Question: I am wondering if you have a foundation problem in a house and water comes in when the snow melts and when it rains would mold develop over time? We were going to move in a house and the landlord says that she removed the mold. It is a damp, old basement and the wood boards are rotting because of either mold or water. She says it only rained in there once but i don’t think so. Would there likely be mold in the walls, underneath the cardboard? When the landlord tells me it has been removed do I believe her or would a mold/air specialist have to come in? There is also insulation exposed. I heard mold can grow there. My mom had a bad reaction from being in the basement. Please give me your advice.
Thanks.
Answer: The conditions you have described would definitely support mold growth. Going by your description of the place, I would suggest you look for another house. Exposure to damp and moldy environments may cause a variety of health problems. People who are sensitive to molds may experience nasal stuffiness, throat irritation, coughing or wheezing, eye irritation, or, in some cases, skin irritation. People with mold allergies may have more severe reactions. Those with weak immune system or with chronic lung illnesses and other respiratory diseases may get serious infections in their lungs when they’re exposed to mold.
The problem of using a single type of media is that some molds may not grow well (or may not grow at all) in the selected media. Hence, although such molds may be the dominant contaminants in the air, they may end up being missed or underestimated. The solution, therefore, is to use more than one type of mold sampling media or select one that is known to support a wide range of environmental molds. A good example is Malt Extract Agar (MEA). The problem with this media is that it also supports the growth of bacteria to some extent. 
If the environment sampled is contaminated with bacteria, the bacteria grow faster than molds and interfere with mold growth. This problem can be overcome by incorporating a suitable antibiotic or other suitable compounds (e.g., Rose Bengal) into MEA to suppress bacterial growth. Rose Bengal not only suppresses the growth of bacteria but also restricts the spread of fast growing molds thus making it easy for colony counting.
Direct microscopy allows identification of the dominant contaminant (at least to genus level) regardless of whether the mold is dead or cannot grow on media used.
After plating onto DG18 and MEA and incubation (see petridishes marked “B”), Stachybotrys appeared on MEA but not on DG18. These observations clearly indicate how wrong conclusions can be made if the right type of media is not used either in air sampling or culturing of bulk samples.