Air & Mold Inspections

Indoor air quality often contains pollutant levels that are two to five times higher than outdoor air. Testing identifies hidden contaminants such as toxic mold spores, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) from cleaning products and furniture, and fine particulate matter. Since occupants spend up to 90% of their time indoors, inspecting the air quality is essential for detecting unseen health hazards that can silently contribute to illness.

Mold exposure, even in non-allergic individuals, can cause a range of immediate and chronic irritant effects. Symptoms often include stuffy nose, persistent cough, wheezing, throat irritation, and burning or watery eyes. For individuals with asthma or allergies, mold exposure can significantly exacerbate their condition, leading to more frequent and severe attacks. It's a key trigger for respiratory distress.

Medical professionals are trained to diagnose diseases based on biological and external factors, not environmental forensics. They often treat the symptoms (e.g., prescribing decongestants for persistent sinus issues or inhalers for asthma) without identifying the environmental trigger. Symptoms like chronic fatigue, headaches, dizziness, or recurring respiratory irritation that improve when a person leaves the home are often key signs of a building-related illness that medical testing alone cannot diagnose.

VOCs are gases emitted from thousands of products, including paints, adhesives, new carpets, cleaning supplies, and building materials. Short-term exposure can cause headaches and eye/throat irritation. However, long-term or high-level exposure to certain VOCs, like benzene or formaldehyde, is linked by organizations like the EPA and IARC to more serious chronic issues, including liver and kidney damage and an increased risk of certain cancers.

At-home kits often rely on simple petri dishes that collect spores from the air, but they only tell you that mold is present (which is true everywhere) and rarely provide accurate concentrations or identify the hidden source of the growth. A professional inspection uses specialized spore traps and lab analysis to compare indoor concentrations against outdoor "baseline" samples. This method accurately determines if indoor levels are unnaturally high and helps trace the moisture source, which is necessary for effective remediation.

Beyond mold and VOCs, a comprehensive IAQ inspection should check for other critical environmental hazards:

• Particulate Matter: Tiny airborne particles (from dust, combustion, and pollution) that penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream, impacting cardiovascular health.

• Carbon Dioxide: High levels indicate poor ventilation, leading to feelings of sluggishness, brain fog, and fatigue (often part of "Sick Building Syndrome").

• Radon Gas: A naturally occurring, odorless, radioactive gas that is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S.

Mold spores require two things to thrive: food (like drywall, wood, or cellulose) and moisture. The inspection focuses on areas with persistent water intrusion or high humidity, such as basements, crawlspaces, attics with poor ventilation, and areas around leaky plumbing. If the home has a history of flooding, condensation problems, or chronic leaks, the potential for mold growth that compromises the air quality is extremely high.