When looking for an inspector that can look for potential moisture and mold issues in your home you obviously need one that is certified (officially trained) to do that type of inspecting.
The reason I bring this up, again, is that there are several companies that will say they do ‘mold analysis’ and the like when they do not have any training/certification to do so. What a company like this does will collect ‘a mold sample’ of either air or swab in most cases and send it to a lab that will identify what mold is present and do a ‘type’ of analysis. However, the analysis done by the lab has to be done in ‘Context with an Inspection for Moisture and Mold Issues’ by an inspector trained/certified for this type of inspection. I recently ran across a company and their report regarding a ‘mold analysis’.
Being a Certified Home Inspector or Master Home Inspector (if I say this correctly) does not qualify that person to do ‘Mold Inspections’ or Evaluate Moisture issues. In the report I mentioned above from a ‘Certified Master Home Inspection Company’ where the client gave me that report. In the report there was ‘high’ moisture found in one area but no recommendations were given to address that. That is a big problem! Whenever there is moisture in material like drywall then a Remediation for mold and Bacteria is necessary along with finding and stopping the source of moisture or leak.
In this situation this company was doing a ‘Disservice to the Client’ giving them a false sense of security when there was in fact a condition of the home that was causing mold and bacteria growth.
Steve Mullins (i.e. Mold Detector)
CMC, Certified Microbial Consultant
Moisture and Mold Detection, Inc.