Signs of Mold in a Florida Home and When Testing Actually Makes Sense

Why mold is so common in South Florida homes

Mold is not something a house catches. Spores are part of ordinary outdoor air everywhere, and CDC puts it plainly: there is always some mold around. Spores drift in through doors, ride in on clothes and pets, and settle on surfaces where they do nothing until they land somewhere damp. EPA's position is that there is no practical way to remove every spore from a home, and that the way to control indoor mold is to control moisture. Every sign in this guide is really a sign of water in the wrong place.

South Florida supplies that water in more ways than most of the country. The outdoor air is warm and humid for much of the year, so houses stay closed and air-conditioned for months at a stretch, and the A/C becomes the main machine pulling moisture out of the indoor air. When it struggles, humidity creeps up without anyone noticing. Add summer downpours, a hurricane season that runs from June 1 to November 30, plumbing that has been in the walls for decades and roofs that bake in the sun, and water has plenty of ways in.

Moisture, food and time

Mold also needs something to feed on, and a house is full of it. CDC lists dust, paint, wallpaper, insulation, drywall, carpet, fabric and upholstery among the materials it grows on, and EPA adds wood and paper. The paper facing on drywall, the particleboard floor of a sink cabinet and a closet full of clothes all become food once they stay wet. Wet wood can also rot, and the fungi behind that decay are among the organisms checked on a Florida WDO inspection.

Time is the third ingredient. EPA notes that if wet materials are dried within 24 to 48 hours after a leak or spill, mold will not grow in most cases. That window is short, and a slow drip behind a cabinet or inside a wall is never dried in time because nobody knows it is there. That is why so much mold in Florida homes grows out of sight, and why the first sign is so often a smell rather than a stain.

Signs of mold in a house: what to look and smell for

Most people notice mold with their nose before their eyes. CDC describes the odor as musty, and homeowners also call it earthy, stale or like a damp cardboard box. These are the signs that matter most, roughly in the order people tend to notice them:

• A musty odor that is strongest in one room, inside a closet or cabinet, or right after the A/C starts. EPA names a moldy smell with no visible source as a reason to suspect hidden growth.
• Spots or fuzzy patches in any color. CDC notes that mold can look like spots of many different colors, so green, gray, white, brown and black all count.
• Stains and rings on ceilings, especially under bathrooms, around A/C supply vents, near the air handler closet and on top-floor ceilings below the roof.
• Paint that bubbles, cracks or peels, and wallpaper, caulk or grout that lifts away. Moisture behind a finish pushes it off the surface.
• Swollen or soft trim: baseboards, door casings and the bottoms of kitchen and bathroom cabinets that have puffed up, darkened or started to separate.
• Cupped or lifting floors, such as laminate or wood planks whose edges rise, which usually means water got underneath.
• Condensation that keeps coming back on windows, sliding doors, A/C vents or cold water pipes. EPA treats condensation as a possible sign of high humidity.
• Dark speckles around supply vents and on A/C grilles, or rust and standing water around the air handler.
• Musty clothes, shoes, belts and bags in closets, and a light film on leather or wooden furniture.

Physical symptoms are a much harder signal to read. CDC says that for some people mold can cause a stuffy nose, sore throat, coughing or wheezing, burning eyes or a skin rash, and that people with asthma or a mold allergy may have severe reactions. CDC also says exposure to damp and moldy places may cause a variety of health effects, or none at all, and those symptoms have plenty of other causes. If someone in the home is unwell, talk to a doctor. Treat the house as a separate question: is there moisture, and where is it coming from?

Where mold hides in a Florida home, room by room

EPA's list of hiding places reads like a tour of a typical South Florida house: the back side of drywall, wallpaper and paneling, the inside of walls around leaking or sweating pipes, walls behind furniture where condensation forms, the inside of ductwork and roofing materials above the ceiling. The table below is a starting point for your own walk-through, with what a homeowner can safely check without opening anything.

Two patterns explain most of that table. The first is plumbing. Anywhere a supply line, drain or appliance hose sits behind a closed door, a slow drip can run for weeks before anyone sees it. The second is temperature. Wherever cold air or a cold pipe meets humid air, water condenses, and in a Florida house the coldest surfaces are almost always part of the A/C system.

