The Importance of Mold Inspections

When you suspect you have mold in your home, it's crucial to have a professional inspect & test for mold. Mold Inspections & Lab Tests, Inc, in San Diego, CA, specializes in comprehensive home mold inspections. We work with a lab to provide homeowners with professional results that they can trust. With over 20 years of experience in the industry, why trust you & your family's health to anyone else?

Mold & Mold Spores

Mold spores are the problem. Mold spores are tiny microscopic organisms that continuously waft through the outdoor and indoor air. When mold spores land on a damp spot indoors, they may grow a mold colony, eat, & spread. As long as mold has a source of moisture and food, it will continue to grow. 

As mold grows and spreads, it produces fruiting bodies that produce more mold spores that may spread or be released into the air. As spores spread through the air, they may land on other moist areas or your skin, where you can inhale them through your mouth or nose. They may also enter your body through your eyes or ears. Mold spores are minuscule - over 250,000 spores can fit on the head of a pin.

Mold & Mold Spores

Mold spores are the problem. Mold spores are tiny microscopic organisms that continuously waft through the outdoor and indoor air. When mold spores land on a damp spot indoors, they may grow a mold colony, eat, & spread. As long as mold has a source of moisture and food, it will continue to grow. 

As mold grows and spreads, it produces fruiting bodies that produce more mold spores that may spread or be released into the air. As spores spread through the air, they may land on other moist areas or your skin, where you can inhale them through your mouth or nose. They may also enter your body through your eyes or ears. Mold spores are minuscule - over 250,000 spores can fit on the head of a pin.

Living Mold

For mold to grow and become a health hazard to your family and pets and do damage to your home or apartment, it needs:

  • A source of moisture.
  • A food source such as drywall (made of paper), carpets (natural fibers), all wood and construction material (even dead and living plant life), leather, bricks, and concrete. Mold virtually grows everywhere outside and inside on leaves, dirt, and plant life outside.
  • Temperatures: Mold will thrive and spread from 60-90° Fahrenheit. In cooler temperatures, mold will not die. It just lays dormant and is just as dangerous.
  • Humidity: Generally above 50° Fahrenheit.

How Mold Spreads

When mold spores enter your house and apartment, they land everywhere and on anything. Simply sitting on furniture or just walking on a carpet may stir up millions of mold spores, sending them through the air to be inhaled by us or start new colonies of mold. Remember what mold needs to survive and spread is a source of moisture, food, and the right temperature and humidity. These tiny mold spores will enter wall cavities through small cracks, holes, or just air intake (HVAC). 

When inside these wall cavities, they already have a source of food, like wood, paper in drywall, or any construction material. All it needs now is a source of moisture, such as leaks in roofs, leaks in shower fans, leaks in plumbing, or water splashed against the interior drywall. There are many ways for moisture to enter your wall cavities. When these two things meet, all that's left is the right temperature and humidity to start a new mold colony.

Mold & Your Health

  • Pathogenic

    Can cause serious health effects in the immune system of individuals, disease-oriented

  • Allergenic

    Can cause allergic or asthmatic symptoms (although usually not life-threatening) such as:

    • Wheezing
    • Runny nose
    • Eye infection
    • Headaches 

  • Toxic

    Mycotoxins can cause serious health effects, including:

    • Cancer
    • Immune problems
    • Skin disease
    • Headaches
    • Memory loss
    • Chronic fatigue
    • Nose & throat irritation
    • Persistent cold-like symptoms
    • Burning, itching, or watery eyes
    • Dizziness
    • Nausea 
    • Pregnancy concerns or miscarriages
    • Systemic rashes all over body

    You should be concerned about possible mold problems if one or more occupants suffers from unexplained health problems. 


    Airborne mold spores may enter your body through inhaling from mouth and nose or through eyes and ears.


    Non-airborne mold may enter you or your children's bodies by simply touching it. Some people may not be at risk with mold. However, some individuals may be at a higher risk, such as the elderly, infants, children, asthmatic persons, pregnant women, and people with respiratory conditions.

  • Respiratory Conditions

    Not all molds produce mycotoxins all the time, and mold does not have to be alive to be dangerous. Dead and dormant mold can be just as toxic. Even just smelling dead or inactive mold can make some people sick.

