SWABS AT THE READY... TIME FOR THE EXPERIMENT

Mould Check (mouldcheck.co.uk), which charges from £13.99 per sample analysed, recommended four types of test:

THE BACTERIA SWAB

A cotton bud is used to swipe over surfaces to collect bacteria, yeast or mould – collectively known as colony forming units (CFUs).

THE BACTERIA SETTLE PLATES

These are plastic petri dishes which, when exposed to the air for an hour, measure the number of bacteria colonies in the air.

THE MOULD SETTLE PLATES

These work in the same way as the bacterial version but measure fungal spores in the air.

THE MOULD SWAB

The same as the bacteria swab, but this is for swabbing an area of visible mould to send back to the lab.

After a phone consultation with a member of staff at Mould Check, a cardboard box filled with test kits arrived within a couple of days. I then donned a pair of rubber gloves and spent an evening swabbing and labelling a multitude of samples, covering every aspect of my life, including work surfaces, my toothbrush, handbag and mobile phone, as well as my baby’s favourite toy and a particularly grimy dishcloth. Once I’d collected a wide range of samples from around the home, I sent them back to the Mould Check lab for analysis. I was braced for the worst, but the results which were returned to me a week later were disturbing – one household object harboured three times more germs than the average toilet seat, while my dishcloth contained worryingly high levels of a bacteria responsible for stomach upsets.

To make sense of it all, I asked hygiene expert Dr Lisa Ackerley to give her verdict on my results. Read on to see how clean we need to be, and how small changes can help safeguard our health...