Mold Testing Procedures

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Viable versus Non-Viable Mold Lab Analysis
by Phillip Fry, Certified Environmental Hygienist

Dec. 4, 2011.  After you have collected mold samples from your home, condo, office, workplace, or other building using lift tape sampling, bulk samples, or mold test kits, you will send your collected mold samples to a certified mold lab for mold species identification and quantification (how many mold spores or mold colonies of each type of mold species in each mold sample) such as Mold Mart's partner mold lab.

When you submit mold samples to a lab, you have to make an important decision as to each sample: Do you want viable analysis, non-viable analysis, or have both methods utilized.  Here are the pro's and con's of these two mold analysis procedures---

Viable Analysis:  Some or all of the sampling material is inoculated (inserted) into a lab Petri dish containing a good mold growth food such as malt agar.  Then the sampling is allowed to grow (if it does) for a full 7 days (many molds don't begin growing until 3 to 5 days after inoculation). If no mold colonies grow during that seven days, that means that the mold spores/mold colonies in the submitted sample are DEAD, and therefore less of a health threat than live, growing mold. But even the smell of dead mold can make mold sensitive people sick. The advantages of viable analysis are two-fold compared to non-viable analysis: (a) you know if the mold spores/colonies are living or dead; and (b) by growing the mold sampling for 7 days, the mold species identification is more accurate than non-viable analysis. The disadvantages are also two-fold: (a) instead of the immediate analysis of the submitted samples, there is at least a 7 day delay in getting the mold lab analysis done and the lab report issued; (b) the lab fee is higher because more time and labor are expended by lab personnel.

Non-Viable Analysis:  Your submitted mold sample is put immediately under the microscope for mold species identification without growing (culturing) the mold sample. A highly-trained and experienced lab microbiologist can identify most mold species in the non-viable method.  The advantages: (a) quick mold analysis and report; and (b) less cost than viable analysis.  The disadvantages: (a) because there has been no mold growing of the sample, DEAD spores will be counted as well as any live spores; and (b) the mold species identification is not as accurate as viable mold analysis. 

Combination of Both Methods:  You can maximize the benefits of each method by paying for both non-viable analysis (done first), followed by viable analysis of the sample(s). ©2011 Phillip Fry, All Rights Reserved.

Lift Tape Sampling

Each lift tape lift tape sample location testing procedure only takes a few minutes, whether you take the sample immediately (sort of like a “camera snapshot picture”) of existing mold contamination
as of the moment of testing, or whether you utilize the more comprehensive and special 24 hour test duration per location mold testing protocol that was developed and perfected by mold expert Phillip Fry.  Please read lift tape instructions. Most alternative mold testing (such as air sampling) only captures mold spores that are deposited/landed in the mold testing device/media in a very short time duration such as 5 to 15 minutes. Because workplace or home occupants breathe in airborne mold spores for long durations (such as during the workday at one’s place of employment or business) or while living and sleeping in one’s home, condo, or apartment, Fry’s special 24 hour test duration mold testing protocol provides a much more realistic insight into the true mold dangers that might be existent in your workplace or residence wherein you don’t just stay for 5 to 15 minutes.

Testing 10 or more rooms and areas (both horizontal and vertical surfaces), and heating/cooling ducts and registers produces the most thorough, accurate, and comprehensive mold testing to learn the true extent of possible mold infestation in your home or other building.

Most professional mold inspectors prefer to mold test at least 15 to 50 different locations (at $75 to $125 per test conducted, plus a home or building inspection fee of hundreds of dollars!) in a home or other building---provided that the client can afford to do so.

How? By following the detailed, in depth, easy-to-use lift tape instructions.

► use the “lift tape sampling” mold testing instructions with one inch wide by three inch long, clear “Scotch” brand or similar sticky tape to collect mold samples at ten different locations in your home, condo, apartment, office, or commercial building, including one or more heating/cooling duct registers, plus an outdoor mold control test location.  Record the details of each mold sampling test location on the Lift Tape Sampling Chain of Custody Form, which you can print out now from this website, or use the copy emailed to you when you place your order.

►measure the width and length of each room or other indoor horizontal and vertical surface area that you mold test, and then record each tested room/area’s measurements on the emailed Chain of Custody that you use to record the location of each of your collected lift tape mold samples.

►mail the collected mold samples, along with your Chain of Custody, to the our lab, whose closest lab address to you is provided on your mold lab payment receipt when you pay for mold lab analysis at Mold Mart.

        ●Mold verification: whether or not each of the lift tape samples you have submitted contains mold spores/colonies.      

        ●Mold quantification: for each sample containing mold spores/colonies, how many different types of mold spores/colonies, plus the number of mold spores/colonies for each different type of mold spore. If you would also like to know the precise mold species of each discovered mold spore/colony, please also order the Mold Species Identification service below (US$75 additional lab analysis fee to do mold species identification for a total of 10 lift tape samples).

        ●Total mold spores/colonies projected/estimated for each entire room or area of each collected mold sample. This is calculated by the mold lab from the mold spore/colony counts of each sample and the room/area measurements you have submitted on your Chain of Custody.