Mould & indoor air
Finding the water behind the mould
Mould is a symptom, and rarely the interesting part. We trace the water feeding it back to its source, in writing, at no charge — and this page explains why we can do that one piece of it for nothing.
If you can see mould, the useful question is rarely how much there is — an assessor measures that properly. What we can answer straight away is where the water came from, how far it travelled, and whether it is still arriving. That is a moisture investigation, not a mould assessment.
Mould is a symptom of water. If the water is still arriving, remediation is a very expensive way of waiting, because whatever gets cleaned will be fed again the moment the work finishes. So this is the piece we settle first, before anybody spends money on the rest.
What this is, and what it deliberately is not
We sweep the area with the same pin and pinless meters used on any water job, trace the water's route rather than only where it surfaces, and write down what we found the same visit — no opinion on the mould itself, no estimate of extent, nothing about health.
That gap is deliberate. Assessing mould is licensed work under Article 32, we do not hold that licence, and a company quoting remediation has no business deciding how much of it is needed. This finding is something you hand to whichever assessor you appoint.
Why it costs nothing
Because we are already doing most of it. Tracing a water source is a skill this company uses on every water-damage job, and extending it to a mould enquiry costs us little. Charging for it would only tempt us to inflate the finding.
It is also the more honest place for a free visit to sit. A free mould inspection from a company that also sells the remediation is precisely the arrangement the law forbids in substance. A free water trace, with nothing said about the mould, does not have that problem.
What you do with the finding
Take it to any independent assessor you choose — we do not recommend one, for the same reason we do not assess the mould ourselves. If you have no assessor yet, we will explain how the licence works and leave the choice to you.
If the source is still active, we say so plainly and tell you what needs to happen first. A remediation plan built around a leak that has not been fixed is a plan for a job you will pay for twice.
We will not assess the mould we want to remediate. We hold a New York State mould remediation licence. We deliberately do not act as your mould assessor, because under Labor Law Article 32 the same company may not assess and remediate the same project — and that law is right. A company that writes the report and then quotes the work described in the report has a straightforward financial interest in the report saying the job is big. So on any mould job we ask you to appoint an independent licensed assessor, we work to their remediation plan, and they come back and verify our work when we are done. We will find the water for you at no charge, because finding water is not assessing mould. We will not sell you a test and then sell you the cure for what the test found.
Included as standard
What the job actually includes
A full meter sweep of the affected area
Pin and pinless instruments, not a mould inspection.
Source tracing
Where the water enters and the route it has taken.
A written finding the same visit
What we found, where, and what we could not reach.
No sales pitch attached to the mould
Take the finding to any assessor you appoint.
A plain answer if the water is still active
Because remediating around a live source pays twice.
Guidance on finding an assessor, not a referral to one
We explain how the licence works. Choosing one is not ours to do.
When to call us
Signs this is the job you need
- A musty smell with no visible growth yet
- Visible growth with no obvious explanation for where the water came from
- Growth that keeps returning in the same spot after cleaning
- A stain, tide line or damp patch anywhere near the growth
- An assessor's report that names growth but not a cause
- A water bill or meter reading that has moved without an obvious reason
Finding the water behind the mould — what it costs
- Finding water is not assessing mould, so we do this one for nothing and say why.No charge
This is the range this job actually lands in, not a headline figure. The low end is a straightforward version of the work; the high end is one with a hard access problem, an old service, or something that has to be opened up before anybody can be certain. We tell you which one you have after we have looked, and the written quote says where the price could still move and why.
Questions we are actually asked
Finding the water — frequently asked
Is this the same as a mould inspection?
No. A mould inspection is licensed work under Article 32 and we deliberately do not perform it. This is a moisture survey — where the water is and how far it travelled — nothing said about the mould itself.
Why is this free when your moisture survey for a plain water job is $385?
Because it is narrower work. The paid survey investigates a water problem in full; this is a source trace done specifically to hand to a mould assessor, and it costs us little because it uses the same visit and meters.
What if you cannot find where the water is coming from?
We say so, in writing, rather than guess. Some sources only reveal themselves once something is opened, and we will tell you what we would open and why rather than guess at one.
Related work
Often needed alongside this
Mould remediation
Containment, removal and cleaning to an independent assessor's plan — never to a plan we wrote ourselves.
$2,400 – $7,800
Moisture inspection
Finding where the water actually came from and how far it has travelled, in writing, before anybody quotes a repair.
$385
Crawlspace & attic
The two places nobody looks, where a ventilation problem quietly becomes a remediation problem.
$1,800 – $6,400
Basement flooding
Pumping out, drying down, and the honest conversation about why it filled up in the first place.
$2,200 – $9,500Somebody who does the work will come and look
Book a visit
Telephone and you will get somebody on this crew rather than a call centre, at any hour. The emergency assessment is free inside our service area and you keep the written findings whether or not you use us. If what you describe will keep until the morning, we will tell you that instead of sending a van.