Hi everyone,
Is there any place in Canada that sells Mould test kits? I’m looking for the pump, cartridges, tape pull, swab, stand, hose, etc all in one package. I’m having troubles finding it in the Prolabs site I was told in my training that they’re the best place to buy & send samples. Is that the case? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
EMSL Labs. http://www.emslcanada.ca/
Speak to Sarah Jamieson. Tell here you were referred by OntarioACHI.
I have one. Pump tripod and everything else. Nice case for everything as well. Was purchased from Pro-Lab, hardly used.
Where are you located?
Make me an offer. Send a PM
Cheers
Health Canada states that mould requires two things to survive: high moisture / humidity and a food source.
Take away one and the mould will go away without the help of Mike Holmes and his hazmat teams.
Granted mould can be serious to some / a very few but all this hype is nothing but a money grab.
Look in your refrigerator, take a peek at your cheese.
Without mould we would not have pennicilin.
I do not mean to minimise the consequences of individuals who are sensitive to mould but get real folks. Mould is a natural phenomon of nature.
If you have mould in the attic, increase the ventilation.
If you have a musty smell (mould) in the basement, get a dehumidifier.
If you have mould in your refrigerator clean it out.
Just my opinion as always and to the originator of this post, quit watching the HGTV shows.
Bryce, these are all good points to prevent mould (or mold - choose your poison) however…
When there has been a serious moisture intrusion and a fungal growth has occurred that isn’t recommended to be treated by the consumer. (“Health Canada does not recommend that an unqualified person clean up large areas of mould”) a professional is suggested.
While “Health Canada does not recommend testing the air for mould”, they make this statement on the basis that such tests “do not address the cause of mould” nor do they “provide information on health”.
What air tests do provide however, is a before and after set of tests to state that the airborne spore count has not been substantially increased by the remediation. As it is the spores that release the mycotoxins that cause allergic reactions, this is important to know.
In fact in all remediation support tests I’ve performed, I would actually expect the number of airborne mould spores to go down as part of the remediation.
These are all valid reasons for testing.
Health-Canada also states that “Mould can grow behind walls” and that “it is important to check for the presence of mould anywhere that is damp and especially where water damage has occurred”
I don’t know of any way, other than tear off the drywall, to test for mould behind walls, than performing an air test through the wall using specialised testing penetrations.
Again, from my own experience i have found a number of serious mould growths in “musty” basements that have been behind the walls. Neither the mould, not the moisture evidence was visible in any of these cases.
Indeed in the Environmental Abatement Council of Ontario guidelines for mould abatement it states “Mould can grow behind walls so Quality assurance will include a combination of site inspections prior to abatement,during abatement, after abatement and clearance sampling including air sampling prior to dismantling of the abatement work area.” and also "Clearance air samples to be taken to indicate the work area is no longer impacted by the Mould contamination abatement process.
Generally, clearance air samples collected within the work area will be compared to samples taken
in adjacent areas from where the work area make-up air is being drawn, an other suitable location, or to outdoor air samples. An acceptable condition is indicated when:
- Concentrations of airborne fungal particles in the work area are not significantly elevated when compared to concentrations in the reference area; and
- The types of fungal particulate present in the work area do not significantly differ from those present in the reference area. Surface samples should show minimal or no Mould growth remaining at completion"
That to my mind is sufficient to ensure I have educated myself in the sampling procedures and reasons for them. Indeed had mould (and other IAQ) examinations have provided a financial back-drop in times when the general home inspection market has been down.
The key is in education and correct consumer advice. While the education offered by InterNACHI in the way of both it’s basic testing mold course and it’s advanced mold testing course, EMSL Toronto has been of enormous help to me and other members of OntarioACHI in this area as they are Ontario based and there information is jurisdictionally relevant.
While you are absolutely correct that prevention is much better than the cure, once you have mould (and it can grow in less than 48 hours) preventative measures should be taken to stop it re-occurring, but remediation is required. If the growth is such that professional abatement is needed, and often independent testing is the only conflict free way of ascertaining that, then testing, independent from the abatement company is the only way to ensure you are not getting ripped off by the abatement company, and that they have done their job right.
I hope this helps others thinking of this business.
Wise words!
G
But: Do you mean “Mould” or “Mold”? 
or Molde or Moulde
Have you now figured out the correct spelling so you can report to your stalking cyber-bully?
They are all correct. Being educated in the English language in England, we were taught things about the history of England, including the culture and the language. The latter was a derivative of the original Brittonic Celtic and Picts languages. These were influenced by the Roman Invasion which were mainly from the expansion through the Germanic occupation right up to the 5th-7th Century. This added to the language with the introduction of Germanic and Germanic-Latin words. This was followed by the invasion of the Norse countries, which introduced a number of Scandinavian words. Then came the Norman invasion and the introduction of the French words.
Add to this a smattering of words adopted from the vast empire created (and subsequently lost) by the British, we find that Mold, Molde, Mould and Mould are all valid spellings of the word that means fungus, regardless of what is written in the popular Wiki-dictionaries.
Unfortunately because of the vocabulary spaghetti that is the English language, mould, mold, moulde and mould all mean something else too.
Len:
Where you around then? I think Roy was. :mrgreen::mrgreen:
At 5am it feels like it. :shock: