Methamphetamine inspection services are designed to test a home to determine if meth has been cooked in the home. Methamphetamine is known by several names including, “meth,” “speed,” “crystal,” “ice,” and “crank.” Each of these elements is extremely dangerous to your health as the chemicals used to create meth are dangerous. When a person cooks meth in the home, the toxic chemicals become embedded in the walls, flooring, and all surface areas for years.
What Makes Meth Dangerous?
Meth use has increased drastically, and the past decade has been troublesome for new homebuyers related to meth findings in the home. Over 100,000 drug labs have been seized by the DEA in a single decade from 2004-2015. With past issues, it poses the question, “why is meth dangerous to my health?” Not only is the drug addictive, those chemicals used to make it can lead to several health problems including headaches, nausea, and eye irritation. The chemicals are toxic and can burn the skin.
Meth Home Inspections
A home inspection designed to test for meth will allow us to identify the chemical compounds that are airborne, allowing them to get into the respiratory system. We will identify meth in walls, ceilings, flooring, appliances, carpets, and just about everywhere in the home. A meth test only needs to come back with 1.0 to be considered contaminated.
As the DEA says it is harder to find meth users, homebuyers need to be cautious when purchasing a home. A meth inspection is the best way to know without a doubt your home is safe. Former homeowners or guests that have used meth in the home can cost thousands of dollars in remediation costs to properly remove the meth from the home.
When we inspect for meth, we use the EPA standards and International Association of Certified Home Inspectors (NACHI) requirements for meth testing:
- Identification of meth equipment such as pressure cookers, pH test strips, jugs, blenders, aluminum foil, funnels, turkey basters, rubber gloves, duct tape, and strainers. While these are common household items, seeing them together is a concern.
- Blacked-out windows or covered windows.
- Chemical stains on walls. The stains are usually red or yellow in color.
- Stains in the yard, such as large burned areas and dead vegetation (usually it indicates an area where chemicals have been dumped.)
- Trap doors in the walls and floors.
- Rust around door hinges of the home, cabinets, and light fixtures.
- Strange ventilation system.
- Missing smoke detectors.
What Happens When You Buy a Meth House?
If you purchased a home and did not pay for the inspection, we already know you are regretting not paying for that test. Now, let’s talk about what you CAN do from this point. We can help you out by performing a test, then from here, you will need to work with a meth company to eradicate it from the home. When you work with a meth remediation company, you can expect all the flooring, cabinets, walls, and other areas to be removed. We’ve seen homes literally rebuilt from the inside because of the damage caused by meth.
Removal of the walls and flooring is often done with the assistance of law enforcement, who you need to call as soon as you find out the home has been used as a meth lab. The police can seize some of the equipment, which can help them to track down the person responsible. Decontamination will begin, which requires a professionally-trained agency to do the cleaning process. In some cases, the decontamination will be able to destroy the elements of meth that lead to health risks. In other cases, you will need the removal of certain parts of the home.
Educate yourself before you purchase property! Paying a little extra for a meth test during the inspection could save you hundreds of thousands of dollars in repair and remediation costs, not to mention the costs of health problems that will arise due to meth. Protect yourself and your family and consider getting a methamphetamine test done on your home.