Mold Inspection in Kellogg and the Silver Valley, Idaho

We test for mold in Kellogg and across the Silver Valley in Shoshone County: Pinehurst, Smelterville, Kellogg, Wardner, Osburn, Silverton, Wallace and Mullan. We do not remediate and we take no referral fees from companies that do. There is no trip fee for Silver Valley addresses.

A standard inspection is $425. That covers the site visit, moisture mapping, thermal imaging, one indoor air sample plus an outdoor control taken the same day, all lab fees and a written report. Additional samples are $100 each. The full list is on our pricing page.

Snow gets deeper as you go up the valley

Kellogg sits at about 2,500 feet and averages roughly 52 inches of snow a year, based on 1991 to 2020 records. January is the snowiest month at around 15 inches. Wallace, farther up the valley at about 2,850 feet, averages close to 76 inches. So the same house design gets a very different winter depending on which end of the valley it is in.

Two mechanisms account for most of the snow-related moisture we see.

Ice dams. Heat leaking into an attic melts snow on the upper roof. The water runs down to the cold eave, refreezes, and backs up under the shingles into sheathing, wall top plates and ceiling cavities. Older houses with little attic insulation lose more heat to the roof, so they tend to dam more. The ceiling stain usually shows up weeks after the leak started. See ice dams and attic moisture.

Thaw water at the foundation. Snow that slides off a roof or gets plowed against a wall melts in a short window, often while the ground is still frozen and cannot absorb it. The water goes where it can, which is frequently into a basement or crawl space that stays dry the rest of the year. See snowmelt basement seepage.

Houses built for the mining years

Kellogg had roughly 6,000 residents around 1960. At the 2020 census it had 2,314. Wallace counted 791. When a town's population peaked that long ago, much of its housing tends to date from the peak years. In the Silver Valley that means houses built while the mines and the Bunker Hill smelter were running.

In older houses of any town, the moisture problems tend to repeat: foundations built without exterior waterproofing, crawl spaces with bare soil and no vapor retarder, additions tied into the original structure at different times by different builders, and plumbing replaced in sections over decades. Each of those junctions is a place to check with a moisture meter and a thermal camera.

Wallace is its own case. In the 1970s city leaders listed every building in the downtown on the National Register of Historic Places, and the Interstate 90 viaduct was built above the north side of town instead of through it. Old buildings carry a long record of past leaks. Stains on a ceiling may be forty years old or forty days old, and they look the same. Moisture mapping tells you which ones are active now, which is the question that matters before anyone opens a wall.

The river bottom

Kellogg, Osburn, Wallace and the other valley towns are strung along the South Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River and Interstate 90. In February 1996, rain falling on a deep snowpack pushed the Coeur d'Alene River near Cataldo, downstream of the valley, to 51.62 feet against a flood stage of 43. Rain on snow in the middle of winter is the event to watch for here. It produces a lot of water at once, at a time of year when nobody is looking in the crawl space.

If water has come in from a burst pipe, a high-water event or a roof, the first job is drying. Testing is useful once you know whether materials stayed wet long enough to grow something. See mold after water damage.

Mold testing does not cover lead or metals

This part matters in Kellogg more than almost anywhere else we work. The Bunker Hill mine and smelter complex operated in Kellogg for most of a century. The smelter closed in 1981, and in 1983 the EPA added the Bunker Hill site to the National Priorities List. Lead is the main contaminant of concern. Cleanup has placed protective barriers on more than 7,000 residential and commercial properties.

Our inspection looks for moisture and mold. The air samples are spore trap cassettes, and the lab analyzes them for fungal spores. They do not detect lead, arsenic or any other metal, and our report will not tell you anything about them. If you have questions about lead in soil or house dust, Panhandle Health District in Kellogg runs the Institutional Controls Program for the Bunker Hill Superfund Site and is the place to start.

There is a practical overlap. Inside the site boundary, the Institutional Controls Program requires a free permit for certain interior projects and for work in crawl spaces and attics, along with yard and excavation work. If a mold finding leads to remediation in one of those spaces, confirm whether the property is inside the boundary and get the permit before work begins. The inspection itself uses moisture meters, a thermal camera and air cassettes and does not disturb soil.

What the visit covers

1. History and walkthrough, including past water events and anything you have noticed seasonally
2. Moisture mapping at ceilings below the roof, exterior wall top plates, rim joists, basement walls, crawl space and plumbing runs
3. Thermal imaging to find cold, wet areas behind finished surfaces
4. Visual inspection of accessible areas, including attic and crawl space
5. One indoor air sample on a spore trap, plus an outdoor control taken the same day
6. Additional air, tape lift or swab samples at $100 each where something needs identifying
7. Analysis by an accredited lab, with results in 1 to 3 business days
8. A written report with the lab data attached. Here is a sample report.

No state license exists for this work

Idaho does not license mold inspectors or assessors, and neither does Washington, so any claim of a state license for this work is inaccurate. The useful question is which organization issued a credential and whether you can check it with that organization. Jesse Futia, who owns the company and does the inspections, is a NORMI Certified IAQ/Mold Assessor. For more, see Idaho mold testing rules.

Why we only test

A company that tests and also bids the removal has a reason to find something. We keep those jobs separate. We never remediate and we take no referral fees, so the result has no effect on what we earn. See why we do not remediate. If you have already had work done, post-remediation clearance testing is $375 flat for up to three samples.

Silver Valley coverage

Pinehurst, Smelterville, Kellogg, Wardner, Osburn, Silverton, Wallace and Mullan, plus St. Maries to the southwest and Coeur d'Alene to the west. Call (509) 355-0038 to schedule. If a neighbor has the same question, say so and we can plan both visits for the same day.

Frequently asked questions

Do you come out to Kellogg and Wallace? Yes. We cover the Silver Valley from Pinehurst to Mullan, and there is no trip fee. Call (509) 355-0038 or request a time online, and mention it if more than one property is involved so we can schedule them together.

How much does a mold inspection cost in the Silver Valley? $425 for a standard inspection. That includes the site visit, moisture mapping, thermal imaging, one indoor air sample plus an outdoor control, all lab fees and a written report. Additional samples are $100 each. Homes over 3,000 square feet run $550 to $650.

Will a mold test tell me whether my house has lead from the old smelter? No. Spore trap air samples and surface samples are analyzed for mold only. They do not measure lead, arsenic or any other metal. For lead questions within the Bunker Hill Superfund Site, contact Panhandle Health District in Kellogg.

Do I need a permit to remove mold from a crawl space in Kellogg? It depends on where the property is. Inside the Bunker Hill Superfund Site, the Institutional Controls Program run by Panhandle Health District requires a free permit for certain interior projects and for work in crawl spaces and attics. Check with Panhandle Health District before remediation starts.

Is snow really a mold issue here? It is one of the biggest. Kellogg averages about 52 inches of snow a year and Wallace about 76. Ice dams push meltwater under shingles, and thaw water collects at foundations while the ground is frozen. Both show up as moisture in ceilings, wall top plates, basements and crawl spaces, often weeks after the event.

How long does it take to get results? The lab returns results in 1 to 3 business days. A rush 24-hour lab turnaround adds $100. You get a written report with the lab data attached.