How to Test Your House for Mold Reddit: Expert Tips & Community Insights

Finding mold in your home can be invisible but dangerous, which is why knowing how to test your house for mold has become essential—especially with insights from Reddit communities. Many homeowners turn to platforms like Reddit to share experiences, recommend tools, and learn practical steps for detection. Testing begins with visual inspection: check damp areas like basements, bathrooms, and around windows for visible mold growth or water stains. Next, use a simple DIY mold test kit, available online or at hardware stores, which often includes petri dishes and culture media to identify spores. For more accuracy, hire a certified mold inspector who can perform air and surface sampling using specialized equipment, interpreting results in line with EPA guidelines. Don’t overlook Reddit threads—users frequently share photos, lab results, and trusted brands for testing supplies, offering real-world validation. Always test after water damage or high humidity, and keep records of findings to guide remediation. Early detection through accurate testing empowers homeowners to act before health risks escalate. Join Reddit discussions to learn from others’ successes and avoid common pitfalls—your home’s safety depends on it.

Ways to check for mold? We recently moved to a house more out in the country, and I've started experiencing difficulty breathing, sinus issues, and headaches. I spend a good amount of time in our basement where my office is (I work from home), and I'm concerned that there may be some mold or something behind the drywall. We did a lead and asbestos test in the shower and it tested positive for lead.

Which is fine, shower pretty much had to go anyways. Well now they are recommending we check the walls outside the shower for lead/asbestos/mold, because prior testing revealed signs of a little moisture in/behind the walls of the bathroom. Also keep in mind.

Nearly every house has mold somewhere. It's only an issue if it is releasing spores into the air for you to breath or is growing so much it could cause structural damage. If you do the mold test kit and don't find any and you have searched for it and haven't found it and you don't smell anything and no one is getting sick.

Then I would write it off as not a problem. The truth is the air in your house will test positive for mold, because the air outside your home is going to test positive for mold too. It's just the ambient air we breathe.

But you want the inspector to take samples both outside and throughout your house. If the indoor levels are higher than the outdoor, then you may have a problem. The family member who owns the house also is reluctant to pay for it to be done.

I am basically wondering if there is a way I can test the air quality myself for a reasonable expense. I know I can get at-home mold testing kits, but do those test air quality? Are air quality trackers on Amazon worth it? Thank you in advance for any advice 🙏. Some state or national organizations will train inspectors on gathering samples, but in order to determine what "kind" of mold or bacteria you have, you'll need a lab.

If the person you hire to test the area for mold is not able to give you the name of the lab they will be sending the samples too, you are being taken for a ride. We did get an inspection on the house and they detected a little moisture behind the walls in the basement but didn't seem super concerned about it. Is there a way to know if my house has mold without tearing the walls or floors apart?

However a lot of my googling seems to suggest you should always get a mold inspection if there is possible evidence of mold. There was no evidence of mold elsewhere in the house-a little bit of dampness in the basement walls, but no mold noticed and it didn't smell particularly musty. How to Test for Mold Using a Test Kit Photo: Tom Fenenga for Bob Vila Home mold test kits are available at most hardware stores and online so that you can check for mold yourself.

I've had a mold species identification test done, it only found three kinds of mold present, alternaria, cladosporium and penicillium, but did not record the counts, though there are some areas of the house where my nose gets stuffy after it rains.