This guide presents options for a systematic assessment of fungal growth in buildings.

This guide allows for site-specific flexibility and professional judgment in the choice of assessment procedures. It may not be necessary to perform in its entirety the basic assessment presented below to resolve a particular problem, for example, where fungal growth is localized and the source and extent of moisture is readily observable.

Conversely, no matter how comprehensive the survey, all fungal growth may not be identified or located in a fungal assessment.

Material removal or destructive investigation may be needed to access suspect surfaces.

Using the procedures described in this guide, the investigator may have obtained the data necessary to suggest specific recommendations, for example, how to remediate the observed fungal growth, or how to prevent further fungal growth, but those recommendations are beyond the scope of this guide.

Precautions may be needed to protect the assessor and building occupants where access may disturb fungal growth.

It is the user’s responsibility to protect information that may be considered confidential, or private, or both, in accordance with project contract, corporate protocol, or local, state, and federal regulations, or a combination thereof.

It may be necessary to enlist other disciplines or trade expertise to assist in some steps of the assessment, but recommendations of when to enlist and whom to enlist are beyond the scope of this guide.

1.1 This guide provides a compendium of information and a menu of options for assessment of fungal growth in buildings, but does not recommend a specific course of action. Due to the wide variety of fungal problems affecting buildings and their occupants, and the wide variety of buildings, it is not possible to describe a set of uniform steps that will always be performed during an assessment (that is, a standard practice); therefore the user of this guide must decide which steps are appropriate for a given situation or building.

1.2 This guide is specific to fungal growth, which is only one potential problem in a building environment. It may be part of, but is not intended to take the place of, a comprehensive indoor air quality investigation.

1.3 This guide describes minimum steps and procedures for collecting background information on a building in question, procedures for evaluating the potential for moisture infiltration or collection, procedures for inspection for suspect fungal growth, and procedures beyond the scope of a basic survey that may be useful for specific problems.

1.4 Assessments for fungal growth may be useful wherever fungal growth is suspected, excess moisture has been present or when there are concerns regarding potential fungal growth.

1.5 Periodic fungal assessment in buildings may be a component of preventative maintenance programs.

1.6 This guide is applicable to buildings including residential (for example, single or multi-family), institutional (for example, schools, hospitals), government, public assembly, commercial (for example, office, retail), and industrial facilities.

1.7 Recommendations for developing a sampling strategy or methods for the collection and analysis of fungal samples are beyond the scope of this guide. For recommendations for developing a sampling strategy, see Ref (27) , Chapter 10.

1.8 Recommendations for remediation of fungal growth are beyond the scope of this guide.

1.9 This guide is not intended to supersede any government regulations governing the assessment of fungal growth in buildings.

1.10 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.