Do-It-Yourself Mold Test

If you or another person has smelled moldy smells in your home or you know of present or past water leaks or water damage to your home, you should consider visually checking for mold and moisture in your home:
- Every place that there is a water source in the home, look for leaks or moisture.
- Examine under sinks, behind toilets, behind washing machine, dishwasher, ice maker, around tubs and showers, around air conditioner unit or air conditioner ducts (where condensation occurs).
- In all of these places, look for mold growth. If you see none, feel with your hands for coolness or moisture.
- If you find no mold or moisture, proceed to step 2
To check for mold in your home yourself with culture dishes:
- Purchase a Mold Test Kit or order online sterile plastic petri dishes containing Sabouraud culturing agar.
- Keep the Sabouraud culture plates in the refrigerator until ready to do your mold testing.
- Place test dishes (with the lids off) in each room near any potential water sources (kitchen, laundry room, bathrooms, bedrooms, living/dining, etc.) and one on outside window ledge in the shade with no wind.
- With black Sharpie, label bottom of each dish with “outside” or name of each room where the dish is placed.
- Leave in all locations with lids off for exactly 1 hour.
- Replace lids after one hour; move dishes to a cool (not hot or cold), dry place inside home with no sunlight.
- Check the culture dishes for fungal colonies every 24 hours for 72 hours.
- If any of the culture dishes from a room inside the home have more fungal colonies than the dish outside, look again in that room for mold & moisture, including air-conditioning/heating ducts.
If the procedure in step #2 is negative for mold in a room of your home where you strongly suspect mold, you could consider performing an ERMI test at least in that room: Mold Inspection Kit

Do-It-Yourself Mold Test

Author: Dr. Cowden

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