How to Test Your House for Mold

September 21, 2026

How to Test Your House for Mold

The last time I wrote about mold, more of you clicked through to testing than on anything else all year. Here is the actual protocol.

Author

Dr. Rodger Murphree
September 21, 2026

In partnership with

Back in the spring I wrote about mold as a hidden driver of chronic symptoms, and the response told me something. More readers clicked through to find a lab than clicked on anything else I sent all year.

So the question clearly is not whether mold matters. The question is what to actually do about it. Let me answer that one properly.

Why the Usual Inspection Fails You

Most people start by calling a mold inspector who takes an air sample. That test tells you what spores were floating in that room during those few minutes.

The trouble is that the compounds making you sick are not usually airborne spores. They are mycotoxins, small chemical byproducts that mold releases, and they settle into dust rather than staying suspended. An air sample can come back clean in a house that is genuinely contaminated.

This is why so many patients tell me they had their house tested, it was fine, and they went back to feeling terrible without an explanation.

Test the Dust, Not the Air

The better approach is a dust sample analyzed for mycotoxins and mold DNA. You collect it yourself with a cloth or a vacuum attachment, mail it in, and get back a report on what has been accumulating in your environment over months rather than minutes.

A few labs do this well. Mycometrics is the one I most often point patients toward, and it is the link the majority of you clicked in the spring issue. The ERMI and HERTSMI-2 scores it produces give you a number you can act on rather than a vague impression.

Sample from the rooms you spend the most time in, especially the bedroom, since that is where you spend a third of your life breathing.

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Testing Yourself Is a Separate Question

A urine mycotoxin panel tells you what is in your body, which is different from what is in your house. Both pieces are useful and they answer different questions.

One caution on interpretation. Your body clears mycotoxins slowly and imperfectly, so a positive urine test tells you exposure happened. It does not tell you where or when. Plenty of patients test positive and find the source was a previous apartment, a workplace, or a car.

That is why I prefer to have both results in hand before anyone starts a remediation project or a detox protocol.

What This Means for You

  • Start with the dust test, not the air test. It is cheaper than a full inspection and it answers the more useful question.

  • Sample the bedroom first. If you had to pick one room, that is it.

  • Do not begin binders before you know the source. Activated charcoal and similar binders pull mycotoxins out, but if you are still sleeping in the exposure every night you are bailing a boat with the hole open.

  • Support your detox pathways while you work on the house. Glutathione, sulforaphane, adequate fiber, and enough water give your liver and gut the capacity to actually clear what you are mobilizing.

  • Be careful with remediation companies. Ask whether they contain the work area and whether they test after the job. A poorly done remediation can spread contamination through a whole house.

The Bottom Line

If you have been unwell for years with no explanation, and especially if you got worse after moving or after a leak, test your house properly before you spend another year guessing. A dust sample costs less than one specialist visit and it can explain everything.

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Note: This newsletter is for education. Do not change or stop any medication without speaking with your doctor.

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