What is above the ceiling
A leak from the sprinkler system, an air-handling unit or the floor above soaks into an acoustic tile and dries without a stain below. The tile is an excellent substrate for mold and it sits directly in the airflow.
Offices and managed properties
the AC does not make mold. it distributes it.
In an office the problem is almost never where the complaints are. A wet duct on one floor reaches every desk connected to the same system. An office air quality test measures by floor and by air-handling zone, against outdoors, and gives the management company and the employer a number instead of an argument.
- 1visit for a whole building
- 3parties: employer, management, staff
- 10-14business days to results and report
Why looking is not enough
why an office is harder.
A home has a wet wall and someone who lives next to it. An office building has a suspended ceiling, ducts nobody has opened since handover, and four parties each certain it is someone else's responsibility.
What is in the duct
A blocked drain pan in a central unit holds warm water all summer. The smell when the system starts in the morning is the sign, and a sample at the duct outlet against room air proves the source.
Who is responsible
The employer is responsible for the working environment, the management company for the systems, the owner for the structure, and the HVAC contractor for maintenance. An independent lab result is the only document all of them accept as a starting point.
What we measure
by floor, by air zone, against outdoors.
The sampling plan is built on the building's air-handling diagram, not on the complaints map. That way the result points at a system, not a desk.
Visit and air samples
Air samples in every air-handling zone and at duct outlets, an outdoor sample for comparison, moisture mapping of ceilings and exterior walls.
About this methodSurface samples
Swabs from drain pans, acoustic tiles and vents, for species identification and to establish whether the system is the source.
About this methodContinuous monitoring
For buildings with a history or recurring complaints: humidity, particle and VOC sensors on every floor, with an alert when something changes.
About this methodHow a whole building is tested
from the complaint to the system.
An office is not tested room by room. It is tested as one air system with an intake, an outlet and everything between. This is the order it happens in, and what each party gets at the end.
Before the visit: the diagram and the complaints
We ask the management company for the air-zone diagram, the last maintenance dates and every water event in the past year. From HR: which desks complain and when. The two maps together say where to sample.
The visit: from outside in
We start with the outdoor sample at the building's fresh-air intake, not on the street. Then the air-handling units, the duct outlets in the chosen zones, and finally room air at the desks. That is what lets us say whether the mold comes in, forms in the system or forms in the space.
Above the ceiling
In every zone with complaints we lift a tile and measure moisture on its upper side and on the structure above. Most office findings are here, in the place nobody has looked at since installation.
The reading: who gets what
The management company gets the system findings and what to fix. The employer gets the air concentrations at the desks against outdoors, in language that can be shown to staff. The staff get an answer instead of a promise. One report, three ways to read it.
After the repair: closing
A repeat sample in the same zones after the ducts are cleaned or the leak is fixed. That is what lets the employer write to staff "tested, fixed, tested again", and lets the management company close the ticket with a document.
A building with recurring complaints moves to continuous monitoring by floor, so the next time is caught by a sensor and not by a complaint.
What you receive
a report you can show the staff.
The report is written for three readers at once: the one who repairs, the one who is responsible and the one who breathes. Each finds their own page.
- A sampling map on the building diagram: Every sampling point marked on the air-zone diagram with its result, so it is visible which system is responsible.
- Lab results per sample: Spore concentrations and species per zone against outdoors, and identification from the surface samples taken in the system, from the partner laboratory.
- Findings by responsibility: What belongs to HVAC maintenance, what to the structure and what to the use of the space. That is what prevents the argument between the management company, the owner and the employer.
- A page for the staff: A one-page summary without jargon that the employer can send as it is. We are available to explain the report in a call with the workers' committee or the management.
Who orders
who orders this test.
- Facility managers
- Property management companies
- HR and safety officers
- Office building owners
- Clinics and medical practices
Before you book
What people ask about offices.
Staff complain about a smell from the air conditioning. How do we know if it is mold?
An air sample at the duct outlet while the system runs, against room air and against outdoors, says whether the system is adding spores to the space. A swab from the drain pan and the diffuser identifies the species. If the concentration at the outlet is higher than in the room, the system is the source and the fix is duct cleaning and drain repair. If the concentration is the same, the source is in the space itself, usually above the acoustic ceiling.
Does the office need to be vacated during the test?
No. Samples are taken during working hours, because that is the air the staff breathe, and the air conditioning has to run as usual. Lifting ceiling tiles is quiet and takes minutes. A visit to a building of several floors usually takes half a day. Continuous monitoring, if chosen, is installed once and needs no presence.
Who is responsible for acting on the findings, the employer or the management company?
The report sorts the findings by cause: what belongs to HVAC maintenance, what to the structure and what to the use of the space. Usually duct cleaning and drain repair are a matter for the management company or the owner, and ventilation of the space and desk density for the employer. We do not determine legal liability, but that sorting is what lets the parties move forward instead of arguing.
Is there an air quality standard for offices in Israel?
There is no binding threshold for mold spores in office air in Israel. The accepted practice, and the one our report uses, is comparison against outdoors: an indoor concentration higher than outdoors, or a different species mix, points to a source in the building. Particles and carbon dioxide have accepted reference values that the monitoring sensors measure. The report states the values and their source so they can be shown to staff.
Before you book
Worth reading.
Other situations
not your situation?
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