InstaScope Blog
Measuring Mold: Where Assessments Meet Immediate Action
Jun 12, 2020
It’s easy to ignore what you can’t see. But just because one’s home or business facility appears to be devoid of hazardous mold growth, that does not mean there are not sinister spores growing in the dark recesses or moist corners of a given space.
Thus, professional mold assessments are not only necessary in maintaining a healthy standard for indoor air quality, but real-time analyses are becoming increasingly necessary in order to provide effective services that ensure both the physical and constitutional health of a building and its inhabitants.
Why Mold Testing Is Important — Structural Elements
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has specified that more than a quarter of U.S. buildings are marred by water damage with mold growth, which can not only cause health hazards but safety complications.
“Problems may arise when mold starts eating away at materials, affecting the look, smell, and possibly — with the respect to wood-framed buildings — affecting the structural integrity of the buildings,” OSHA explains.
Plus, mold isn’t only liable to grow around windows or areas of plumbing, but on a wide variety of surfaces in and around the property in question. Even areas that have previously been dry might feature nutrients that are propitious to the growth of mold spores as moisture spreads.
“Wet cellulose materials, including paper and paper products, cardboard, ceiling tiles, wood, and wood products, are particularly conducive for the growth of some molds,” the Centers for Disease Control reports. “Other materials such as dust, paints, wallpaper, insulation materials, drywall, carpet, fabric, and upholstery, commonly support mold growth.”
Why Mold Testing Is Important — Health Concerns
When sight cannot be relied upon to determine whether mold might be present, it’s the health of the building’s inhabitants that can often act as an indicator. Asthma and allergies, in particular, are likely to arise or become inflamed in people who are consistently exposed to hazardous mold spores.
But that’s not where it ends.
“Toxicological evidence obtained in vivo and in vitro supports these findings, showing the occurrence of diverse inflammatory and toxic responses after exposure to microorganisms including their spores, metabolites and components isolated from damp buildings,” the World Health Organization summarized in their guide for indoor air quality.
In laymen’s terms, toxic mold exposure may induce a wide variety of physical symptoms and complications beyond mere sniffles and sneezes. Specifically, some people may even develop intense bouts of pneumonia or bronchitis, as well as dermatological symptoms, such as worsened rashes or eczema.
Real-Time Results for Relevant Action
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the effects of mold might not always be immediately apparent. Rather, the manifestation of sickness — whether it be in a person or a building — may be delayed, making it more difficult to isolate and detect.
For this reason, it is valuable for indoor air quality professionals and mold inspectors to be able to conduct instant mold inspections and air quality assessments that give results in real-time. This way, homeowners can take action right away with remediation if there is a mold problem.
The InstaScope is one such revolutionary device that provides assessors with the consistent, objective, and immediate results long sought after by industry scientists.
In real-time, the InstaScope can assess airborne contaminants including mold, bacteria/virus, and pollen, and can also compare the air biological loads to identify potentially harmful airborne particulate matter. It does this with precision and displays the findings in a user-friendly format.
Additionally, the InstaScope is capable of generating whole area scans, allowing the user to compare the results of multiple rooms across a given building for a more comprehensive overview of the building’s health.
Are you ready to detect and combat airborne mold spores by providing instant and certifiable results? Then it’s time to turn to the InstaScope! To learn more about the InstaScope and its capabilities — or if you’re ready to equip your team with the industry’s leading technology — contact DetectionTek today by calling 720-410-7030 or emailing info@instascope.co.