Interpreting Spore Trap Samples

Brantley May

Building Scientist, Indoor Environmentalist
This is a course to make you an expert on transcribing lab results from spore trap sampling, which is one of the most widely used tools in the indoor environmental industry. Interpreting these results correctly requires far more than comparing indoor and outdoor numbers, and in this course you’ll learn how to perform lab interpretation of spore trap data with confidence so that you can understand what these results truly mean for the building and its occupants.
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What's included?

  • 5 Chapters
  • Dual Certification
  • Practice Quizzes
  • 4 Hours of Video
  • Real world examples

Become a Transcription Professional

Let's dive deep into interpreting lab results so that you can assess any set of results and understand what they mean, and how you should move forward in your project accordingly. 

See Real World Reports


Once you learn the concepts, you will see real-world examples of how the concepts can forever change how you look at spore trap air sampling. Real reports, real data, real concepts that can be applied. 

What am I going to learn?

Outstanding practical information that you can immediately apply to lab result transcriptions.

Introduction

  • Discussion about Spore Trap Sampling and it's purpose
  • Foundational concepts
  • Information about Lab Reports and pertinent knowledge
  • Recognizing the importance of having clarity when interpreting labs reports.

Data Interpretation

  • Overview of Common Fungi
  • Lab Methods
  • Limitations of Testing
  • Raw Count, Spores/m³. Percentage
  • Other Particulates
  • Important context such as Occupant Behavior and Recent History

Course contents

 Certification included

  • Certificate of Completion

    Approved 6-hour continuing education for:
    • ACAC: CRIE, CIE, CIEC
    • ACAC: CSMI, CMI, CMC
    • ACAC: CRMI
Meet the instructor

Brantley May

Brantley is a Building Scientist and Council-Certified Indoor Environmental Consultant with a specialty in Mycology and certified by the McCrone Research Institute and the Oshner Medical Center for the examination and identification of fungal spores and pollen via microscopy. Brantley has also been trained as a mycologist and certified by Dr. John Shane, from PriorityLab, one of the most renown Mycologists in the industry.
Patrick Jones - Course author

Frequently asked questions

Do I need prior knowledge of spore trap air sampling?

A basic knowledge of common indoor mold will help you digest the information in the course, but is not necessary. Keep in mind, this course is designed solely to help you interpret the lab results; it does not teach you how to use the pump in the field and properly take samples. It is expected that if you are taking this class as someone in the field, you already understand how to utilize the equipment.

How long do I have access to the course content?

You are provided lifetime access to this course.

How do I receive my certificate?

Once all the course material is completed, a certificate will be automatically issued to you.

What is my next step after taking this course?

This course is designed to teach you the basics of interpreting spore trap lab results. We believe the concepts of understanding proper interpretation are necessary to move forward in almost any sector of the utilizing this tool in the field. Once this course is complete, you will have the fundamental concepts to apply towards properly understanding and relaying the information from spore trap lab results. The next step would be to use the knowledge and assess as many spore trap reports as you can, since volume gains experience.

What if I have questions about concepts I don't understand?

The instructors for the course are available for any questions you may have. Additionally, each video has a section to add questions and comments so that you can engage with the instructors and other students on topics specific to the content at hand.

Who is this course designed for?

This course is aimed to provide guidance and growth for anyone, whether you are a home inspector or an indoor environmental professional, a real estate agent, an attorney, or an insurance adjuster, or even a homeowner. 

Our goal is to provide the knowledge and steps necessary to equip you with the information you need to understand what lab results mean and how to apply them moving forward in any given project. 

The number on the report isn't the answer. Knowing what is means is.

Spore trap results look precise — species names, spore counts, ratios — but most people reading them, including some professionals, can't say whether the number in front of them actually means anything. This course teaches you to read a report the way the lab that ran it would.
Interpreting Spore Trap Samples
Presence vs. exposure, elevated vs. normal, and the genera worth knowing — taught by Brantley May, CIEC.

30 day money-back guarantee

30 day money-back guarantee

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SOUND FAMILIAR?

You have a report. You still
don't know what to do with it. 

Three inspectors, three opinions. A test result nobody can translate. A remediation that didn't fix anything. None of that means you're losing it. It means you've been given results without the knowledge to use them.

