Matt Kelly explains why ERMI is better than HERTSMI-2 for mold testing. HERTSMI-2 only checks 5 molds while ERMI checks 36, so it can miss dangerous species like Aspergillus flavus and Stachybotrys. Use HERTSMI-2 only as a follow-up after ERMI, not as your first test.
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When should you do a Hertz Me two over an erme? My answer is simple, never. But I do understand there's a financial aspect to this. You know, if you, when you can get the Hertz ME2 cheaper, sometimes if you can't go for the full Erme, I understand. But the problem with doing just a Hertz ME2 is that you're missing 31 other moles. So a full Ermes 36 molds, your common indoor molds, your water damage molds. And when you just do the Hertz ME2, you're only measuring five of the 36. And I don't know, did the EPA decide which five should be in the HertzME2 and do they say these five are the worst? Because I don't agree with that. And that's why I cover that on consultations. I go over when I'm doing an ermi review with someone, I go over the hurts me two molds first and say, hey, here's the five that they. I don't know, epa, who is it that determine are the worst. But then I go over with them other severely problematic molds which are toxigenic and can create massive problems. So when you just look at the Hersme 2, you're getting just a snapshot of some of the worst molds. Yes, it has Stachybotrys, it has Ketomium high. Walimia is a problem. Aspergillus varicicolor is absolutely a problem. Makes stergmaticistan. Then you have Aspergillus penicillioides. But there are other problems. Aspergillus flavis, penicillium, brevicompactum, Aspergillus ocraceus, trichoderma. You've got all these other ones that can create hell on earth for people. If you get those out of range and pumping out mycotoxins in your space, and those are the ones that your body doesn't love, you could be in a lot of trouble. So while it hurts me too, yes, it checks for a couple of the big ones, a few of the big ones, it misses a lot. So if I'm going to buy a house or rent a space or checking a place that I'm not leaving, I would never just do the hurts me too, because there's so many big problems like just Aspergillus flavism. It's your biggest producer of aflatoxins. Well, aflatoxins kill cattle. That's how we learned about aflatoxins, because cows were dying because of the aflatoxins. In the grain they're eating. So if that's pumping out aflatoxin B1M1, all these problems in our house, but we have no idea because we didn't run an ermi, we just ran the Hertzme 2, we could be wasting our money. To me, it's, it's almost a waste of money. Now if you said, okay, I did an ermi, only problem with stachy or ketomium did remediation, now we're going to Follow up. Maybe Hertzme2 makes sense then, because you're specifically only looking for that. You ruled out the others. So in that sense it would make sense to me.
But.
But overall, if you're saying, hey, is mold a problem in my house and you don't know, you haven't done any other testing, you're always going to aim for the full ermi, not the hurts. Me too. Hope that helps.
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