Interpreting mold lab results
I am hoping for some advice on interpreting the lab results of a recent professional mold inspection (images of the results linked below). The company that performed it states that these results are alarming and that the HVAC needs cleaning, scrubbing of basement beams, and fogging of pretty much the whole house, among other things with a quote of $10K.
That seems high to me, even though I do have concerns about the house, which are as follows:
- Visible fungal growth on basement ceiling beams and plywood on basement wall - one of the beams was swabbed and identified as Chaetomium. The count per sq. meter is 99,312 (I'm not sure how to interpret the density of a swab sample).
- Visible fungal growth inside the HVAC unit. Swab sample was identified as Cladosporium with a count per sq. meter of 146,047.
- I put a hygrometer in the basement for the past week and relative humidity down there is 70%. It does smell musty in there. There is a hole in the foundation through which daylight (and presumably water) streams. There is efflorescence on the walls and some crumbling masonry (the masonry throughout the house is very old and deteriorating, from the chimney down to the basement).
- The air quality tests did find 1 spore each of Chaetomium and Stachybotrys (7/m3) in the living room. I realize that these are considered relatively "toxic" or as "indicator" molds suggesting water damage, and this does correlate with the visual appearance of the basement. But is it possible these single spores are flukes? Outdoor controls showed none of either type of mold.
- I do have allergy-type symptoms (cough and chest tightness) that, at least to me, seem to be worst at home and vanish when I leave town.
One further bit of context: I unfortunately don't know much about all this and so I have had 3 HEPA filters running continuously in the house, including 2 in the living room. Also the HVAC has been pretty dormant for the past week, so if it is spewing too much mold everywhere, it hadn't been doing that much before the inspection. Could these factors have artificially decreased the sample findings?
In light of this, I would appreciate any advice from more knowledgeable people!
Lab results viewable here if the embedded pics don't work: https://imgur.com/a/zj21Rmb
Location: Mid-Atlantic USA