Spots people forget to check

A few places rarely get a look until something goes wrong: the wall behind the refrigerator, where an ice maker line runs; the space under the dishwasher; the toe kick under a bathroom vanity; the back wall of a closet that sits against an exterior wall; and the garage ceiling under a bathroom or laundry. Pull the refrigerator out once a year, open the toe kick if it comes off, and look up when you are in the garage. Stains, a soft spot or a sour smell in any of them deserves a closer look.

Your A/C: the first suspect in a Florida house

An air conditioner dries the air as it cools it. Warm indoor air passes over the cold evaporator coil inside the air handler, moisture condenses on the coil the way it does on a glass of iced tea, and the water drips into a drain pan. From there it leaves through a condensate drain line, usually white PVC, that runs outside or into a plumbing drain. Through a Florida summer, that path carries water every single day, and when any part of it fails, the water goes somewhere else. A/C drainage problems show up again and again on our list of the most common problems South Florida inspections turn up.

Drain lines and pans

Condensate lines clog. Algae and sludge thrive in that slow trickle of water, and a blocked line backs water up into the pan. An air handler in an attic or above a finished ceiling usually sits over a secondary pan, often with a float switch that shuts the system down when water rises. An air handler in a hallway closet, common in condos and older homes, overflows onto the closet floor, into the base of the wall and sometimes into the unit below. EPA's advice is to keep drip pans clean and drain lines unobstructed and flowing. In practice that means flushing the line on the schedule your A/C contractor recommends and making sure the float switch actually trips.

Sweating ducts and vents

In homes with ducts in the attic, cold supply ducts run through one of the hottest, most humid spaces in the state. If the insulation jacket is torn, crushed or loose at a connection, the duct sweats, and the drips stain the ceiling below. The same thing happens at supply registers when very cold air meets humid room air, which shows up as a dark ring or speckles around the vent. EPA recommends insulating cold surfaces such as cold water pipes to prevent condensation. In a Florida home, the ducts and the refrigerant line belong on that list too.

Systems that cool but do not dry

A system can satisfy the thermostat and still leave the air damp. Department of Energy guidance warns that an oversized air conditioner cycles on and off too often and does a poor job of removing humidity: it reaches the set temperature quickly, shuts off and never runs long enough to wring much water out of the air. A house that feels cool but clammy, with water beading on the vents, deserves a humidity check. Dirty coils, weak airflow and refrigerant problems can also cut moisture removal, and an HVAC contractor is the right person to diagnose them.

One more EPA rule matters once mold is suspected in the system itself: do not run the HVAC system if you know or suspect it is contaminated with mold, because it can carry spores through the house. During a mold inspection we look at the air handler closet, the outside of the cabinet, the pans, the drain line and the supply vents. Cleaning the inside of the equipment and the ducts is work for an HVAC or remediation contractor.

How humid is too humid? EPA's indoor humidity guidance

EPA recommends keeping indoor relative humidity below 60 percent, and ideally between 30 and 50 percent. Those numbers describe the air inside your house, not the weather forecast, and they are easy to measure. A small digital humidity monitor, often sold as a hygrometer, sits on a shelf and shows the reading at a glance. Put one in a bedroom, one in a closet and one in the main living area, then check them on a few muggy summer evenings. A reading that stays above 60 percent tells you the house is drying too slowly, long before any stain appears.

Habits that keep indoor humidity down

• Run bathroom exhaust fans during and after showers, and make sure they vent outside rather than into the attic. EPA recommends venting bathrooms to the outside.
• Use the range hood when cooking, and vent the clothes dryer to the outside, as EPA recommends for any appliance that produces moisture.
• Use the A/C and, when needed, a dehumidifier. A dehumidifier with a hose to a drain does not depend on someone remembering to empty the bucket.
• Keep furniture a few inches off exterior walls and open closet doors now and then so conditioned air reaches the back wall.
• Make sure the ground and the gutters move rainwater away from the house. EPA recommends ground that slopes away from the foundation.

What condensation is telling you

Water on the inside of a window or slider on a cool morning means the glass is colder than the dew point of the indoor air. A little, once in a while, is not alarming. Condensation that forms every day, pools on the sill and stains the frame or the drywall below says the indoor air holds too much moisture, or that humid outdoor air is leaking in around the frame. Either way, the wet sill and the wall under it are the first places to look for growth.

