Since we work in a "pit" environment (opens new window) when one person gets sick we try to separate them from the rest of the group (opens new window). Recently though a few people have been getting sick more often than normal. We decided to investigate by having the Office of Environmental Health and Safety (opens new window) come out to test the air. They came out but were only going to test the dust in the air. We were looking for mold.

So Tom purchased a do-it-yourself mold test kit. The test was simple: put a petri dish by a vent for 15 minutes and then wait 48 hours. It was Friday so it could sit all weekend but we were sad we couldn't watch its progress. Luckily, Jenn had a webcam and we hooked it up to take a picture every minute. The webcam was kinda crappy so the the video/images came out pretty blurry. Also we had a light on it that caused some condensation.

Time lapse video of mold sample

What happens next

Now that we have this sample we are sending it in for analysis. As you can see from the picture below the mold has begun to grow legs. We are very interested to learn what we are breathing in. As soon as we get the results we will be sure to update everyone.