Damage to Your Home

Mold eats whatever it grows on. It could eat you out of your house and home. Do not ignore home maintenance and mold clues. Several circumstances can lead to mold. Any of the following can indicate the presence of mold:

  • persistent leaks in your roof, plumbing, or sewer line
  • water stains on ceilings
  • smell of mold
  • visual mold growth
  • high humidity in your home (above 50 degrees Fahrenheit)
  • damp attic, basement, or crawl spaces

Even when these problems are corrected, it does not mean that mold colonies have not already started to grow & spread. Do not assume there is no mold problem because of no visible mold growth. The worst infestation problems are often those you cannot see, including inside:

  • floors
  • ceilings
  • walls
  • basements
  • attics
  • crawl spaces
  • heating & cooling ducts

My Home Is New - Is It Mold-Free?

Do you think a new home is mold-free? Forget it! In today's home construction, it is almost guaranteed. Today's new homes often come with built-in mold infestation problems because:

  • moldy building materials are received from the builder's supplier - today's timbers are not kiln-dried as in earlier times and thus contain a high internal moisture content that makes mold growth possible in the wood
  • the builder and its supervisors and employees fail to do quality control to inspect for and, thus prevent moldy building materials from being used in the home's construction
  • the builder stores the inventory of building materials on the outside ground with no plastic sheeting to protect the building materials from rain (which thus supplies the necessary water to enable mold to grow in and on the materials)
  • the construction crew fails to cover the entire home under construction with plastic sheeting at the end of each construction day to protect the building materials from rain (which thus supplies the necessary water to enable mold to grow in and on the materials). The roof and side walls need to be protected against rain until the entire roof, siding, windows, and doors are installed to seal out rain
  • the builder fails to inspect and test the home for mold growth during construction and at the home's completion
  • use of modern building materials like chip wafer boards, drywall (plasterboard), and plywood, all of which molds love to eat
  • failure to spray all wood-based construction materials on all surfaces with at least one spraying of the EPA-registered fungicide Coverage Plus and at least one spraying of the EPA-registered Tim-bor wood protectant. 

California Mold Disclosure Law

Mold is not a new problem that just sprung up. It has always been with us. It is coming to light now because of health problems, structural damage to homes, and lawsuits against real estate brokers, agents, sellers, and homebuilders by families that just purchased their homes. Like asbestos laws and lead paint poison laws, the government acts slowly.

California state government enacted a Mold Disclosure Law in January 2002. This law regulates builders, real estate brokers, sellers, and agents to include Mold Disclosure Statements when a property is transferred. This Mold Disclosure Statement will allow the homebuyer to know what the mold condition of their home is on the day of purchase.

A new requirement as of January 2022 requires California rental property owners to provide a booklet on mold to potential tenants. California state government initially passed this legislation in 2001, but the Department of Public Health recently developed the booklet. View the PDF here. 

What to Avoid

Do not even think about hiring a Certified Mold Inspector who does remediation work or even recommends one! Let's face it; mold remediators make their living on a property owner's misfortune. Mold remediation is a significant and expensive business. There are several reasons not to use a mold remediation company to do the first home inspection. Here are a few:

  • Fraudulent Mold Testing

    Some unscrupulous contractors will bring back to you mold test results showing severe mold problems in your home or on your property. Unfortunately, the mold samples are not actually from your house but are, in fact, samples that had been intentionally infected (inoculated) with large amounts of mold spores from other locations or mold collections maintained by these same contractors. 


    The purpose of fraudulent mold testing is to frighten homeowners into authorizing more remediation work than necessary.

  • House Cooking

    "House cooking" is an old scam designed to get the worst possible test results. The inspector shuts all the windows and turns on the furnace to elevate the number of mold spores in the air before taking samples. Some will even turn on ceiling fans and humidifiers full blast. 


    The purpose is to cause high levels of detectable mold to justify expensive mold remediation work. This scam can also be avoided by not hiring a mold inspector who profits from remediation work.

  • Mold-Sniffing Dogs

    No, we're not making this stuff up. If you haven't seen them yet, you probably will before long. Their owners are banking on you being as gullible as they are.


    As you can see, there is room in the mold remediation business for deception and abuse. Don't get us wrong. Most Certified Mold Remediators are honest businessmen. Their job is to remove mold if their services are needed. Note that Certified Mold Remediators are the only qualified contractors to remove this dangerous mold. In most cases, homeowners can handle their own remediation as long as the mold problem is found in the beginning stages.

Concerned About Mold in Your Home? Call Us for a Professional Mold Inspection With Lab Results - 619-741-7757