I'm Tom Duff. I inspect homes and commercial buildings across York County — city, borough and township — for mold and moisture, send samples to an independent lab, and give you a report that explains what's actually going on. I don't do remediation, so I have no reason to talk you into work.
Send me the details and I'll come back with pricing and the first opening I have.
Every job starts with a walk-through of the house. I spend my time where moisture usually is — basements, crawl spaces, attics, bathrooms, laundry rooms, around the HVAC — and I use moisture meters and a thermal camera to find the damp spots you can't see from the doorway.
If testing makes sense, I take air and surface samples and send them to an independent accredited lab. When the results come back you get a report that spells out what was found, how much of it there is, what's feeding it, and what needs to happen next.
Inspections and testing are the only things I sell. No remediation, no referral fees, no reason to make a small problem sound big.
Professional equipment and an accredited lab, so the numbers in your report mean something.
Pulls a measured volume of air through a cassette so the lab can count spores. It's how you find mold that's in the air but not on a wall where you can see it.
Tape lifts or swabs off the actual growth. This tells you what's growing on the drywall, the joist, or the block wall, not just what's floating around.
Pin and pinless meters on drywall, wood, block and subfloor. Mold needs water, so the moisture numbers usually explain the whole problem.
An infrared camera shows temperature differences from wet material behind finished walls and ceilings. No holes, no guessing where to look.
DNA-based dust analysis for 36 mold species. Useful when someone's been sick for a while and you want a picture of the home's mold history.
Clearance testing after a remediation company finishes, so you know the work actually did what it was supposed to before you move back in.
You can't always see mold. It grows behind drywall, under flooring, on the back side of sheathing, and it gets into the air you're breathing before anything shows on a wall. Testing turns a guess into numbers you can act on.
The county covers a lot of different housing. Farmhouses out toward Dover and Dillsburg, post-war ranchers and split-levels in the west end townships, newer builds off Route 30, and apartments and offices in between. Each one fails a different way, so I inspect the building in front of me instead of working off a checklist.
Most of the calls I get are people who already know something's off. They just want to know how bad it is and what to do about it.
Musty basement, a leak that sat too long, or symptoms that only show up at home.
Testing before closing, usually after a home inspector flagged staining.
A neutral inspection and report when the two sides don't agree.
Offices, rentals and commercial buildings that need documentation.
If any of this sounds like your house, it's cheaper to find out now than after the drywall comes off.
A damp, earthy smell in the basement, a crawl space, or a bathroom that doesn't go away.
Dark or fuzzy spots on drywall, ceiling tiles, wood, or around vents and windows.
Congestion, headaches or asthma that get worse at home and better when you leave.
Plumbing, roof or appliance leaks that sat for a day or two before anybody dried them out.
Past flooding, a sump pump that failed, or seepage after heavy rain around York.
Tenant or employee complaints, musty air handling units, or staining on ceiling tile.
Somebody needs a neutral third party to document the condition of the unit.
Staining in the crawl space or attic showed up on the home inspection and now you need an answer.
Mold is a water problem first. Find the water and you know why the mold is there.
Block walls that wick moisture, a crawl space with no vapor barrier, grading that pushes water at the foundation, or a sump pit that gave up. This is where most of the mold in York County homes lives.
Basement mold inspection →
Soffit vents stuffed with insulation, a bath fan dumping into the attic, or a slow roof leak. You get frost in the winter, then staining on the sheathing that the home inspector photographs in the spring.
Attic mold inspection →
A supply line weeping behind a vanity, a shower pan that leaks a cup a day, a dishwasher line. It stays wet, nobody sees it, and the wall cavity grows mold for a year before the paint bubbles.
Bathroom mold inspection →Sometimes the issue is dust, poor ventilation, humidity, cooking or something coming in from outside. And rooms in the same house can have very different conditions, so one room can feel off while the rest of the house is fine.
Available only as an add-on to a Mold Inspection & Testing visit. Larger homes are priced custom.
Each room against the others, and against outdoor conditions when possible.
The report covers what stands out and which common household sources may be consistent with the particle-size patterns. Particle testing doesn't identify whether a particle is mold, dust, pollen or pet dander.
Six steps, every job. Nothing gets skipped because the basement looked fine from the stairs.
Before I come out I want to know what you're seeing and smelling, what the history of the house is, and whether anyone's feeling it. That tells me where to spend my time.
I walk the areas of concern and the usual suspects — basement, crawl space, attic, bathrooms, laundry, HVAC — and note growth, staining, and old water damage.
