Mold Inspection in Priest River, Idaho

We test for mold in Priest River, around Priest Lake, and along the Pend Oreille River from Oldtown to Laclede. We only test. We never remediate, and we take no referral fees from companies that do.

A standard inspection is $425. That covers the site visit, moisture mapping, thermal imaging, one indoor air sample, a same-day outdoor control, all lab fees and a written report. There is no trip fee to Priest River, Priest Lake or anywhere else in North Idaho. The full price list is below.

A logging town where two rivers meet

Priest River sits where the Priest River runs into the Pend Oreille River in Bonner County, about 7 miles east of the Washington line, with about 1,700 residents. Italian immigrants began arriving in 1892 to work in the woods, and the town was known locally as Little Italy into the 1950s. The original settlement moved after the Pend Oreille River flood of 1894. From 1901 to 1949 an annual spring log drive came down the Priest River, one of the last in the lower 48.

The town still shows that history. Its commercial core is listed on the National Register as a historic district, and the Keyser house, built in 1895, now holds the local museum and timber education center. Around it, residential streets mix older framed houses, manufactured homes and newer builds. Across Bonner County, manufactured homes made up close to 13 percent of the housing stock in 2021.

Each type fails in its own way. Older framed houses often sit over shallow crawl spaces with little or no vapor barrier. Manufactured homes can hide leaks under the floor, where a wet belly wrap or a dripping supply line can go unnoticed for a long time. Newer, tighter houses hold interior moisture and show it as condensation at windows and on closet walls against the exterior.

Oldtown, Laclede and the river

Oldtown sits on the Idaho side of the state line, directly east of Newport, between the border and the Pend Oreille River, with 221 residents in 2020. Laclede is an unincorporated community on U.S. 2 where Riley Creek meets the Pend Oreille, home to a sawmill run by Idaho Forest Group. Its children attend Priest River schools.

Between Priest River and Oldtown is Albeni Falls Dam, completed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1955. The dam controls the level of Lake Pend Oreille and the river above it. The Corps raises the lake to a summer pool of about 2,062 feet in early summer and draws it down for winter, recently to about 2,051 feet. For a house on a low river lot, that means the water beside it is highest in summer. When we look at a crawl space or basement near the river, we ask how it behaves in July as well as during the spring thaw.

Snow and what it does to buildings

Climate records for Priest River show about 74 inches of snow and about 32.5 inches of total precipitation in an average year. That is a lot of snow on roofs and a lot of meltwater at foundations.

Ice dams. Heat leaking into the attic melts snow on the upper roof. The water runs down to the cold eave, refreezes and backs more meltwater under the shingles and into sheathing, wall top plates and ceiling cavities. See ice dams and attic moisture.

Thaw water at the foundation. Deep snow against a house releases a large volume of water during a thaw, while the ground below is still frozen. A crawl space that is dry in August can have standing water in March.

Priest Lake cabins

Priest Lake is about 19 miles long, reaches 369 feet at its deepest, and connects to Upper Priest Lake through a thoroughfare about 2.5 miles long. Coolin is the largest town on the lake. The Priest River drains the lake south toward town. On the east shore, generations of families leased state endowment cottage sites, with 354 lots in that program and some families holding the same lease since the 1960s. The state has been auctioning those lots in recent years, so some of these cabins are changing hands for the first time in decades.

In unincorporated Bonner County, the county's comprehensive plan reported about 6,300 vacant housing units in 2021, and about 86 percent of those were held for seasonal, recreational or occasional use. Many Priest Lake cabins follow that pattern: a cabin closed in fall, buried in snow through winter, and opened again in spring.

A closed, unheated cabin has no one watching for a slow supply line leak or a failed flashing detail. When it smells musty on opening day, start by heating it and running air through it for several days. Stale air in a shut building is not a finding. A smell that stays after the cabin is warm and aired out is worth testing. If you are buying one of these cabins, a test before closing gives you a baseline. More on this in vacation cabin inspections. If a pipe froze and broke over the winter, read mold after a burst pipe.

What the visit covers

1. History and walkthrough, including how and when the building is used
2. Moisture mapping at ceilings below the roof plane, exterior wall top plates, rim joists, crawl space and around plumbing
3. Thermal imaging to find cold, wet areas that do not show on the surface
4. Visual inspection of accessible attic and crawl space areas
5. One indoor air sample on a spore trap cassette plus a same-day outdoor control
6. Additional air, tape lift or swab samples where they answer a specific question
7. Analysis by an accredited lab and a written report with the raw lab data attached

Pricing

• Standard inspection: $425, lab fees included
• Additional samples: $100 each, air, tape lift or swab. A typical three-sample job runs about $525
• Homes over 3,000 square feet: $550 to $650
• Post-remediation clearance: $375 flat for up to three samples
• Rush 24-hour lab turnaround: add $100
• Standard lab results: 1 to 3 business days
• Trip fee to Priest River or Priest Lake: none

Credentials and independence

Idaho does not license mold inspectors or assessors, and neither does Washington. Jesse Futia, who owns the company and does every inspection, is a NORMI Certified IAQ/Mold Assessor, a credential you can verify with NORMI. See Idaho mold testing rules. We never perform remediation, which keeps the report free of any interest in the result. See why we do not remediate.

Nearby, we also work in Sandpoint, Bonners Ferry and around Spirit Lake and Athol in Kootenai County.

Frequently asked questions

Do you charge a trip fee to Priest River or Priest Lake? No. There is no trip fee anywhere we work, including North Idaho. A standard inspection is $425 in Priest River, at Priest Lake, in Oldtown or in Laclede.

How much does a mold inspection cost in Priest River? $425 for a standard inspection: site visit, moisture mapping, thermal imaging, one indoor air sample, a same-day outdoor control, all lab fees and a written report. Additional samples are $100 each, and a typical three-sample job is about $525.

How much snow does Priest River get? Climate records for Priest River show about 74 inches a year on average. That much snow means ice dams at the eaves and a large volume of meltwater at foundations during thaws, which is where many moisture problems in snow country start.

Our Priest Lake cabin smells musty when we open it. Should we test? Not right away. Heat the cabin, ventilate it for several days and see whether the smell fades. A closed building smells stale, and that alone is not a finding. If the smell stays after the cabin is warm and aired out, testing will tell you something useful.

We are buying a cabin at Priest Lake. Is a mold test worth it? Often, yes, especially for a cabin that has sat closed through winters. A test before closing documents the air and any wet areas at the time you bought it, which gives you a baseline and a basis for questions to the seller.

Does Idaho license mold inspectors? No. Idaho does not license mold inspectors or assessors, and neither does Washington. Jesse Futia is a NORMI Certified IAQ/Mold Assessor, and you can verify that credential with NORMI.