NYS-Licensed Mold Assessment, Testing & Clearance

When to call

Call when a room smells musty, growth is visible, a leak or flood has wetted materials, you are buying a house, a tenant has complained, or a remediation contractor is ready to start and you need the scope in writing. A musty odor with no visible growth can also be an odor investigation or an indoor air quality investigation. Those are separate from a mold assessment.

What New York law requires

Article 32 of the Labor Law licenses mold assessment and remediation. The assessor writes the assessment and the protocol. The contractor provides the work plan. The same individual cannot assess and remediate the same property. A post-remediation assessment follows the work. The Department of Labor describes the separation on its Mold Program page. You can check contractor licenses from that page.

What the assessment includes

A visual inspection, moisture readings, thermal imaging where it helps locate wet materials, and air or surface samples when they add something the visual inspection cannot. You receive photographs and the protocol. Samples are analyzed by independent, accredited labs.

Sampling

Air samples, surface samples, or neither. Sampling is useful when growth is suspected behind finishes, or when a clearance protocol asks for it. A licensed assessment is the service we provide.

Mold clearance testing

After remediation, a post-remediation assessment compares the finished work to the plan before walls close or people move back. If the work does not meet the plan, the assessor says what is still open and the area is checked again after that work.

MVOC testing

Microbial VOC air testing is offered on its own or as one more line of evidence inside a mold assessment. It sits alongside a visual inspection and moisture readings. Samples are analyzed by independent, accredited labs. VOC air testing for chemical vapors is a different service: VOC air testing.

Planning a mold remediation project?

Before the work starts, a licensed assessor writes the assessment and the protocol. After the work, the same kind of independent assessment checks it. ClearVU writes the assessment and the protocol, then does the clearance assessment. The contractor provides the work plan. If the teardown will disturb building materials, NYS DOL requires an asbestos survey before work disturbs building materials, regardless of construction date. Start with an asbestos survey. In a pre-1978 home, see lead testing as well.