After a leak, storm or flood: the 24 to 48 hour window

Water damage is where most serious mold problems in Florida begin, and the sources are rarely dramatic: a supply line under a sink, a toilet or ice maker connection, a washing machine hose, a water heater that gives out, an A/C overflow, a roof leak after a storm, or wind-driven rain forced past a window or slider. Hurricane season adds roof damage, flooding in some neighborhoods and power outages that can leave a house without A/C for days.

What to do in the first two days

• Stop the water, then photograph and video everything before you move it. Your insurer will want to see it.
• Start drying right away: pull up wet rugs, open cabinet doors, run fans and the A/C or a dehumidifier. The exception is flood water in the HVAC system: EPA says not to use a system affected by the flood to dry the house.
• Remove things that soaked up a lot of water and cannot be cleaned and dried. EPA's flood guidance is to throw those materials away.
• Treat flood water as contaminated. EPA notes it can carry bacteria, chemicals and other hazards, which makes it a different job from a clean supply-line leak.
• Call your insurer early and ask what your policy covers and what documentation it needs.

EPA's homeowner guidance is that drying wet materials within 24 to 48 hours prevents mold in most cases. Its flood guidance adds a reality check: drying a soaked house usually takes several days to weeks. Surfaces can feel dry while the bottom edge of the drywall, the wall cavity, the cabinet base or the carpet pad is still wet. A moisture meter settles that question, which is why we take readings along every wall that took water. If the water came through the roof, a roof inspection documents the covering and the likely point of entry so the right repair gets made.

Insurance and mold limits

Homeowners policies handle mold in their own way. The Florida Department of Financial Services notes that mold damage can call for testing, removal or cleaning, and it describes optional endorsements that raise a policy's mold coverage limit. Read the mold section of your policy before the next storm, not after one. If you have a claim, ask the adjuster what documentation they want, keep receipts for drying and repairs, and file any inspection or lab report with the claim records.

When water damage calls for an inspection

An inspection with moisture mapping is worth it if materials stayed wet longer than two days, if water ran inside a wall or ceiling where you cannot see, if a musty smell shows up weeks after the repair, or if you are not sure the drying company reached everything. It is also worth it before you close up walls or install new flooring over an area that was wet, because finishes go on far more easily than they come off.

Closed-up and seasonal homes: mold while you are away

A house nobody lives in for a few months is the easiest place for mold to take hold in South Florida. Seasonal residents leave in spring, investors leave units empty between tenants, and homes for sale can sit closed for weeks. Nobody opens a closet, notices a smell or hears the A/C struggling, so small problems run all summer.

What usually goes wrong

• The A/C is turned off, or set so high that it barely runs, and indoor humidity climbs week after week.
• A storm knocks out power or trips a breaker, and nobody restarts the system.
• The condensate line clogs, and the overflow runs into the closet with nobody there to see it.
• A supply line, toilet connection or water heater leaks with nobody there to shut off the water.

How to leave a house so it stays dry

• Keep the A/C running on a setting that still cycles often enough to remove moisture, and confirm it with a humidity monitor instead of a guess. EPA's line is 60 percent.
• Consider a dehumidifier that drains to a plumbing drain, and a humidity sensor that sends alerts to your phone.
• Have the A/C serviced and the condensate line flushed before you leave, and confirm the float switch works.
• Shut off the main water valve for long absences, and ask a plumber how to handle the water heater safely.
• Leave interior doors, closets and cabinet doors slightly open so conditioned air reaches them.
• Arrange for someone to check the house after storms and power outages, and at regular intervals in between.

When you come back, trust your nose at the front door. A musty smell in a house that was closed for months, water in the A/C closet or a humidity reading well above 60 percent is the moment to look closely, before the problem spreads into furniture, mattresses and clothes.

When mold testing makes sense, and when it does not

This is where honest advice and sales pitches part ways. CDC does not recommend mold testing as a routine step and says that if you see or smell mold, you should remove it, with no need to know which type it is. EPA says that in most cases, if visible mold growth is present, sampling is unnecessary. There is also no federal yardstick for an acceptable amount: EPA notes that no standards or limits have been set for airborne mold or spores, and CDC says there are no set standards for an acceptable quantity in a home.

That does not make testing useless. It makes it a tool for specific questions. Sampling helps when the source is hidden and you need to know whether there is an indoor problem at all, when water got into walls and you need to know whether growth followed, when you are buying a house and need facts before your inspection period ends, and after remediation, when you want an independent check that the cleanup worked. EPA notes that surface sampling can help show whether an area has been adequately cleaned, and that sampling should be done by professionals with specific experience, with lab analysis following methods recommended by groups such as AIHA and ACGIH.

