What Is a Mold Clearance Report?

A mold clearance report is the written record showing that a mold remediation was completed and that the area was left clean and dry. It normally includes before and after photos, moisture readings, a description of the work and the cause, and the dates. Buyers, sellers, realtors, lawyers and insurers use it as evidence that a mold problem was dealt with properly.

What a mold clearance report should include

• The property address, the dates of the work and the company that did it.
• The areas treated, described clearly enough that someone else could find them.
• The moisture source that was identified and what was done about it.
• Before photos showing the growth and after photos of the same spots from the same angles.
• Moisture readings for the affected materials. For wood framing we record readings under 16% moisture content before a job is closed.
• The method used: containment, negative air through HEPA filtration, removal of affected porous materials, cleaning and HEPA vacuuming.
• Any limits, such as areas that could not be reached or repairs left for another trade.

A one-line letter saying the mold was removed is not a clearance report. Without photos and numbers there is nothing for the next person to check.

Who issues it: the contractor or an independent tester?

Two kinds of document get called a clearance. The first is the remediation contractor's own completion report, which is what we provide on every job. It documents the work with photos and readings. The second is a post-remediation verification by an independent third party, usually an environmental consultant who inspects the area and may take air or surface samples for a lab. The consultant is paid separately and has no stake in whether the job passes.

For a typical attic or basement job in a house sale, the contractor's report with clear photos and readings is what most agents and buyers ask for. Independent verification makes sense on large jobs, where someone in the home has a health condition, where the two sides do not trust each other, or where a lender, insurer or condo corporation asks for it. If you want third-party testing, say so before the work starts so the containment can stay up until the consultant has been through.

When you will be asked for one

• During a purchase, when the seller agreed to remediate before closing.
• At listing time, when a seller wants to show that an old problem was fixed.
• After a water loss, as part of the file you send your insurer.
• In a rental, when a landlord needs to show that a complaint was addressed.
• Years later, when you sell and the next inspector spots old staining.

What a clearance report does not prove

The report describes specific areas on a specific date. It does not certify the whole house as mold free, and no honest company will say a home has zero mold spores, because spores are a normal part of outdoor and indoor air. It does not promise the mold will never return either. If the moisture comes back, growth can come back. That is why the section on the cause matters as much as the photos. Read it and make sure the fan duct, the grading, the leak or the humidity problem was actually dealt with.

How to read the moisture readings

Mold needs moisture more than anything else. Wood framing in a dry house generally reads in the low teens or below on a moisture meter and moves a little with the seasons. Readings well above that mean the material is still wet and the job is not finished, whatever the surface looks like. A good report says where each reading was taken, so a home inspector with their own meter can check the same studs or sheathing and get a similar number.

How long to keep it

Keep it for as long as you own the home and pass a copy to the next owner. Store the file with your closing documents and keep the itemized invoice with it. If you are buying and the seller did the work, ask for the report to be sent to your lawyer before closing so it lands in your file. For real estate deals our report goes out within 48 hours of work starting, because the agents and lawyers on both sides are usually waiting for it.

If you have been handed a report and are unsure whether it is good enough, check it against the list above. Photos, readings, cause and dates are the four things to find. If one is missing, ask the company that wrote it to add it.

Common questions