A Common Question: Is This Mold?
Having worked with and been one of the founding fathers, as it were, of Indiana Mold Remediation for over 23 years, I’ve been asked the question above more times that I can count. Whether it’s during an onsite inspection, an image texted to us or sent via email, in a picture from a home inspection report (Which is typically tagged “suspected biological growth,” as opposed to what other type of growth? Non-biological? like the crystals you grew for your 5th grade science fair!), or even on a sample of drywall brought to our office. Most of the time I can identify mold in general by sight or smell or texture, but occasionally I’ve run into situations where a more detailed or precise analysis of the substance is required. That’s when I reach for my trusty testing kit, pull out a sterile swab and collect a sample for analysis. I ship it off to our lab and in no time at all I’ve got an answer!
White Powder Under Stairs
Case in point, a few weeks ago I was asked to look at suspected biological growth under the stairs of a condo who sale was being held up by an “Is this mold?” question. When I got under the stairs and shone my light on the problem areas I was met with a word etched in the substance that was suspected to be mold: “here.” My keen inspection senses told me this was the area where the problem was located. The first thing I noticed was that there wasn’t a musty odor in the confined space, the second thing I noticed was that the substance was not only very evenly coating all the backs of the risers of the stairs, but the concrete floor as well. And then I picked up a pinch of the substance and immediately saw that it was – sawdust! My theory is that the dust was from construction of the condo – almost 18 years ago. The area I was in was a small closet with a lift station in the floor and a pipe proceeding up to exit out of the building. It was unconditioned, accessed off the unconditioned garage and almost useless for any kind of storage due to the pipe and lift station in the doorway of the space. It was also very humid in the space, so the sawdust stuck to the wood and stayed there, undisturbed, until discovered during the home sale.
Test Results
The homeowner, just to be on the safe side, asked me to take a swab sample of the area just to have proof that the dust was not mold. I took the test, sent it in and it came back: No fungi detected (molds are one form of fungi, don’t ya know, so no molds were detected). So the answer to the question this time was, “No, that is not mold.” I let the homeowner know the results and that in my opinion there wasn’t any need for further investigation or remediation in this matter. Since no mold was detected no mold remediation was needed.