The most valuable part of a mold inspection and air sampling visit is often not the lab result. It is locating the moisture, because the moisture decides whether the problem comes back. Elevated spore counts without a known source tell only half the story, and a cleanup that removes growth without fixing the leak simply resets the clock.

How a mold inspection works, step by step

A mold inspection is part detective work and part measurement. Here is how ours runs, from the first call to the written report.

1. The call. Tell us what you have noticed and when: the smell, the stains, past leaks, A/C repairs, insurance claims, how long the house sat closed. That history decides where we spend the most time. You get a firm price before anything is scheduled.
2. Before the visit. Leave suspicious areas as they are. Do not clean, bleach or paint over a stain, and keep windows and doors closed with the A/C running as usual, so the house is in its normal condition when the air is sampled. We will tell you anything else that applies to your home.
3. Walk-through and visual inspection. We go room by room: ceilings, walls, closets, every sink cabinet, tubs and showers, windows and sliders, the A/C closet, the water heater and the laundry area. Outside, we look at grading, gutters, stucco cracks, sprinklers and the roof edge for clues that explain what we see inside.
4. Moisture mapping. A moisture meter checks walls, baseboards, cabinets and floors where water would collect. A thermal camera scans for temperature patterns that can point to damp areas, and every suspicious pattern is checked with the meter.
5. Air sampling. When sampling fits the question, we take indoor air samples in the areas of concern and an outdoor sample for comparison, then send them to a laboratory for analysis. Each sample adds a lab analysis, so the number of samples is the main factor in what a mold inspection costs.
6. The report. You receive photos, moisture readings, the lab results explained in plain English and specific recommendations: what to repair, whether the situation calls for a licensed remediator and when follow-up testing makes sense.

A standard mold inspection is non-invasive. We do not cut into walls, pull up flooring or take apart A/C equipment, so a reading that points behind a finished surface is reported as a finding to investigate, not a guess about what is inside. If you are buying, the mold inspection can be combined with a full home inspection in the same visit.

What a thermal camera can and cannot do

Thermal imaging is often oversold. The camera does not see water, and it certainly does not see mold. It sees surface temperature, and damp materials often read cooler than their surroundings because evaporation cools them. Cold air from a vent, missing insulation or a shaded wall can produce the same pattern, which is why a thermal image is a lead to confirm with a meter and never proof on its own.

Types of mold tests and how to read the results

Most residential mold testing relies on air samples, sometimes supported by surface samples that identify a specific stain. Each method answers a narrow question, and none of them replaces a careful search for moisture. The table compares the samples and the two instruments that guide where they are taken.

Air samples and the outdoor comparison

An air sample is a snapshot of a few minutes. A pump pulls a measured volume of air through a small cassette that traps airborne particles, and an analyst at the lab counts and identifies the spores under a microscope. Results are reported by type, as spores per cubic meter of air. Because there is no federal limit to measure against, the meaningful comparison is with the outdoor sample taken the same day. In a house without an indoor source, indoor counts are usually lower than outside and the mix of types looks similar. Counts clearly higher inside, or a type that shows up indoors but barely appears outside, suggest something is growing in the house.

Surface samples

Tape lifts, swabs and bulk samples answer a simpler question: is this stain mold, and what kind? They are handy when a discoloration could be dirt, soot or growth, or to document a stain for a contractor or an insurer. They say nothing about the rest of the house. Our mold inspections are built around moisture mapping and air sampling, so if you need a surface sample, ask us whether it can be added to your visit.

Reading the lab report

Lab reports vary in layout, but most list each spore type found, the raw count, the concentration per cubic meter and notes on the sample, such as how much background debris made it harder to read. Keep these points in mind:

• One high number is not a diagnosis. Weather, recent rain, wind, cleaning, pets and people moving around all change what a pump catches in a few minutes.
• A normal air result does not clear a wet wall. If the meter shows moisture, it still needs a repair, because growth inside a closed cavity may not show up in room air yet.
• The cause matters more than the species. CDC says you do not need to know the type of mold to remove it, and the fix is the same: find the water, dry it out and remove the growth.
• Results cannot predict illness. CDC says you cannot rely on sampling to know whether someone might become sick.

