The Mold Armor testing kit is a solid choice if you suspect you have mold in your home. It ranks among the best mold test kits right now, and the Mold Armor brand is a good one if you plan to treat the mold and damp yourself, so you should consider that. This kit offers three different types of sample collection, which is industry average, and if you want lab tests on your mold that incurs an extra $40 fee. Mold Armor usually returns results from tests in about three weeks, which is actually a little longer than most.
This mold test kit requires very little setup. When you get your test kit, you'll have to add the growth agar, also known as a growth hormone, to the petri dish and let it settle for an hour. After that, you can perform a variety of tests.
The easiest test is the settle-plate sample, which tests for mold spores in the air. Once you're ready to use your kit, you simply place the petri dish in a room and allow the particles in the air to settle in the plate. It's worth noting that this kit can be used indoors and outdoors, so you can determine whether mold spores are inside your home, or being brought in from an external location.
You can also test for mold in your HVAC system, which is a usual zone for mold testing as growth colonies tend to form in those areas. Finally, you can use a cotton swab to test visible mold areas directly. All samples require at least two days to incubate and mature.
If you find mold growing in the dish after the incubation period, you'll want to pay for the optional lab analysis to see if the mold is harmful or not. Be aware, though, that it does not help you identify yeast, fungus or pollen in your home. Also, Mold Armor does not include a physical sample option that allows you to send a sample specimen of carpet, wall or fabric in for analysis. It's for these small reasons that it doesn't quite match our top pick, the Pro-Lab Mold Test Kit.
Mold Armor uses a fully certified mycology laboratory for its analyses. It is American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA)-tested and approved. While its other qualifications are impressive, AIHA is an active certification process, so in order to maintain its certification, an AIHA laboratory is evaluated every month.
This certification guarantees that you get accurate results that you can then give to a mold-removal specialist. However, expect to wait three weeks or longer for your mycology reports. Mold Armor charges extra for lab testing, currently $40, and the test results take the longest to return of all the test kits we reviewed. The aftercare isn't all that great either - many other providers offer free telephone follow-ups, and additional advice over email.
This mold detector comes with all of the supplies you need for the included test methods. Each kit comes with a petri dish, a growth agar and a cotton swab. Unfortunately, it only comes with one of everything. The instructions recommend testing both indoor and outdoor air, meaning you'll need to buy two kits to get a thorough sampling. Other mold test kits that recommend testing different areas in and around your home usually include two or more tests in each kit.
Mold Armor's online help pages lack the information and detail we expected of the best mold test kit manufacturers. The website includes FAQs that answer your basic questions, but it does not offer video tutorials. The site also lists customer support as available by telephone and email, but we had trouble connecting with the company through email. We were able to reach customer service over the phone and the representative was very helpful and professional.
The Mold Armor test kit is easy to use and gives you a variety of sampling methods. The lab analysis takes at least three weeks to return a mycology report, longer than other labs we evaluated, and there's little post-result customer care. Still, the kit itself is cheap and reliable, and the lab is AIHA certified, so expect accuracy.
