subject: Cleaning Mold in your Bathroom Once and For All [print this page] Mold in the bathroomYuk!It's black, slimy, and makes it seem as though you are a poor housekeeper, even if the rest of your home is in great shape.And it grows in areas where it is hard to reach - cracks, crevices,corners, and door tracks.While growing mold might make a fine science experiment, you and I both wish that our bathrooms were not the petri dishes!
Now, let me first allay your fears.There is a strain known as "black mold," and there are some cases where it has been implicated in some deaths.The dead, however, were cats.They had been living in a house that was flooded and had since become a mold community, complete with grocery stores and churches (ok, not really, but the mold was bad unlivable bad.)
This black mold, technically known asStachybotrys chartarum, is not uncommon, but it most likely won't be a problem . . .unless there has been flooding; or if you have leaky pipes; or have another water problem that has resulted in large areas 10 feet x 10 feet - of mold.If that is your situation, then stop reading this, get your kids and pets and you away from the area and call a professional.
For the rest of you that have mold in the cracks and crevices of your bathroom, please keep reading.
To get rid of mold, you want to kill it, then clean it, then keep it from returning.You can kill it with vinegar; with a diluted mixture of bleach (1 cup per 1 gallon of water), or with a diluted mixture of tea tree oil (1 teaspoon per 1 cup of water).Once it is dead, then you clear it away.You can clean it using any of your standard bathroom cleaning techniques.You may need to scrub with an old toothbrush to get into the hard to reach areas.If some of the mold residue is hard to remove, then you can try attacking it with a paste made from baking soda and vinegar.Of course, after whichever method you use, you will have to rinse thoroughly.
Once you have removed it, you have one important step left:making the environment inhospitable for more mold colonies to form.The best defense against mold is low humidity.You need to take steps to get rid of damp areas.
You might want to start with the carpeting.If you have a fully carpeted bathroom, then it might be time for a remodel.Once carpets get wet, then tend to remain damp.Next, consider ways that you can quickly dehumidify your bathroom after a shower how about a dehumidifier?You might also want to get a fan that you use to regularly air out your bathroom.A fan perched in your hallway may not be the prettiest home decoration, but it sure beats having mold.
Once you have addressed your bathroom, you might want to look at other areas of your house, such as the basement or the laundry room.You might need to put fans or dehumidifiers in those areas as well.