Lab analysis usually takes a few business days. When the results come back, we walk you through what they mean for your house alongside the moisture findings, so you are not left alone with a page of numbers.

What to do if you find mold in your home

Whatever the size, the order of work is the same: fix the water first, then deal with the growth. Cleaning mold off a wall that is still being fed by a leak only buys a few weeks.

Small areas: under about 10 square feet

EPA's homeowner guidance is that if the moldy area is less than about 10 square feet, roughly a 3 by 3 foot patch, you can usually handle the job yourself by following its guidelines. The main ones:

• Scrub mold off hard surfaces with detergent and water, and dry them completely.
• Throw away absorbent materials such as ceiling tiles and carpet that have become moldy, since they may not come clean.
• Do not paint or caulk over mold. EPA warns that paint applied over moldy surfaces is likely to peel.
• Protect yourself with an N-95 respirator, long gloves that reach the middle of the forearm and goggles without ventilation holes.
• Skip bleach as a routine step. EPA does not recommend biocides such as chlorine bleach as a routine practice, and bleach must never be mixed with cleaners that contain ammonia.

CDC notes that people with asthma or a mold allergy may have severe reactions, and that people with weakened immune systems or chronic lung disease may get lung infections from mold. If that describes anyone in your household, ask a doctor before they take part in any cleanup.

Larger areas, the A/C system and heavy water damage

Above about 10 square feet, after heavy water damage, or when the A/C system is involved, EPA points homeowners to its more detailed remediation guidance, written for larger jobs, and to its guidance on air ducts. In Florida, removing more than 10 square feet of mold as a service is mold remediation, a licensed activity covered in the next section. Ask any remediator for the license number, proof of insurance and a written scope that names the moisture source, the materials to be removed, how the work area will be contained and how the result will be checked. EPA also suggests making sure the contractor has experience cleaning up mold.

Knowing the job is finished

EPA's test for a finished cleanup is straightforward: the water problem has been fixed, and no visible mold or moldy odor remains. Post-remediation testing, often called clearance testing, adds an objective check, and it carries the most weight when it comes from someone who did not do the removal. In Florida, that separation is more than good practice. It is written into the law.

Florida mold licensing: assessors, remediators and the 12-month rule

Florida regulates mold work under Part XVI of Chapter 468 of the Florida Statutes, administered by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR). The law creates two licenses:

• Mold assessor. Under Section 468.8411, a mold assessment includes physical sampling and a detailed evaluation of the building's history and inspection data to form an initial hypothesis about the origin, identity, location and extent of mold growth larger than 10 square feet.
• Mold remediator. Mold remediation is the removal, cleaning, sanitizing, demolition or other treatment, including preventive work, of more than 10 square feet of mold or mold-contaminated material that was not grown there on purpose. A remediator may not do work that requires a construction license under Chapter 489 without holding that license or complying with that chapter.

To be licensed, an applicant passes the state examination and documents training in water, mold and respiratory protection. Section 468.8421 requires assessors to carry general liability and errors and omissions coverage, and remediators to carry general liability coverage that includes mold claims, with a minimum of $1,000,000 in each case. The law exempts some people, including owners working on their own residential property and certain other licensed professionals acting within the scope of their own licenses, as long as they do not advertise themselves as mold assessors or remediators. You can look up a Florida license by name on DBPR's website, myfloridalicense.com.

The conflict-of-interest rule

Section 468.8419 bars a mold assessor, or the assessor's company, from performing or offering remediation on a structure where it provided a mold assessment within the last 12 months. The mirror rule bars a remediator from assessing a structure it remediated in the last 12 months. Both rules carry a narrow exception for certain certified contractors. The same section prohibits referral payments between assessors and remediators in either direction, and bars an assessor from accepting a job where the assessment or its fee depends on what the assessment concludes. Violations are crimes, starting at a second-degree misdemeanor and rising to a third-degree felony for repeat offenses.

The reasoning is easy to see from the homeowner's side of the table. A company that tests your house and then quotes the removal has a reason to find more mold. Keeping the two jobs apart means the person telling you how big the problem is earns nothing from its size.

Where we fit

Global Home Inspectors inspects and samples. We do not remove mold or sell remediation. Peter Lemos, our owner and lead inspector, is a Certified Master Inspector® and an InterNACHI Certified Mold Inspector. If your situation calls for remediation, the report gives the remediator a documented starting point, and we can come back after the work for an independent look at the result.

