Gloeophyllium saeparium grown in    Mold mycelium  growing inside of wood cells
moist chamber from  rotten framing

Often test kits may not be the answer for you - it can be more efficient to send pieces of contaminated building materials directly to our laboratory for isolation and identification. Such samples are referred to as "bulk samples" in the analytical world.

To send a bulk sample for analysis, please do the following:

• Place the sample in a clean, unused ziplock bag. Do not mix samples from different locations or of different materials in the same bag, because you could cross-contaminate material, resulting in an incorrect analysis. 

• Place bag with the sample in another ziplock bag - this double-bagging insures sample integrity during shipping.

• Identify information about the sample, where it came from, some history such as exposed to flooding or other phenomena; and the date it was collected.

• Enclose payment of $100/sample to cover preparation costs.  You will be billed for species identification later.  A sample is considered to be a single type of building material in its own bag.  Example: 3 double-bags each containing separately labelled wallboard is considered three samples.   A large outer bag containing 4 smaller bags each with a different kind of building material would be billed as 4 samples.

• Ship the sample immediately to our laboratory. 

Once we have identified molds on your bulk sample, we will send you a full report on what we have found. The report is part of the cost, and includes The report includes information about known health effects on humans and other organisms, photomicrographs, worldwide distribution, known growth habitats, as well as detailed physiological, metabolic and growth parameters.

SAMPLE PREPARATION: $100/sample. A sample is defined as a single kind of building material, such as wallboard, wood or insulation. If you send us a sample of wood and a sample of wallboard, the sample preparation fees would be $200.  We ask that you send the preparation fee with the sample.

IDENTIFICATION: We charge $100/species in aggregate. If you send us 5 samples and we find the same fungus on all five samples, we charge only $100 for the identification, regardless if the fungus is found on different kinds of building materials.