The Indoor Environmental Standards Organization (IESO) is providing mold-related training, certification programs, and technical information for home inspectors, real estate agents, and others concerned about household mold.

“There's nothing else like it out there at all,” said David Fetveit, IESO's president and the executive vice president of Arizona-based Aerotech Laboratories, in an interview with Finance & Commerce.

Tony McFarland, a mold inspector and owner of Anoka-based Mold Masters, told the magazine that home inspectors have been “thrown into the fray” when it comes to mold and other biological contaminants. He added that inspectors are expected to detect signs of mold.

“Unless you've got some good background and training, you're not 100 percent sure what you're looking at,” McFarland said. “There aren't enough inspectors, and we're at the tip of an iceberg right now.”

IESO has 362 members in the United States and Canada and trains home inspectors to become “certified residential mold inspectors.”

Fetveit added that IESO is also encouraging real estate agents and homebuyers to request mold inspections. A directory of certified inspectors is available on the organization's Web site — www.iestandards.org.

Publication date: 07/14/2003