Buying a home or condo: checking for mold before you close

For buyers, timing matters more than anything. Most Florida purchase contracts give you a limited inspection period, and the moment to learn about hidden moisture is inside it, not after closing. A general home inspection is built to spot visible water stains and active leaks, but mold sampling is not part of its standard scope, which our Florida home inspection checklist explains in more detail. Adding a mold inspection with air samples makes sense when:

• The house sat vacant, came out of foreclosure or was closed for a season.
• You notice a musty smell, especially one covered by strong air fresheners or scented candles.
• A ceiling has one freshly painted patch, or one room has new baseboards or drywall while the rest of the house is original.
• The seller disclosed past leaks, a roof leak, an A/C overflow or an insurance claim for water.
• Someone in your household has asthma or allergies and you want more information before you commit.

Ask the seller for records of any past water damage, remediation and clearance testing. A documented professional remediation with a clean follow-up is a very different story from a stain that was simply painted over.

Condos

A condo adds your neighbors' plumbing to the list. Water can come from the unit above, a shared wall, a plumbing stack or the building's roof, and air handlers and water heaters often sit in small interior closets where an overflow goes unnoticed. In a condo inspection, we pay close attention to the A/C closet, the ceilings under the unit above, walls shared with neighbors and the bathrooms. When the moisture source is part of the building rather than your unit, the association's governing documents usually spell out who repairs what. Our buyer's guide to condo milestone inspections covers the building records worth requesting before you close.

Mold inspections across South Florida

The basics are the same from Palm Beach County to Miami-Dade, but each part of the region has its own patterns. Along the coast, condo towers stack units on top of each other, so leaks travel downward, and balconies and sliders take the brunt of wind-driven rain. Inland neighborhoods built from the 1950s through the 1970s include many concrete block homes finished with stucco, often with later additions under low-slope roofs. Older homes can still have galvanized supply lines and cast iron drains, and homes from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s may have polybutylene supply lines. Insurers ask about the same materials, as our guide to what insurers flag on a 4-point inspection explains, and all of them are worth watching for leaks.

Newer homes are tighter and more efficient, which helps comfort, but they depend just as heavily on the A/C to keep humidity in check. We are based at 3610 N 65th Ave in Hollywood and inspect homes and condos across Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, with calls and texts answered seven days a week from 5 AM to 10 PM. Read about mold inspections in Hollywood, or choose your city below.

Mold myths that lead Florida homeowners astray

• "Black mold is the only kind that matters." Color tells you very little. CDC says you do not need to know the type of mold, and that mold you can see or smell should be removed.
• "Bleach solves it." EPA does not recommend bleach as a routine cleanup step, and wiping a surface does nothing about the leak feeding it or the growth inside porous drywall.
• "A coat of stain-blocking paint will cover it." EPA says not to paint or caulk moldy surfaces, and paint over mold is likely to peel. It also hides the evidence a future buyer would want to see.
• "A test will tell me whether mold is making us sick." CDC says sampling cannot be relied on for that. Health questions belong with a doctor.
• "A healthy house has zero mold spores." Spores are part of normal outdoor air, and EPA says there is no practical way to eliminate them all indoors. The goal is no indoor growth, not a sterile house.
• "Newer homes do not get mold." A new house still has plumbing that can leak, an A/C that can overflow and windows that can let in wind-driven rain. That is one reason new construction inspections look for moisture too.
• "It is easier when the inspector also does the removal." Easier, perhaps, but Florida law bars a mold assessor from remediating a structure it assessed within the previous 12 months, for good reason.

The bottom line

Signs of mold in a Florida home nearly always point back to moisture: a slow leak, an A/C that is not draining or drying the air, a roof or window letting water in, or a house left closed too long. Keep indoor humidity below 60 percent, dry anything wet within 24 to 48 hours and keep an eye on the A/C closet. If you can see a small patch, fix the water and clean it following EPA's guidance. If you smell mold but cannot find it, had water damage, are buying a home or want independent confirmation that a cleanup worked, a mold inspection with air sampling gives you facts to act on. Call or text (954) 297-0317 or send us a request, and you will have a firm price before anything is scheduled.

About the author

Peter Lemos, Certified Master Inspector®

Owner and lead inspector of Global Home Inspectors in Hollywood, FL. Peter holds InterNACHI certifications in wind mitigation, 4-point and mold inspection and has served Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties since 2008.