Photo credits & licensing
The mold photographs on this site are real photographs of real buildings — not stock illustrations and not AI-generated images. We think that matters: mold identification is visual, and a homeowner trying to work out whether the patch on their wall is mold deserves to compare it against the real thing.
Most of our photos come from two public sources. U.S. federal agencies — the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the CDC Public Health Image Library — release their photography into the public domain. Others are published by individual photographers under Creative Commons licences, which we honour with attribution and a link to the licence terms.
Photos are used unmodified apart from resizing and compression for web delivery. If you are a rights holder and believe something here is credited incorrectly, please contact us and we will fix or remove it.
Close-up of a painted interior wall covered in dense black and green mold speckling around a picture frame
Photographer: Andrea Booher / FEMA
Source: FEMA Photo Library via Wikimedia Commons
Licence: Public domain
Hallway walls with large dark mold blooms spreading upward from the baseboard, with a clean band of wall above
Photographer: Infrogmation of New Orleans
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Licence: CC BY 2.5
Close-up of a wooden wall stud with scattered black mold spots after the drywall was removed
Photographer: Ginger L. Chew, ScD / CDC
Source: CDC Public Health Image Library (PHIL #20860)
Licence: Public domain
Interior wall with drywall and flooring removed, exposing wooden studs with mold growth and a drying fan running
Photographer: Ginger L. Chew, ScD / CDC
Source: CDC Public Health Image Library (PHIL #20859)
Licence: Public domain
Black mold along the grout line and floor-to-wall joint of a tiled bathroom
Photographer: Couch-scratching-cats
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Licence: Public domain
Bedroom ceiling and upper walls covered in mold spreading from the corner near a window
Photographer: Infrogmation of New Orleans
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Licence: CC BY 2.5
Cluttered basement utility room with mold growth across the upper walls near the ceiling
Photographer: Infrogmation of New Orleans
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Licence: CC BY 2.5
Person in a white disposable coverall and full-face respirator standing in a room with heavy mold growth on the wall
Photographer: Infrogmation of New Orleans
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Licence: CC BY 2.5
Person wearing a half-face cartridge respirator and gloves in a hallway with mold covering both walls
Photographer: Jewish Women's Archive
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Licence: CC BY 2.0
Interior room corner with dark mold staining across the upper walls of a water-damaged house
Photographer: Patsy Lynch / FEMA
Source: FEMA Photo Library via Wikimedia Commons
Licence: Public domain
Living room with mold covering the walls, a collapsed ceiling, and mold-damaged upholstered furniture
Photographer: Patsy Lynch / FEMA
Source: FEMA Photo Library via Wikimedia Commons
Licence: Public domain
Person in a mask and rubber gloves reaching toward a wall densely covered in mold speckling
Photographer: Andrea Booher / FEMA
Source: FEMA Photo Library via Wikimedia Commons
Licence: Public domain