My name is Angela Hu and I am the summer marketing intern here at Assured Bio Labs, LLC. I am a sophomore at the University of Tennessee and majoring in Marketing. I manage our social media sites and find ways to promote our products and services that we offer at our lab located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

I interviewed one of my fellow coworkers, Kyle Lathrop, a lab analyst who also does on-site inspections, and asked him to tell me about one of the many times he’s done a mold inspection. What goes on during an inspection, what do you find, how do you fix the problem, and what is the outcome? These are some common questions people think of when they decide their home needs to have an inspection.

“There was a condo here in Knoxville TN. It was closed up for a while; the homeowner was an elderly lady who lived alone while the rest of her family lived in California. After she passed away, the house stayed empty with the power turned off for quite some time. When that happens, the HVAC system is not circulating the air, and a lot of moisture accumulates everywhere in the home, like the walls, ceilings, furniture. We took samples and identified high levels of Stachybotrys sp. and penicillin/aspergillus-like mold, which is identified by microscopy. The remediation team comes in and cleans up the house, and even after they cleaned and moved everything, they still found mold. They had to take out the entire ceiling because mold was growing inside the cavity, along with the walls. With that job it was more of exploratory demolition; finding where the mold was, which was a unique job.”

“I think that after we took down the ceiling and a couple walls, it fixed the problem. We were able to find all the mold and put the ceiling back in and everything was fine. Once it was cleaned, it received the Clean Bill of Health from us, ensuring that there wasn’t any mold and they were able to put the condo back on the market for sale.”

When inspections are done, inspectors will usually examine outside the house first, discuss with the homeowner, then move inside the house if necessary. In most cases, there is always a solution to any problem and a positive outcome. Assured Bio Labs, LLC does its very best to ensure 100% customer satisfaction. Give us a toll-free call at 1-866-547-1727 or email us at info@assuredbio.com.

Until the next inspection,

Angela