The Best Home Inspection LLC

Mold Inspection Overview

Visual Inspection

The visual inspection is the first part of a mold inspection. The purpose of the visual inspection is to identify visible mold or conditions that may be productive to microbial growth (examples musty odor/water intrusion). The sole purpose of the visual inspection is to detect the presence, or likely presence, of mold.

Scope of Visual Inspection

The scope of the visual inspection is limited to readily accessible areas only. We do not remove floor and wall coverings or move furniture, open walls or perform any type of destructive inspection.

Certain structural areas are considered inaccessible and impractical to inspect including but not limited to:

• the interiors of walls and inaccessible areas below
• areas beneath wood floors over concrete
• areas concealed by floor coverings
• and areas to which there is no access without defacing or tearing out lumber
• masonry, roofing or finished workmanship
• structures
• portions of the attic concealed or made inaccessible by insulation, belongings, equipment or ducting
• portions of the attic or roof cavity concealed due to inadequate crawl space
• areas of the attic or crawl space made inaccessible due to construction
• interiors of enclosed boxed eaves
• portions of the sub area concealed or made inaccessible by ducting or insulation
• enclosed bay windows
• portions of the interior made inaccessible by furnishings
• areas where locks prevented access
• areas concealed by appliances
• areas concealed by stored materials
• areas concealed by heavy vegetation

Note: There is no economically practical method to make these areas accessible. However, they may be subject to attack by microbial organisms. While no opinion is given concerning the condition of these areas during a visual insepction, a intrusive inspection may be done at the customers request.

Intrusive Inspection

An intrusive inspection, by nature, is more extensive and more expensive than the visual inspection. The intrusive inspection attempts to make as many inaccessible areas accessible through the use of specialized equipment and by removing some barriers.

Where it is possible, we will make the area accessible by either drilling a small hole into the suspected area(s) and/or by the removal of fixtures by a nondestructive means in order to view the area with a borescope. This requires that our customers sign a written agreement for the intrusive inspection (.pdf pages 1-2).

Examples of Inspection Agreements (pdf)

• Intrusive Inspection Agreement: Pages 1-2
• Limited Mold Sampling Agreement: Pages 3-4
• Mold Clearance Testing Agreement: Pages 5-6
• Mold Post-Cleaning Testing Agreement: Pages 7-8
• Mold Screen Inspection Agreement: Pages 9-10
• Mold Survey Inspection Agreement: Pages 11-12