Home Cleaning Tips DIY Mold Plate Testing: The Moment of Truth

DIY Mold Plate Testing: The Moment of Truth

by Catherine

This is a follow-up post to my previous one about using the EC3 Mold Testing plates to doDIY mold testing on objects in your home, workplace or other living environments. The TAP tests can quickly reveal any hidden issues or areas that need to be properly cleaned or treated for mold. Here is a link to my first post.

In my post, I TAP tested the silk draperies in my parent’s dining room. Their home has great air quality–it has been independently tested by experts in the field–and I did not expect the results to show many colonies of mold. So…..without stringing you along any further, here are my photographs of the results.

Here is my watch, showing the date of the reveal, so that you know I waited at least 5 days to read the results.

Here is my watch, showing the date of the reveal, so that you know I waited at least 5 days from the evening of testing to read the results.

 

The first look at the mold colonies on the testing plates.

The first look at the mold colonies on the testing plates.

 

It is easier to identify all of the separate mold colonies when you flip the plates over.

It is easier to identify all of the separate mold colonies when you flip the plates over. Each circular dot represents a mold colony.

 

I circled and numbered all of the colonies, so that they could be seen clearly in the pictures.

I circled and numbered all of the colonies, so that they could be seen clearly in the pictures. As you can see, my TAP test resulted in 5 mold colonies for the draperies.

My test on the dining room draperies cultured 5 colonies of mold. According to the MicroBalance Health Products TAP test key, 5 – 7 colonies of mold, means that the object or area containing the object can present a moderate risk of inflammation for low mold sensitivity sufferers, and a high risk of inflammation for severe sufferers. This was actually quite a surprise for me. Looks like the draperies need a little “mold-cleaning TLC.”

Since there is no visible water or moisture intrusion around the window where they are located, and my parent’s home has great air quality, I am going to assume the mold issue is in the drapes themselves.Thus, I am going to tackle treating them with the EC3 Mold Spray. Then I will TAP test them again to show the results. We will see together on this blog how well the product alone really works.

Stay tuned! This should be interesting and exciting!

 

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