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Indoor Air Quality Testing in Toronto, Ontario

Mold & Bacteria Consulting Services (MBS) provides indoor air quality testing in Toronto, Ontario for homes, condominiums, offices, hospitals, schools and other workplace environments.

Why is Air Quality Testing in Toronto Important?

The purpose of indoor air quality testing for mold is to determine if the building occupants are exposed to excessively high levels of mold spores. Mold is recognized as one of the major causes of poor indoor air quality and can have a great effect on your health. It is estimated that on average we spend 90% of our everyday life indoors and hence the quality of the air we breathe is very important. Generally, the air quality indoors can be 6 to 10 times more contaminated with airborne mold spores than the outdoor air in some homes and workplaces. Airborne mold spores are not visible to the naked eye and most of the times are odorless. That means we inhale these spores all the time without knowing. Health risks depend on the amount of mold present in the air, the types of mold, the length of exposure and individuals sensitivity to mold. A mold inspection that include air testing can help determine whether the indoor air quality has been compromised by mold growth.

Where is mold likely to grow?

Mold can grow on any surface of organic material that is wet or damp for a prolonged period of time. It can grow in places like damp basements, attics, on damp walls, ceiling tiles, bathrooms, windowsills, kitchen and on damp household items.

Indoor Air Quality Testing in Toronto

Indoor air quality testing involve collecting air samples from affected areas using special air sampling equipment. We identify the mold spore types present and their concentrations in the air. After performing indoor air quality testing we provide you with a detailed report on the findings of our tests and recommendations on how you can improve the indoor air quality of your home or office. If you are a resident of Toronto and suspect your home or workplace has a mold problem we can help you resolve the problem. As a third party, we can help you ensure the mold removal and clean-up of the mold contaminated areas is done properly.

Indoor Air Quality Testing In Former Grow Op House

You want to buy or move into a house you suspect may have been a marijuana grow operation? For your peace of mind, call us to test the air quality today.

Air Quality Testing in Vancouver, BC

Mold & Bacteria Consulting Services provide indoor air quality testing in Vancouver, BC for homes, condominiums, schools, hospitals and new developments. Our focus is mold contamination caused by indoor sources of mold growth.

Why is Air Quality Testing in Vancouver Important?

Vancouver has a warm humid climate that is suitable for mold growth. Mold is recognized as one of the major causes of poor indoor air quality and can have a great effect on your health. Since we spend an average of 90% of our everyday life indoors, the quality of the air we breathe is very important to our health. The air quality indoors can be 6 to 10 times more contaminated with airborne mold spores than the outdoor air in some homes and workplaces. Airborne mold spores are not visible to the naked eye and most of the time are odorless. This means you could be inhaling excessively high quantities of airborne spores without knowing. The only way to be sure that you are not exposed to hazardous mold is to test the air.

Sources of Mold Growth Indoors

Mold can grow in places like basements, attics, on walls, ceiling tiles, bathrooms, windowsills, kitchen and on household items if they are damp. Our indoor air quality testing and mold inspection service provides you with a detailed report on the findings of our tests and expert recommendations on how you can improve the indoor air quality of your home or office.

Indoor Air Quality Testing in Vancouver, BC

We collect air samples from affected areas using special air sampling equipment that is calibrated to collect a known amount of air per minute. The samples are submitted to our accredited laboratory for analysis. The laboratory identifies and counts the mold spore types to determine how contaminated the indoor air is. If you are a resident of Vancouver and suspect your home or workplace has a mold problem we can help you resolve the problem. As a third party, we can help you ensure the mold removal and clean-up of the mold contaminated areas is done properly.

Air Quality Testing In Former Grow Op Houses

We can help with mold inspection and air quality testing in former marijuana grow op houses in Vancouver and surrounding areas.

Can Mold, Yeast, and Non-specific Bacteria Cause Bladder Problems?

Question: I love your blog and hope you can answer this mold question.

I worked at a beauty salon for 1 1/2 years. I started to have back to back urinary tract infections (Escherichia coli). I’ve had these infections a couple of times in my 40+ years on earth but nothing like I was experiencing this time around. It felt like someone lined my bladder with vicks vapor rub and added some pins. The antibiotics I was prescribed made the pain worse. A client of mine (she came every week and spent a long time under the dryer) was experiencing the same thing. About 2 weeks after the bladder pain started, I started having difficulty breathing (I was diagnosed with moderate lung obstruction) and I was placed on an inhaler. I then noticed a fungal rash on my arms I had to treat with Monistat (it cleared up in 6 days). My symptoms started in early June after a flood in the shop which I suspect could have caused mold growth. Dehumidifiers were bought in and ran all day for a couple of days. By August I had to leave because it was just too difficult to breath, take a flight of stairs etc. My urologist couldn’t find the cause of the pain and an internal view of my bladder found nothing. Can mold, yeast, and non-specific bacteria found in these reports cause bladder problems? The pain got significantly better a week after I left. The pain went away completely after about 2 months away from the salon.

The owner decided to have an air quality test for mold done because a girl that rented the room prior to me complained of breathing difficulties only when she was at work. I attached the mold report for you to look at.

Thanks!

