Our Four Legged Best Friends Can Also Help Detect Mold In Our Homes

10/4/2017 (Permalink)

Many professional home inspectors use specialized tools such as water pressure gauges, infrared thermometers, devices to detect moisture and some even use mold detecting dogs!

That’s right, dogs.

These highly trained dogs are qualified to detect at least 18 kinds of mold that are deemed harmful to humans.  Their training is similar to bomb-sniffing dogs and drug-sniffing dogs.

When a home inspector cannot see behind the wall, their dogs are trained to sniff for mold in hidden places.  They alert the inspector of where mold was detected by immediately sitting down in front of that area.  

The home inspector can then do a more in-depth investigation in that area, pulling back the baseboard, cutting a small hole in the dry wall, or pulling out all of the contents of the bathroom or kitchen cabinets.

This additional investigation may also lead to spore sampling. This is a process where the inspector pulls a sample of the material, seals it in a vial, identifies it, and ships it off to an independent laboratory for analysis.

 Luckily for our fury friends, the mold is not harmful to them as they have the special ability to purge odor and contaminants from their noses. 

Another reason to love our best friend!