Most mold inspections start with a smell, not a photograph. Microbial growth releases the musty, earthy odor people describe as wet cardboard, and in a Florida home the smell is strongest when the AC starts, when a closet opens, or when you come home after the house has been closed all day. Homes do not smell musty for no reason; the inspection's job is finding where the growth is and what is feeding it.
In the Seminole area, follow the statute's order inside this guide: smell first, moisture map second, and an assessor who does not sell remediation holding the pen. The local twist is where the map starts: at the air handler and its condensate pan, not at the visible patch, because pan overflows and sweating ducts are this market's named hazard pattern. A report that begins at the stain has started one room too late.
The order matters. Moisture meters and infrared come before any sampling, because growth always sits downstream of water: a wet wall base, a sweating duct, a condensate pan, a shower pan that failed quietly. A lab report that names species without a moisture map names the passenger and misses the driver.
When in doubt, the meter is the referee: materials at normal moisture with surface mildew are a cleaning problem; materials reading wet with growth are a source problem wearing a mold costume. The written report should say which one you have, room by room.
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