Outside Control Sample

[James E. Braun, CMI]

Originally Posted by jgromkoski

The standard I follow requires only one outside sample.

When you say two outside samples, do you mean one at the apartment entry door and one outside at ground level. Or both samples in the same location, at the entry door or at ground level?

You need to take it at least 20 feet away from the building at ground level, preferably up wind from the building. If you are down wind or too close you can catch mold that is growing on the building. The reason I believe IAC2 requires two because they are testing too close and are allowing testing downwind from the building. If you do that you better take two samples because they will most likely read different.

Keep in mind you are trying to take as clean of a sample as possible under the most normal conditions that can be achieved as possible (inside or out). If you do mess up and your particulate level (junk in the air) is moderate to high or high then you may consider on retaking the sample (it all depends on what you are wanting to know) because that much particulate will cause the lab not to see all of the area on the slide. If the lab technician can not see everything, he could easily miss something.

If you every need some guidance on reading a lab report, you can email it to me at jbraun@mo.nachi.org .
That includes you too, Sean.