ERMI Envirobiomics Home Mold Test kit

The US Environmental Protection Authority developed ERMI to provide a straightforward, objective, sensitive and standardized way to assess mold and indoor air quality investigations. The USEPA developed the ERMI as a ranking system based on dust samples collected from homes, the ERMI will help predict the moldiness of homes.

Vacuum Sampling

EBI offers two methods for collecting dust samples. The original ERMI process used vacuum dust sampling where a special nozzle is fitted to a vacuum cleaner and allowed a sample of dust to be taken by masking off a 900 x 1800mm rectangle in the occupants living room and a similar area in the master bedroom. They are each vacuumed for 5 minutes to obtain a composite sample. One clear advantage of this test is that the carpet acts as a repository for the mold spores to collect over time. An issue that also occurs is that when a home has been water damaged the carpet may have been removed.

Swiffer Cloth Sampling

One clear limitation of ERMI vacuum sampling is that many homes do not have carpet, and many people who are susceptible to mold-related illness have chosen to have wooden or tiled floors. As a result, the “Swiffer Cloth Method” was developed. The important issue when sampling is that the procedure needs to collect dust that is representative of the area sampled, providing a sufficient quantity of dust so that the lab analysis can be successful.