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Health Symptom Assessment |
MTS is often requested to check for mold where one or more persons in an office or house are noticing health symptoms. These may be allergy or flu-like symptoms. Headaches, eye and throat irritation, etc. may be mentioned. It must be emphasized many IAQ symptoms can occur that ARE not related to mold. Mold testing can be useful to rule out the possibility of mold being a concern or to verify it does occur. Mold testing can also be useful to minimize liability to show that due diligence has been performed by the building owner.
A typical health assessment includes a brief walk around the outside of the building and walk through inside the building. In some cases, MTS is requested to only check certain rooms (and at times when these rooms are not occupied). It can be useful to question the persons with the symptoms as to what the symptoms are, when they began, do they feel better away, etc. The history of the building should be checked. Has there been recent leaks, water damage, clean-ups, remodeling, changes to the ventilation or cleaning practices, etc? In some situations, IAQ questionnaires may be used (but many building managers prefer not to do this). Are the symptoms most noticeable at a specific time of the day or certain weather conditions?
We usually collect a few airborne mold tests within and away from the complaint area, with emphasis on those rooms where the persons with symptoms spend their time. In homes, this often includes bedrooms. We typically spot checks walls with moisture meters and check for various IAQ parameters, including carbon dioxide, relative humidity, temperature and ultrafines.
Checking for health symptoms can often be inconclusive. Some persons with allergies are extremely sensitive to dust, mold and allergens that may not be noticeable to others. Testing may show no obvious problem. This does not mean that some form of IAQ problem may not exist. Many other factors can cause symptoms besides mold.
The typical damage assessment includes a written report, site sketch and photos. The report includes field observations, moisture meter notes, field IAQ meter readings and airborne mold lab analyses, interpretation of the data and conclusions and recommendations. Airborne levels are compared to guidelines developed by MTS. A typical assessment costs about $400-1,000 plus tax plus travel.
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