A number with no baseline

480 spores per cubic meter — is that elevated, or is that Tuesday? Without a comparison point, a raw count tells you almost nothing on its own.

Presence mistaken for exposure

Finding a genus on a slide is not the same as proving it's an active problem in that space. Conflating the two leads to bad calls in both directions.

Every lab formats it differently

Different labs, different layouts, different shorthand for the same genera. Once you know what to look for, the format stops mattering — but nobody teaches that part.

One sample sold as the whole story

A spore trap is a single tool, taken at a single moment, in a single spot. Used well, it's genuinely revealing. Used alone as a verdict, it oversells what it can prove.

"A spore trap report can tell you almost everything about the air a person breathes in that room, in that moment — if you know how to actually read it. Most people are handed the report and left to guess. This course is the missing instruction manual."

- Brantley May, CIEC

"I've pulled ERMI and spore trap results for years and never fully understood the ratio the lab was pointing at. Twenty minutes into this course, it finally clicked."
- Charles W.
"I hand my clients spore trap results every week. Now I can actually explain what they're looking at instead of pointing them to Google."
- Thomas A.
"The case study section is the real value — seeing four different real reports interpreted side by side taught me more than any single write-up could."
- Samuel T.

#READ-THE-ROOM-YOU-BREATHE-IN

So much more than a video course

Video Content

Resources

On interpretation
from others

Meet your Trainer

Over the last decade, Brantley has spent his career in the field reading exactly this kind of data — not just running samples, but explaining what they do and don't prove to homeowners, practitioners, and the professionals who hire him.

This course is that explanation, recorded so you can go through it at your own pace, with real reports instead of hypotheticals.

Brantley May

The Wrong Reasons People Hesitate.

"$49 for a course on reading a lab report?"

A single spore trap sample already costs more than that. This is the difference between paying for a number and actually understanding it — and you keep that understanding for every report you're ever handed again.

"I already have my results back. Is this still useful?"

Especially then. You already have the exact document this course teaches you to read. Bring it with you — several modules are built around working through real reports line by line.

"I don't have a science background."

You don't need one. The course is built around what's actually printed on a report and what it means in plain language — not mycology theory. If you can read a spreadsheet, you can follow this.

"What if my results come back normal?"

Then you'll know that with confidence instead of a shrug — and you'll understand exactly what "normal" was being compared against, which is usually the part nobody explains.

"Should I just treat this as my full mold assessment?"

No — and the course says so directly. A spore trap is one tool, taken at one point in time. This course teaches you to get real value out of that tool and to recognize the limits of what any single sample can prove.

"I'm a practitioner / inspector — is this too basic for me?"

Most professionals were never formally taught this either — they picked it up piecemeal. This organizes it, with case studies across multiple real reports so you can compare patterns you'd otherwise only see one client at a time.

IF YOU DON'T LOVE IT,
YOU DON'T PAY.

Take the full course. Use the checklist on your home. Watch every video. If within 30 days you don't feel like you got the value of what you paid — email us and we'll refund you in full. No questions, no hoops. We're that confident in what's inside.

Okay, but what am I actually going to learn?

Below is our curriculum and some example videos so you can see, in detail, some the content in this course.

Sweet! Can I see some examples?

Below are some clips from the course
Video found in Section 5

The Inspection Process:

This video comes after you've learned all the skills and tools — so you'll know exactly how to apply them. It's accompanied by a mold inspection checklist that gives you a repeatable, step-by-step process you can use on every job.
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Video found in Section 3

Introduction to HVAC

This video covers HVAC basics, then walks you through real-world methods for finding mold and moisture issues in HVAC systems and ductwork
Video found in Section 3

Basements give me the ick.

This video covers the most common places to find moisture and mold in basements — including pro tips for tracking down hidden sources.
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Video found in Section 4

Spore Trap Air Sampling: How it Works

This is the introduction video to air sampling for mold. In the course, you also learn the pros and cons of this sampling method, how to avoid bad readings, and how to actually use the equipment in the field.

  • Are you a professional?
    This course comes with a certificate of completion.

    This is also an approved 6-hour continuing education for the following ACAC professional CEU credits:

    • ACAC: CSMI, CMI, CMC
    • ACAC: CRMI
    • ACAC: CIE, CIEC

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