Answer: Escherichia coli (E. coli in short) is a bacterium commonly found in the lower digestive tract of warm-blooded animals including humans. Most E. coli strains are harmless, but some strains, such as serotype O157:H7, can cause serious food poisoning. E. coli is also a common cause of urinary tract infections. Infection occurs when E. coli from the digestive tract find their way into the urethra and begin to multiply. The bacterium can move to the bladder and multiply there causing infection of the bladder. I have looked at the lab report that you had attached. The molds reported are unlikely to cause infection. A possible fungal infection of the bladder especially when one has been using antibiotics is Candida infection (candidiasis). Candida can infect other areas of the body including the mouth, throat, skin, scalp, genitals, fingers, nails, bronchi, lungs, and the gastrointestinal tract.

Sampling For Airborne Fungal Spores

Reasons for Conducting Air Sampling For Fungal Spores

Air sampling pump
Air sampling

Sampling for airborne fungal spores may be conducted for a number of reasons including assessing the air quality, detection of pathogenic organisms, epidemiological surveys and predictions, detection of mycotoxin producing fungi, or detection and measurement of exposure to allergenic fungi and actinomycetes. Before sampling for airborne fungal spores it’s important to have a clear objective and the data that would meet that objective. Some of these objectives require counting and identification of the airborne fungal particulates. A well calibrated pump is therefore required. The method of sampling, the equipment and the media are determined by the data required. For example if one is interested in species identification, then they would collect culturable air samples using an Andersen or RCS sampler.

Methods for Sampling for Airborne Fungal Spores

Culturable Air Samples

If the air was sampled by impaction onto a growth media, then the samples are first incubated at suitable temperature followed by counting and identification of resulting colonies (if any). A number of factors may affect the reliability of the colony counts data. These include the suitability of the agar media used for sampling, colony density, and presence of fast growing isolates. Some agar media are highly selective and therefore would not suitable when the objective was to determine the diversity of fungal species in the air. If the colony density is very high, then counting becomes difficult. In the presence of fast growing isolates, slow growing isolates are masked and hence difficult to count.

Non-culturable Air Samples

The second method of air sampling is where the air is impacted on inert medium, usually a filter membrane or adhesive-coated slide. The collection medium is then analyzed by transmitted light microscopy (popularly known as direct microscopic examination), typically at 600–1000 × magnification. A number of different collection devices may be used for spore trap sampling of which the most common are slit or circular impactors such as the Air-O-Cell®, Allergenco D, Micro 5, Cyclex D and other similar cassettes. Mixed cellulose ester membrane (MCEM) filters are also occasionally used.

Choose Your Spore Trap Analytical Labs Wisely

Identification of airborne fungal spores to species can only be accomplished by an experienced mycologist. Similarly, spore trap analysis requires considerable skill and experience on the part of the analyst to identify spores accurately, and to differentiate them from other airborne particulate. In most cases identification of airborne fungal spores by direct microscopic examination is limited to genus. In some cases identification of spores to specific genus is difficult. A good spore trap analyst requires several years of experience. A recent multi-laboratory comparative study of spore trap analyses found that only 75% of commercial accredited labs could consistently identify correctly Cladosporium spores and only 50% could identify Aspergillus/Penicillium-like spores consistently. The level of experience required for species identification or spore trap analysis cannot be attained in a short time, and it cannot easily be acquired by individuals lacking advanced training in mycology or plant pathology.

Mold & Bacteria Consulting Laboratories is accredited by CALA to the Internationally recognized ISO/IEC 17025:2005. 

What Is Deemed Acceptable Indoor Airborne Mold Spore Levels In Ontario?

Question: Is there any government or industry standard as to what is deemed an acceptable indoor airborne mold spore levels in Ontario? The electrical inspector refuses to come on our property even though we have had several air test performed. The qualified tester says we have samples of mold but found them to be acceptable. I was hoping for some clarity on this matter.

Answer: Currently there is no government or industry standard as to what is deemed acceptable indoor airborne mold spore levels. However, it’s generally agreed that mold in indoor environments is a health hazard. However, the higher the airborne mold spore levels in a building the higher the health risk. In 2007 Health Canada published the Residential Indoor Air Quality Guidelines: Moulds.

This is what Health Canada’s Residential Indoor Air Quality Guidelines say about exposure limits:

Health Canada considers that mold growth in residential buildings may pose a health hazard.
Health risks depend on exposure and, for asthma symptoms, on allergic sensitization. However, the
large number of mold species and strains growing in buildings and the large inter-individual variability
in human response to mold exposure preclude the derivation of exposure limits. Therefore, Health Canada recommends:

  • to control humidity and diligently repair any water damage in residences to prevent mold growth; and
  • to clean thoroughly any visible or concealed mold growing in residential buildings.

These recommendations apply regardless of the mold species found to be growing in the building.

Further, in the absence of exposure limits, results from tests for the presence of fungi in air cannot be used to assess risks to the health of building occupants.

So currently there is no acceptable or unacceptable indoor airborne mold Spore levels in Ontario.

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Legionella pneumophila – Guidelines for Laboratory Interpretation

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The Indoor Mold Is An Early Warning Device

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