Clearence Mold Testing

[Mark H. Roe]

I was approached today and asked if I did mold clearance testing. I told him that I would have to get back to him tomorrow due to the fact I was preforming an inspection at the time he stopped in an asked. I took his card. He said no problem. Can anyone tell me what I need to do for this type of inspection. I have been certified by Pro-lab to do testing. Do I need more? Thanks for your input.

[kbowles1]

Mark,

Usually the clearing test is done after all work is complete. You would take a mold count before beginning any work and then after all work is complete to show that all ( or to a normal level ) mold spores have been removed. If you didn't do the testing before the work was done, about the only thing you could do would be perform a mold test. I would be leary of comparing my test to one someone else performed if thats what they intend as you have no idea how well they performed the other end. I would simply explain to them that I would be happy to perform a current spore count to be sure levels are normal but how they interpret the comparison is up to them.

Kevin

[Douglas Cossar]

It is my understanding that clearance tests should be conducted by someone NOT involved in the initial test or clearance process.

This would allow a completely unbiased clearance test.

I would go ahead- do your usual inspection and test. Provide the results to the client and let him/her decide if the abatement was properly done.

Cheers

[Thomas H. Dietrich]

IMHO,

A trained tech can easily do survey, however, the definition of 'clear' in clearance, should be already defined/agreed between the mitigater and the client. Not you and the MIT, or you and the client, you're just a spore-jockey.

All is in the details, so bone up on what is considered a clearance/mold survey sop, and get lots of supplies, it might be a little profitable.

Tell us what happens.

[sboyd2]

Mark,

Based on the fact that you are asking if you should do them answers your question. No. Do not do the mold clearance test. If you took the Prolab class that is mentioned in the class too.

Clearance testing is done when the clean up/remediation if finnished. There are very specified guidelines to follow. Do your homework and decide for yourself. I've been doing mold inspections 2 years and I still will not do a clearance test. Usually a CIH will perform that.

Shane

[Thomas H. Dietrich]

I went over the "clearance testing" taught by ESA and found it could be very profitable. Two air samples per previously effected room. Hmmmm..... I smell mold, I mean money.

tom

[Gerald C. Wilcox]

Clearence testing is profitable. Average cost to the consumer for our services is 100.00 to 125.00 per sample sent to lab. Our costs are for the cassettes, and the shipping. I send the report from the lab and then explain the lab results and give a list of remediators if needed. The clearence test is a minimum of 2 samples. One outside control sample, and one in the affected rooms. The air test cassettes can easily measure mold spores in an area of 1000 sq. ft and more. Of course we are willing to test as many rooms or floors as requested.