The truth is you will find mold of some type everywhere and since I live in South Florida it is everywhere. Almost everyday we get a call from someone wanting us to recommend someone who can test their house for mold. They are worried that “toxic mold” is the causing their allergies or asthma to flair up. Now, we do have a couple of very reputable companies that we recommend for environmental testing but we like to get a little more information before we give out their information.

We will ask our customer if they see any visible signs like wet spots, water stains on walls or ceilings or mold on any surface. Does the house or room smell musty or like mold. When we ask them why they think it is mold causing the problem most of the time they said they saw something on TV, read news article or got something in the mail telling them that mold is a killer.

Yes mold can cause asthmatics to have serious attacks, yes mold can aggravate or worsen some people’s allergies and yes mold can even cause death.

With that being said before you go and hire a company to test your house, a very expensive process that most insurance companies will not pay for, do the things mentioned above. Trust your eyes and nose. If you see water stains, mold on a wall or smell something damp and musty then it needs to be checked out. There are mold test kits available for less than $10 that will let you know if there is mold present. For another $25 you can send it to a lab and they will tell you what type of mold, mow much and if it is within acceptable levels.

Mold can be a serious problem but don’t let the hype cause you to waste time, energy and serious money.

 
Wishing you the best of health

Mike Krause

Allergy Store