Mold Testing and Remediation

Where to Start? 

​Finding accurate information about mold, mycotoxins, water damaged buildings and their health impacts can be overwhelming.   There is SO much misinformation out there from both the building industry and the the mainstream medical community (not to mention social media and influencers).  Fortunately there are a growing number of organizations for mold literate health professionals, inspectors and remediators, and better information is now available.  

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Change the Air Foundation is a new non-profit that is focused on education, research and policy reform regarding indoor air qualty and specifically mold and water damage.  

Their website is a treasure trove of free educational materials, courses, guides, and more. 

It is a great place to start for up-to-date, science based information.  

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Education​

• Free Guides

  • ISEAI  

  • NAEM

  • Change the Air Foundation

  • Beyond Mold 

• General Education

  • RealTime Labs 

  • Mold Finders Podcast 

  • Lauren Tessier 

  • Jill Crista

  • Beyond Mold 

• Books

  • Mold Controlled by John Banta​

  • Prescription for a healthy Home by John Banta and Paula LaPorte​

  • ​Toxic by  Neil Nathan​

  • Mold and Mycotoxins Current Eval and Treatment 2022 by Neil Nathan​

  • Mold Prevention 101 by Lauren Tessier​

  • Break the Mold by Jill Crista​

  • Got Mold by Jason Earle

• Online Courses

  • Change the Air Foundation (free)

    • Testing Your Home

    • Mold Remediation 

    • Understanding HVAC

  • Beyond Mold Bootcamp - Andrew Heyman MD ($500)​

    • geared toward physicians, Inspectors and Remediators

  • Jill Crista Courses (prices vary)​

    • Doctors course is the full deep dive, public courses are divided into smaller topics

  • Mold Masterclass - Brian Karr ($397)

    • zero to hero course to understand mold and water damage in buildings​

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Testing Home for Mold

It is important to know that most "mold inspection" and "air quality assessors" (IEP's or Indoor Environmental Professionals) are trained to use 30 year old technology that will fail to find serious moisture, mold and mycotoxin issues more than 75% of the time.  I HIGHLY recommend you do some DIY work first, and if you do hire a professional, take the time to research and interview all your options before you invest.  Guiding people through this process is a large part of what I do.  Refer to the section below on finding a professional IEP.  

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DIY Mold Seeking

 

DIY Visual Inspection 

• Change the Air Foundation has several free, downloadable guides to looking for water damage in your home:  

  • Full Overview:   "Mold Remediation at a Glance"

  • "Where to Look for Mold and Water Damage"

  • "Moisture Basics"

  • "5 Signs of Water Damage"

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DIY Dust Sample for Mycotoxins (top priority)

• Identifying Mycotoxins is your top priority - these are the things making you sick

  • Analytics Global

    • "Gold Mycotoxin Test" 

    • is the most comprehensive way to get a global "yes / no" if there is a problem in your home. 

    • collection media and lab analysis is state-of-the-art 

      • guaranteed sterile, specially designed collection media​

      • detailed instructions, can include coaching from one of the top mold inspectors in the US

      • ELISA testing method is most accurate for identifying specific mycotoxins, reporting identifies specific toxins individually

  • RealTime Labs

    • Environmental Mycotoxins (in dust)​

    • similar to Analytics Global, but collection media is not guaranteed sterile

    • ELISA testing method is most accurate for identifying specific mycotoxins

    • reporting does not identify specific toxins, but does idenfity toxin groups. 

 

DIY Dust Sample for Mold spore DNA

Identifying genus and species of mold present, and relative amounts can also help know how extensive the problem is, how much moisture there is, and what sorts of building materials to explore. The technology for this is called MSQ-PCR.  This is the same technology used for the ERMI test.  

ERMI tests are useful because of the PCR identification of molds present.  The ERMI score itself is not useful and can be ignored.  

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• Analytics Global

  • Mold DNA Test​   OR

  • Mold Mycotoxin Screen Combo  

  • again, these have specially designed, guaranteed sterile collection media

  • the 40 molds identified are known to grown on water damged building materials and make people sick. 

  • ERMI score not included since it is not needed.  

• DUST Test

  • tradtional ERMI with 36 molds, ​

  • sterile collection media

  • in-depth explanation of mold types

• Other ERMI tests

  • RealTime Labs​

    • reporting is limited to just  15 molds​

  • Mycometrics

    • The original ERMI lab.  Unknown collection media quality​

  • Envirobiomics

    • known problems with contamination of collection media​

  • EMSL

    • unknown collection media quality ​

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Finding Indoor Environmental Professionals (aka Mold Inspectors)

In most states there is NO regulation for mold inspectors or remediators and no training required.  The states that do require trianing rely on certification programs that do not include standards high enough for working with mold and mytoxoxin illness.  In 2026, the search algorithms below will maximize your chances of finding mold-illness literate IEP's. 

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Start here: 

• ISEAI 

  • Professional organization for mold illness literate healthcare professionals, there are IEP's and Remediators that are also members.  

• and here:  

• NORMI 

  • Professional certification organization for mold illness literate IEP's and remediators. ​

• Anyone on either list has much higher awareness of mold illness than average inspectors or remediators. They know and work with mold literate practitioners. 

 

If there is no one in your area on those short lists then search at these other organizations:  

• Search Industry standard for Inspectors:  ACAC    

• Cross reference here:  IICRC    

  • make sure they are not on this list: IICRC Invalid Firms    

• Cross reference here:  BPI   ​

• If at all possible, don't hire firms that do both inspection and remediation (big conflict of interest)

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Mold Remediation Companies

Start here: 

• ISEAI 

  • Professional organization for mold illness literate healthcare professionals, there are IEP's and Remediators that are also members.  

• and here:  

• NORMI 

  • Professional certification organization for mold illness literate IEP's and remediators. ​

• Anyone on either list has much higher awareness of mold illness than average inspectors or remediators. They know and work with mold literate practitioners. 

 

If there is no one in your area on those short lists then search at these other organizations:  

• Search Industry standard for Remediators:   IICRC         

  • make sure they are not on this list: IICRC Invalid Firms    

• Cross reference here: ACAC 

• Cross reference here:  BPI         

• If at all possible, don't hire firms that do both inspection and remediation (big conflict of interest)

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