Three things every Building Biology inspection starts with
Before Kit opens a door, three questions shape the whole inspection. Grading. History. Occupant symptoms. Skip any of them and the findings read wrong.
Before I knock on your door, three questions shape everything. Skip any one of them, and things can get missed. This is the framework every HHZ inspection runs through, and the reason the 10-minute intake call Deb does with every client is never optional.
Input 01 · Grading & topography
Before I drive to a property, I run a satellite review. Google Earth, county parcel maps, and the FEMA flood layer if the address falls in a 100-year floodplain. What I’m looking for: how water moves around the home, what’s nearby that might matter, and whether the lot has any history I should know about.
The questions I answer as soon as I arrive:
- Grade · Does the soil slope toward or away from the foundation?
- Drainage · Where does roof runoff and surface water actually go?
- Neighbors · Is there a higher-elevation property next door pushing water toward this one?
- Water features · Are there retention ponds, canals, seasonal wet spots within 200 feet?
- Cell infrastructure · Are there small-cell antennas and transmission lines within 300 feet?
- Agriculture and industry · Are there golf courses (pesticide drift), auto shops, factories, or dry cleaners (VOC sources) nearby?
On a Winter Park inspection last year, the satellite pass revealed a retention pond 80 feet south of the property, with a slightly higher grade. The pond drained toward the home. On inspection day, I already knew where to start. Crawlspace humidity was 74 percent. The homeowner had never connected the pond to the chronic dampness she’d been fighting for three years.
Input 02 · Renovation history
Every past remodel, leak, repair, and HVAC change is a potential origin point. I ask for a timeline before the inspection because the findings make more sense with the chronology.
Specific things I want to know:
- Every water event in the home’s history, even the ones that got “handled”
- Remodels with dates
- HVAC replacement dates and any duct cleaning or modifications
- Roof age and the last time it was inspected or repaired
- Any previous mold inspections or remediations
An inspection without history is a snapshot without a story.
Missing history shows up as mystery findings. A wet reading with no obvious source often traces to a slow leak from 2017 that got wiped up and never dried, or a kitchen remodel in 2020 where the installer skipped a moisture barrier. Undocumented remodels can be where problems hide.
Input 03 · Occupant symptoms
Who feels bad, where in the house, and when. The symptom pattern tells me which rooms to prioritize and which findings are probably causal versus incidental.
The symptom mapping questions:
- Who lives here and how long
- Who feels worse, and what exactly they feel
- Where in the house does it get worse (bedroom, kitchen, office)
- When does it get worse (morning vs. evening, winter vs. summer, after AC runs)
- Does leaving the house help, and how fast
- Any recent blood work or mycotoxin testing showing mold exposure (note – I am not a healthcare provider and can’t provide that kind of advice, I can tell you if it matches up with what is in your home)
When one family member feels worse in one specific bedroom and not elsewhere, there is almost always a problem in that bedroom or the wall cavity adjacent to it. When everyone feels worse in the house generally and better when they leave, the problem is usually more widespread. When symptoms get worse at night, the bedroom-specific EMF load or dirty electricity reading is often a contributor.
Ready to talk?
Deb runs a short intake call before every inspection. The history and symptom notes shape where Kit starts looking, and the inspection is more efficient and accurate because of it.
Why this sequence matters
Standard mold inspection treats every home as a blank slate. The inspector arrives, walks around, takes readings, writes up what they found. The framework is reactive: what’s visible gets documented.
Building Biology treats the home as a hypothesis. Before I arrive, the satellite review, the history, and the symptom map have already given me data to include in the assessment, and I form a hypothesis. The inspection tests the hypothesis. The readings confirm, and the findings tie back to a framework that was established before I walked in.
That’s the difference between a walkthrough and a full assessment. Same tools. Different question. Same home. Different answer.
Ready when you are.
Book an inspection, schedule a virtual consult, or request more information. Deb handles the scheduling so there’s a human at the other end of the phone.