Mold Test Kits

Mold test kits are available at many home improvement stores and can also be purchased online. There many different types and brands to choose from with prices ranging from $8 to over $200.

Try to find an $8 mold test kit online. Click on the listing. Read the fine print. You’ll likely discover that the kit is not as cheap as it seems. Most do-it-yourself mold test packages include a petri dish and some instructions on how to use it to sample for mold in your home. These kits also typically come with prepaid envelopes you can use to send your mold test to a lab, but wait…

Guess what?

The actual lab testing and results are NOT included in the original $8 (or however much you paid for the kit). You have to pay extra if you want an actual report, analyzing the mold in your home. The lab fees can be 5 times the cost of the original DIY kit.  

Beyond that, some at-home mold test kits do not even include all the supplies necessary to collect accurate mold samples around the house. You may be required to run to the hardware store to purchase swabs or adhesive strips separately. This adds to the cost of your mold test, not to mention the run-around.

As a professional air quality testing company here in Virginia, we get regular questions from our customers about the accuracy of DIY mold test kits. Understandably, nearly all home and business owners as well as landlords want to find the fastest, most inexpensive way to qualify and quantify the severity of the mold problem on their property.

Still, there is no safe way to cut corners when it comes to breathing high quality air. DIY air testing kits are not the answer to resolving threats to air quality. In fact, DIY mold test kits are infamously inaccurate and potentially dangerous. Most DIY Mold Test Kits come back 100% positive.

The truth: Every home has mold in it.

It is essentially impossible to eliminate 100% of the mold spores inside homes and commercial properties. Thankfully, not all kinds of mold are toxic to human health.

DIY mold test kits will sometimes test positive based merely on the presence of harmless mold species present in your home. When homeowners their homes have tested positively for mold, the immediate reaction is typically fear.

Fear of the unknown can lead to homeowners down a fruitless path of shelling out a lot of time and money trying to unnecessarily eliminate harmless mold spores from the air.  

DIY mold test kit companies are built on the idea that when people think they have mold in their house, they get scared. Yet, all the kits can do is answer this question (and largely inaccurately, at that); “Is there mold in my property?” The answer will almost invariably be “yes”.

Another risk you run by opting for a DIY mold test kit is getting a false negative. The test results may claim that your home is not at risk from mold. However, the reality may be very different. For the sake of health, that is a mistake you cannot afford to risk.

What the DIY mold tests cannot do is give you the specifics you deserve. Many of the DIY air quality tests on the market fail to stipulate if the mold in your home is harmful mold or harmless and whether the quantity of it is dangerous or not.  

Oddly enough, DIY mold test kits typically do not have expiration dates written on them. These kits could end up sitting on warehouse shelves for a very long time. When buying a kit online, of even in a brick and mortar store, there is no way of knowing how long it has been on the shelf or how much exposure and handling your kit has experienced in its lifetime.

As mentioned, many DIY mold test kits require you to send the test in to a ‘lab’ for results, at an added cost, of course. These laboratories are rarely accredited or certified. The very process of shipping and handling the test for ‘lab analysis’ can pose a threat to the accuracy of the results.

The process is unregulated and there are too many uncontrolled variables at work. The test could easily be exposed to extreme temperatures, moisture, unpredictable time delays, and other factors that could skew the results, creating false negatives or positives. Whatever the case, the headache you thought you were saving yourself from could end up snowballing.

User feedback in the market of DIY mold test kits is decidedly negative. It’s no surprise, considering that DIY mold test kits famously fail to fulfill their purpose of giving an accurate diagnosis of the scope of airborne mold contamination.

Some DIY mold test kit users have complained that after sending their samples to the lab, they did not even receive their test results back. Others claim that the results were inaccurate and lead to more problems. Still others describe their shock upon realizing the lab fees were not included in the original price.

Consumer Reports “recommends against using mold test kits.” Why? They explain, “All those we’ve tested have had major problems and are not reliable.” This is simply one job that is best left to professionals.

In fact, because so many customers are unsatisfied and frustrated with their at home mold test kits, they end up hiring an expert mold tester to come and conduct a thorough mold investigation on their property in the long run. DIY mold test kits are notoriously a waste of time and money.

DIY mold tests kits will usually help you test for mold in a certain area of your property. However, this kind of testing is unhelpful if you are unsure of the source of your mold problem. Many homeowners suspect mold infestation, but do not know where it is coming from, since it can be hiding in unseen parts of the home.

If you accidentally conduct a DIY mold test in the wrong area of your home, you could get a result totally different from the next room over. These kinds of incomplete results are potentially dangerous. The DIY tests will not help you locate where the problem is or define how serious it is.

DIY mold tests cannot actually test for unseen mold. This fact negates the need for ever buying a DIY mold test, since the entire purpose is to learn whether or not you have a mold problem. If you can see mold, you already know you have a mold problem.

What you DO need to know is how bad your mold problem is and what you can do to fix it. Only professional mold testing can answer those crucial questions.

The professionals at Air Quality Consultants can provide the level of accurate diagnostics that DIY mold tests simply cannot.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines the industry standard explaining, “Sampling for mold should be conducted by professionals who have specific experience in designing mold sampling protocols, sampling methods, and interpreting results. Sample analysis should follow analytical methods recommended by…professional organizations.”

There is no DIY mold test on the market that can replace the value and peace of mind coupled with a professionally conducted inspection. Our passionate experts here at Air Quality Consultants are trained in the science of detecting and measuring the complexity of mold-related threats.

A thorough inspection done by a trained eye and precision mold testing equipment will provide you with the unbiased analysis you need to find the source of the mold, identify the type of mold, and locate the cause of the moisture problems.

Our experienced mold inspectors know exactly what to look for and will provide you a comprehensive diagnosis of your mold issue without you having to wait around for weeks on mailed-off lab results. The certified lab reports will outline what molds are present, and which, if any are harmful. Air Quality Consultants can also recommend mold remediation methods, if necessary.

We give fast, reliable, professional results that stand up even in a court of law. Our reputable mold inspectors are experts in this field and are looking forward to providing you with exceptional customer support. We care about your air!