Why 2 Outdoor Samples?

"A mold inspector will take two outdoor air samples." Why does InterNachi and IAC2 require 2 outdoor air samples as a baseline?
Just so you know where my thinking is going on this: When you are about to answer… stop… and ask yourself this… If that philosophy is true about the outdoor sampling then why is the same philosophy not also true about the indoor sampling?
Can anyone get this nagging question out of my head. Please!

Nobody appears to know. And when this question is pressed people get offensive.

Ding Ding Ding!!! Give the man a Cupie Doll.

I believe Ben wrote the SOP, not a lab (though I could be wrong).

It makes no sense at all to me.
I’m also shopping for a new lab that doesn’t require pre-paid lab fees. I thought Linas was nuts, I now know he is a very smart guy!

You’re too funny Mario. EMSL does have a Canadian lab. Call Jason and he will set you up with a rep. Ask about free shipping and lab supplies.:wink:

Jason McDonald
Regional Account Manager
975 Morrison Dr. Building C, Suite B
Charleston,SC 29403
888-958-8175
407-375-9573 Cell
jmcdonald@emsl.com

Thanks Pal!!

Are you guys getting your air cassettes for free or do you have to pay for they through EMSL? I have been paying for my cassettes, but only a few bucks each. With the amount of cassettes I send in to my lab, I think they should be giving them to me.

I get mine for free.

I had the privilege to work with a Federal Government Industrial Hygienist. He took seven indoor samples and two outdoors samples:-({|=. The building was a rectangular office building wide open with two private offices. 20’ x 50’

I asked him the same question: why two outdoors. He said: we average the result for more accuracy. He also does the same for the indoor. How about that for an answer???](*,)

I wrote the IAC2 SOP.

Ding Ding Dong.
I wrote the IAC2 SOP.

I believe Air-O-Cell and Bio-Tape made by Zefon and EmLab’s Micro 5 are also mentioned in the SOP. In fact, I believe I go over how to use ALL of the most common mold sampling devices in the IAC2 online video mold course.

I am not buddies with the owner of Pro-Lab. Although I’ve eaten in his restaurant and he serves a mean strip steak and mashed potatoes dinner.

Why don’t you simply ask the author of the IAC2 SOP an intelligent question instead of creating a soap opera?

ben-gromicko-iac2-training-video-with-a-sampling-device-made-by-someone-oooooh.jpb.jpg

Can you please explain why you wrote that two outdoor samples are required when every other training course, standard, or sampling guide only requires one sample. I can see your argument that it is to be more thorough, but there are a lot of other things that are not in the standard that should be in there that are not that would make an inspection and report more thorough.

I don’t see anything in the standard about recording the relative humidity and temperature of each sampling location. There is nothing in there about diagraming a room and visible mold growth. There is nothing in there about taking moisture readings of pourous substrate surfaces where mold growth is visible.

Clients don’t want to pay for 2 samples of the outside. They would rather know what is going on inside their home. I have always been taught that you take one outside sample, one inside the home in an area suspected to be uneffectd, and one in the area of concern. You use the uneffected area as an indoor control to compare your values to and than compare to the outside levels.

I think you would have been better off to recommend an additional sample be taken upon the clients approval instead of requiring it. One sample is required, but sometimes there are cases where a second sample on the exterior would not be possible.

Here is a perfectly good example:

You get called out to do a mold inspection on a condo unit that is on the 10th floor of a high rise building. The floor has other units above you and there are balconies for each unit. The unit is in the middle of the building and there are units to the left and right.

You can’t take a sample on the balcony because it is under an overhanging portion of the structure. You would have to take a smaple down at ground level in order to do you outdoor control. You move away from the building and take a sample at the required distance from the building.

Where am I supposed to take a second sample in this case and it be of actual value to the information I am trying to obtain? If I move to a different side of the building, the conditions are going to change and can drastically effect an average that have no bearing on the unit that is being inspected.

To be honest, I really don’t feel comfortable using the IAC2 standard because it recommends 2 outdoor samples be taken. It controdicts everythign every other training course says what is required, it controdicts what most labs will tell you in their sampling guides, and it is not in the standards that my insurance company requires that I adhere to in order to be covered by them.

The standard is a good first attempt and it includes a lot of detailed information, but I think that it needs to be revised a little now that it is out there and had time for people who are actually doing this kind of work day in and day out have had a chance to review it.

We only use (buy) about 3,000 a year, if EMSL is providing them free, we like to know about it. :frowning:
Jason and EMSL have been great to work with for years now.:slight_smile:

It all might depend on what you are paying per sample. Some companies roll the free supplies into their price.

Good evening Ben,
I am sometimes taken back at how juvenile some “professionals” can get.
That having been said… I believe that I did ask an intelligent question and when you jumped into the thread you completely skirted it.
After all, the thread started with… Why is it that IAC2 requires two samples outside and only one is required inside?" I would appreciate your reviewing the original post and giving me an answer. I certainly haven’t recieved one from the “folks”.
Thanks!