Think you may have mold growing in your home or business? Your first thought may be to save some money and get a DIY mold test kit. But, there are some reasons why home and business owners should reconsider testing for mold themselves. And, instead, rely on the professionals to assess the situation and offer expert solutions to help get rid of mold problems.
What’s a DIY Mold Test?
It’s common to want to save money when it comes to taking care of your home or business expenses. Sure, you may do things yourself like fix appliances, mow your lawn, and do your own landscaping to save a few bucks every month. But, when it comes to identifying and treating mold issues, tackling it yourself can not only lead to damages to you and your family/employees’ health, but it can actually end up costing you MORE money in the end.
A DIY mold test is a simple test that detects the presence of mold. It’s something you can buy at a home repair store. But, there are more disadvantages to using these kits than there are advantages. So, as a home or business owner, it’s important to understand these risks when considering buying one of these testing kits.
Essentially, a DIY mold test contains a petri dish that holds collected samples of mold. Basically, when the petri dish is placed in an area that contains mold, spores will eventually fall into the petri dish. Once this happens, the test is sent to a lab for testing to identify the type of mold that’s growing.
Some Disadvantages of DIY Mold Testing
They’re Not Accurate at Determining the Severity of Your Mold Issue: Many homes and businesses have the risk of mold. So, DIY mold kits may tell you that there is mold growing even when there necessarily isn’t a big enough mold problem that requires remediation. That’s because mold can be in the air but not necessarily growing in your mold at a damaging rate. Furthermore, while DIY kits will tell you if there’s mold present, it doesn’t give you the information you need to make a decision about removal. This information includes the type of mold, if the mold is dangerous to health, where it’s growing, or how much mold is actually present in your home or business. So, they’re typically a waste of money that only provides information regarding mold spores in the air.
There’s No Baseline: DIY testing kits are basically at-home science experiments. But, if you remember the basics of science experience, you know that control is required for a baseline. But, with DIY mold tests, there is no control. This means that there is no real way to measure the results.
May be Inaccurate Due to Shipping Times/Shelf Life: DIY home mold tests are shipped after they’ve sat around for a while. But, the time it takes for shipping and handling can affect the result of your test. When it gets to the lab, there may be more or less mold spores on the dish than, to begin with, affecting results. Furthermore, as there are no expiration dates on these kits, you really never know if what you caught in the petri dish was something that was from your home or something from when the product was sitting on the shelf, being handled for packaging, or from any other time before you purchased it.
Make Sure with Professional Mold Specialists
The ONLY way to be sure of what type of mold you have growing in your home or business is, the severity of the issue, and methods of a successful removal are to speak to a mold remediation expert. A Plus Mold Remediation can help home and business owners to determine their mold issue, where mold is growing, how to prevent further mold, and eliminate mold growth. A DIY home test won’t do any of that. So, if you want to save money and get down to the real problem, consider investing in the experts right off the bat.
Don’t beat around the bush! Find out more about whether or not your home or business has a mold problem by calling A Plus Mold Remediation today at 561-247-3506.