Moisture meters on the materials, infrared camera on the walls and ceilings. This is how I separate an old stain from something that's still wet.
If sampling makes sense, I take air samples inside plus an outdoor control, and surface samples off anything suspect. Everything goes to an accredited independent lab.
Photos, moisture readings, thermal images, lab data, and what I think it means, written so a normal person can follow it. Usually 1-2 business days after the lab reports.
We get on the phone and I walk you through the report line by line so you know what matters, what doesn't, and what to ask a contractor for.
Elevated results aren't a crisis. They're a data point. The report explains what's growing, where the moisture is coming from, and what's keeping it going.
Since I don't sell remediation, there's no upside for me in making it sound worse than it is. My job ends when you understand the situation well enough to make a decision.
"No scare tactics, no jargon. I tell you what I found, what it means, and what I'd do if it were my house."
Flat pricing, nothing hidden. Extra samples beyond the 4 included are $85 each. Lab results come back in 1-2 business days.
Covers properties or inspected areas up to approximately 2,500 sq ft. Larger properties may need more inspection time, more areas or more sampling, so the price can go up — I'll tell you the number before I come out.
Schedule a residential inspectionCovers the extra reporting and square footage that comes with commercial buildings. Additional samples $85 each.
Schedule a commercial inspectionI've been doing this for more than 17 years and I've completed over 8,000 mold inspections in houses, offices and commercial buildings. I came out of restoration and environmental cleanup, back before mold inspection was much of an industry.
In that time I've seen slow leaks behind kitchen walls, crawl spaces that were basically ponds, and commercial buildings where the air handler was seeding the whole place. The pattern repeats. That's what experience buys you — I know where to look in your house because I've already found it in a hundred like it.
The part that matters most to you: I don't sell remediation. No pressure, no hidden motive, no incentive to exaggerate. I inspect, I test, I report.
Certified Mold Inspector and Certified Mold Remediation Contractor through the Professional Mold Inspection Institute, certified since 2010. I also train inspectors coming into the industry.
My team was on Rescue My Renovation doing real inspection and remediation work on camera.
Inspections and testing are all I do here. If your numbers come back normal, I'll tell you that and you'll be out the cost of the inspection, nothing else.
The inspection is only worth as much as the paperwork you're left holding. Mine lays out what I looked at, what I found, what the lab said, and what should happen next — in language you can hand to a contractor, a landlord, or a realtor.
Rated 5.0 from 5 Google reviews.
I could not recommend this business enough for mold inspections! If you're looking for quick turnaround, great communication and honest upfront service - this is your place. Tom was respectful, professional, and explained everything in great detail.
Truly the best! I can't say enough good things about Tom. I truly feel like I had someone I could count on by my side during this very stressful situation.
We had a great experience with Tom at Mastertech throughout this whole process. They took extra time to answer all of our questions and explained everything in a way that actually made sense.
Worried about one specific area, or want the whole house looked at? Either way, start here.
Moisture readings, thermal imaging and air samples in finished and unfinished basements.
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Joists, subfloor, vapor barrier and foundation walls in the space nobody looks at.
Learn moreRoof sheathing, rafters, bath fan venting and attic ventilation problems.
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Grout, under-sink cabinets, subfloor and exhaust fans in the dampest room in the house.
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Pre-purchase and pre-listing testing with a report in 1-2 business days.
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Independent post-remediation verification after a remediation contractor finishes the work.
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Offices, rentals, schools, restaurants and warehouses, with documentation you can file.
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Neutral third-party inspections and reports for rental disputes and code complaints.
Learn moreMost people arrive looking for one of these. Each one is written to answer the question, not to sell you an inspection.
The flat price — $450 residential, $785 commercial — what it includes, and why free inspections cost more.
Read thisWhat a real inspection covers, what to ask before you hire, and why free ones cost more.
Read thisAir, surface and ERMI testing explained, with what each one can and can't tell you.
Read thisWhy attics in this climate grow mold on the sheathing, and how the testing answers it.
Read thisA residential mold inspection is $450 and includes the visual inspection, thermal imaging, moisture readings, and 4 lab samples. Commercial is $785. Extra samples are $85 each. Homes over approximately 2,500 square feet cost more and I'll give you that number before I schedule anything.
I cover York and the towns around it — basically anything within about 7 miles of 2400 Taxville Rd, York, PA 17408, plus a good bit of York County beyond that. If you're close and don't see your town, call me anyway.
You reach me directly, and I'm the one who shows up and does the inspection. Most weeks I can be out within a couple of days, sooner if you're up against a closing date.