Health or symptom concern
Consider proportionate environmental sampling and appropriate professional review.
Start with your concern
Worried about mould or damp? Start with your concern.
Free sampling guidance to help you understand what to sample, why a test may be useful, how testing is normally carried out, and when testing may not help.
TRACE is a free mould sampling guidance app by Building Forensics. It provides environmental guidance only and does not diagnose illness or prove causation.
Help me choose a test Start TRACEWhat should I sample?
Not sure what to test for?
TRACE helps you understand a suitable sampling route, what a test can and cannot tell you, and where to ask for support.
Visible mould or damp
Explore routes for visible mould, water staining, leaks, condensation and musty odours.
Peace of mind
Understand screening options before deciding what to do next.
Why test?
A test only helps if it answers your question.
Different methods answer different questions. Air sampling is a snapshot, settled-dust analysis can show a longer-term picture, and surface sampling may help confirm suspected growth. Inspection, leak tracing, drying or remediation can sometimes come before testing.
Read the mould sampling and testing guideHow to test
Concern, sampling route, next step.
TRACE walks through three plain-language stages: describe the concern, understand what could be sampled, and review practical next-step guidance including when testing may not help.
Start free mould sampling guidance Read the recovery journeyBuilding Forensics
Research-informed environmental guidance.
TRACE includes research-informed sampling pathways and is supported by the wider Building Forensics resource of specialist apps, guides, technical support and practical risk-reduction information.
Explore research pathways Explore Building Forensics apps and guides