FAQs

This section is created so you can have question and answers to some common queries.

What does a free phone consultation include?
It usually does not includes a trip to your site. If the job site can not be evaluated over the phone a site visit can be arranged. On the first visit, after meeting with you, we typically will review the layout of your building and inspect each area of interest. Upon determination of a sampling strategy, the mold inspector will begin by testing his/her hypothesis. We will meet/contact you again to discuss any issues we found during our survey. After that, we will take the information back to our office and develop our recommendations. We will make a second appointment/ contact with you to review our recommendations. (Or if you prefer this can be done by phone and fax.)
We will answer any questions that you may have in as much or as little detail as you care to hear. We are experts in Mold Investigations and we will also be happy to answer any questions and offer our opinions on any related issues that you may have. And most importantly, we promise to not make you feel obligated to buy anything.
Some areas of my building smell musty and others do not. Will a Mold Inspections Los Angeles detect that odor condition?
Bring those issues to our attention and we will diagnose the cause during our survey. We are Mold Inspection experts and almost any issue that you have with mold can be diagnosed. There can be many reasons for visible mold on a building surface. A properly designed water proofing system can remedy most of the problems. After our survey we can tell you if your issues can be resolved with specific mold remediation or some “old fashion” elbow grease. An example would be small amounts of visible mold on the grout lines of your tiled bathroom. That area would need more cleaning with a house hold product, such as bleach diluted with water. A simple remedy would be to clean the area once a week. This small amount of elbow grease is enough to keep the mold away.

Mold Inspections Los Angeles is able to detect the amount of mold spores in the air. The specific odor created from indoor mold growth is often contributed to the ‘by product’ of Volatile Organic Compounds, or VOC’s. VOC’s come in many different forms that originate from microbial growth or newly purchased synthetic items. The off gassing of the VOC’s is often detected by someone with increased sensitivity or an acute sense of smell. Specifically the VOC’s are an organic compound. Testing for this compound can be difficult and expensive when analyzed by the proper laboratory. Mold Inspections Los Angeles recommends a thorough investigation of the property and sampling for additional airborne mold spores.

What is a mold inspection?
At Mold Inspections Los Angeles a mold inspection will comprise of three basic principles. 1) Visual observations for visible mold growth 2) Moisture meter assessments of the relevant building materials 3) On site sampling and submittal to an AIHA accredited laboratory.
A mold inspection is a visualization for microbial growth (mold) and moisture conditions on/in the surface(s) of a building’s interior or interior contents. This analysis later can determine indoor levels of mold spores and types (species) of mold after independent third party laboratory analysis.

The building conditions must be evaluated for moisture during a mold inspection. A Delmhorst 2 in 1 moisture meter can be used to approximate the conditions of moisture within the building’s materials. Home inspectors and pest control companies understand that moisture intrusion is an important factor affecting the integrity of a building. Proper use of a moisture meter can aide the home inspector in identifying possible sources of water intrusion and moisture impacted building materials.

A moisture meter (Delmhorst 2 in 1 moisture meter) can determine the amount of moisture in relevant building materials by a 2 pin system or a radio frequency. The pin method uses two pins to pierce the building materials and conductive technology (electrical resistance) to indicate relevant levels of moisture. The scanning technology uses a radio frequency to penetrate the building materials. No pins are used in this method of testing. Delmhorst can be contacted at: 1.800.222.0638.

What is a Real Estate Mold Inspection?
A real Estate mold Inspection can help determine if possible mold growth conditions exist on you future property. During a real estate transaction many different renovations have been or will be completed on the property to increase the value and/or attractiveness of the property. Some people add new sprinklers and lawn to the exterior of the property. Other people usually paint and replacing materials that have been damaged or just weathered over time. Concealing the original history of the home can be a mold inspectors nightmare. If moisture conditions still exist with the building’s materials the suspect conditions may involve some further destructive investigations. The destructive investigation purpose is designed to examine the interior of the building. Visible mold growth is observed on the drywall or plaster interior.
Flipping a Property? Don’t let mold put a hold on your real estate projects. The single most important factors in a real estate flip is correctly evaluating the potential return on investment. Mold can cause many unwanted additional costs in your real estate deal. B y detecting additional moisture in the building materials Real Estate investigations can determine areas of suspect mold growth. Usually, destructive investigations can not be conducted without the current property owners permission. Although, once the conditions are suspected, a thorough investigation of the materials should be completed to determine if actual mold growth conditions exist. Cost effective evaluations of your expected costs could benefit the bottom line. Determining if mold remediation is necessary can put a hold on your real estate deal. Mold Inspection Los Angeles can conduct a Real Estate Mold Inspection for your future or existing property.
How can I benefit from a mold inspection?
A mold inspection can provide more information about your home or office. Each current condition of the building system will be observed during the investigation. If samples are taken from your property and sent to an AIHA laboratory, then a certified lab report will inform you of the different types and concentrations of mold. The type of information provided by a professional mold inspection company will provide you with more accurate information than any home based – do it yourself test. The do it yourself test is highly inaccurate and will only provide the user with a limited amount of information. If mold remediation has occurred on the property then a property owner may benefit from a mold inspection by obtaining a certified lab analysis and mold report. A mold inspection will provide current information about your property.
Testing for airborne mold spores can be used to get objective measurable data that can be used to assist in determining the potential affects on the building population of any fungal matter present. 1) No Threshold limits have been established 2) A variety of organisms can be observed 3) People’s responses vary 4) It is difficult to establish cause and affect relationships.
Why would I need to hire an Indoor Consultant?
A mold inspector can help identify what needs to be done in your building. A mold inspector can determine what methods are appropriate to use? A mold investigator can monitor the acitivites occurring on your project site. A mold inspector can oversee mold remediation, cleaning and finishing treatments. n addition to controlling your HVAC systems, a BAS can monitor just about anything that can be read with a gauge or meter; and from that, it can send a signal to perform any other electrical function. For example, you can monitor the temperature inside of a walk-in cooler and have the system send out an alarm if the temperature rises above any temp that you select. Or it can be programmed to send an alarm if the temp goes above the preset limit for a period of time. It could make a light come on, or a bell ring in the managers office if the box temp is out of range
Or if you want a light to come on when the temp rises above the limit and a bell to ring after that condition has occurred for a period of time, it can do that too. If you want to be paged when the temperature rises in your computer room; no problem, it can do that too. Contact us with any special requests, we can probably make it happen
What methods of mold removal systems can be utilized?
1) scope and assessment
2) Project Planning
3) Containment Engineering
4) Mold removal
5) Cleaning
6) Disposal
7) Verify Conditions.
What is a Green Building Rating?
There are many benefits to various parties involved with building construction, maintenance and use. These benefits extend to the building owner, general contractor, facility manager, and building occupants. Everyone can benefit from the open systems architecture allowing multiple systems and multiple applications to operate over a common structured cabling system.