

don't have a mold problem, so you're going to get a lot of false

negative. "

Petri dishes are provided in the do-it-yourself kits and you place

them in the room where you suspect mold.

The directions say to leave the dish sitting for about an hour.

While that test was sitting, Tim began more of his own tests.

After an hour, the professional tests were complete, while the do-it-

yourself test took 48 more hours to find out if mold was actually

collected.

Two weeks later, the results for both tests were in, so we met Tim

at his office to compare them.

Tim Glisson, Glisson Inspections Services:

" The type of sampling that I do came up with actually three

different types of mold spores present in the house, whereas the

petri dish, or ten dollar petri dish, came up with two types. "

Both tests showed that the bathroom contained two types of mold, but

the professional test found a third type that the do-it-yourself did

not.

Finally, both tests determined Holly did not have a serious mold

problem, and Tim's recommendation to her was simple.

Tim Glisson, Glisson Inspections Services:

" Have her ducts cleaned, and replace that drywall ceiling in the

bathroom. And also add a ventilation fan in the bathroom. "

Tampa Bay's 10 News