A spore trap is an air-sampling cassette that draws a measured volume of air across an adhesive slide, trapping fungal spores and structures so a lab can count them under a microscope and report a concentration in spores per cubic meter.
What is a spore trap?
A spore trap is the most common air-sampling device in a mold inspection. A calibrated pump pulls air through the cassette at a fixed flow rate for a fixed time; spores impact a greased slide, and the lab counts every structure it sees, alive or dead, by direct microscopy under ASTM D7391 (ASTM D7391). The result is a total-structure count, which is why a spore trap is also called a non-viable or total-spore method. It captures species that will not grow on a culture plate, so it gives a fuller picture of what is actually airborne than a culturable sample does.
Why it matters to a mold inspection
The number a spore trap returns is only meaningful against a same-day outdoor control, because outdoor air sets the local background. The standard read is the indoor-outdoor ratio: indoor concentrations and genera that track the outdoor sample suggest no indoor amplification, while a much higher indoor count, or a genus indoors that is absent outside, points to a hidden source. The EPA stresses that air-sampling results have to be interpreted by an experienced professional, since no single sample tells the whole story (EPA, Mold Remediation in Schools and Commercial Buildings). For how this fits into a sampling plan, see air vs surface sampling and the full spore trap vs culturable breakdown.
MoldMind stores the cassette type, flow rate, volume, and ct/m3 as structured fields on every air sample, so a spore-trap result is interpreted against the right reference and never silently averaged with a culture count.
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Sources
- ASTM D7391: microscopy method for counting airborne fungal structures, alive or dead.
- EPA, Mold Remediation in Schools and Commercial Buildings: air sampling requires professional interpretation; no single method is complete.