How Accurate is DIY Mold Testing
DIY mold testing kits are increasing in popularity, with several brands now available to the homeowner. When it comes to mold testing in Mississauga, action may feel preferable to finding and arranging professional testing, especially when you’re worried about your health and safety. At MoldTech, we don’t encourage homeowners to use DIY tests, though they can be a good starting point to confirm the base presence of mold. When it comes to basement or attic mold removal, there are no safe substitutes for professional testing or remediation! Today ,we’ll share more about how DIY mold tests work, what their limitations are, and how a professional mold test with our team works.
Understanding DIY Mold Testing Kits
Several companies offer DIY mold testing kits that you can find at hardware or specialty stores. Generally, these kits use some, or all of these testing methods:
- Surface sampling
- Air sampling
- Air monitoring
Samples may be as straightforward as opening a bottle to take air, or may be more involved, like cutting off a small piece of textile, wood, or other material. Active air monitoring devices offer alerts about air quality issues that affect mold growth, like humidity or temperature, but won’t confirm or deny the presence of mold — while also being pricey!
These types of tests are easy to purchase — our local stores stock common brands like the Pro-Lab Mould Test Kits or the ImmunoLystics DIY Mold Test Kit, for example — and it may seem more straightforward to go this route than bringing in a pro team like MoldTech. But everything has its pros and cons — and we don’t see great value in this branch of DIY.
The Limitations of DIY Testing
Our team has encountered several flaws with folks using DIY mold testing kits.
- Inconsistent Results: There are various factors to consider to get a consistent and trustworthy result from mold testing in Mississauga, like time of year, weather, architecture, and more. At MoldTech, we do a whole home assessment before taking air or physical samples, which ensures we get consistent, accurate results. In our experience, DIY tests will often give inaccurate or different results that make no sense, suggesting multiple issues with the sampling, testing, or reading process.
- No Pro Analysis: One of the benefits of working with MoldTech is that we help you understand the results of the tests we do. If you had to interpret your bloodwork based on unfamiliar words, medical terms, or numbers, would you be able to communicate your needs accurately? Mold is a biological problem that benefits from a specialist’s understanding and interpretation. After testing or mold removal, we’ll help you understand what we found, how we removed it, and why we think it happened in the first place, providing you with much more information and assistance than a DIY analysis.
- Missed Mold Types: There are thousands of types of mold in Ontario, and many won’t show up on hardware store mold tests. This is because comprehensive testing requires accurate sampling and in-depth analysis, which is difficult to package in one small testing kit. A variety of sampling methods and materials, as well as a targeted analysis, ensures that all types of mold are detected.
The Importance of Professional Testing
As you can see, the DIY testing route has several cons that may end up costing you in the future. While the purchase price may be low, inaccuracies, false positives, lack of professional analysis, and missed types of mould can result in severe infestations getting missed or underestimated. Mould should be treated promptly to ensure it doesn’t spread or grow farther than it has and to reduce its negative effect on your property and family.
Making the Right Choice For Your Home
There are many things that confident DIYers can learn from Youtube or a quick Google search, but mould testing and removal are different from what we recommend. If you believe that your home has a mold problem, the MoldTech team suggests calling us for a free visual inspection — we’ll help you understand where potential issues lie and what sort of testing, changes, or remediation might help.
Unfortunately, our team has helped many homeowners who tried the DIY route first — which resulted in missed infestations or more extensive problems. Specialized services like attic mold removal or mold testing in Mississauga are a trustworthy, accurate, and reliable way to assess your home for mold growth and ensure any problems are resolved safely. Call MoldTech today to learn more.
