Ways to get rid of black mold in the bathroom

Mold and mildew in the bathroom not only spoil the appearance, they are also harmful to your health. Therefore, getting rid of mold in the bathroom or other rooms is very important.

Identify and eliminate the causes

Even if there is no fungus in the rest of the apartment, everywhere is clean and dry, in the bathroom it can appear. This room has ideal conditions for its appearance – high temperature (above 20°C) and high humidity (the norm is up to 70%).

There is only one way out in this case – to improve ventilation or somehow quickly reduce humidity. Humidity is reduced:

• by means of recuperators (devices that collect moisture from the air);
• by improving the efficiency of the ventilation system.

Check if the ventilation duct is in good working order

If there were no problems with mold before, it is necessary to inspect the ventilation channel. Perhaps it is clogged, because after taking a shower or bath, the increased humidity is long removed from the room. Check the work of the ventilation channel is simple: take a piece of paper (at least a notebook sheet or a piece of newspaper), somewhere in the apartment slightly open the window (for ventilation). In the bathroom, hold the piece of paper up to the ventilation grille.

If the leaf is attracted to the grate – everything is normal, if not – the channel is clogged. It is necessary to call the appropriate service to clean it.

Presence of air supply

If the draught is present, but the fungus is also present, continue the tests. We should do the same operation again – put a piece of paper under the door – with the bathroom door closed. If in this case there is no draught (the sheet is not attracted), and with the open door it “stuck” to the grate, the door is installed too tight. For the inflow of air at the bottom there should be a gap of at least 3 cm. The second option – ventilation grilles for air intake.

They cut into the bottom quarter of the door. If you do not want to change the doors, you can pick up color-matching plastic grilles and install them yourself. Other ways to improve ventilation in the bathroom – to make a ventilation hole in the wall opposite the outlet of the ventilation duct (at the bottom, just above the floor level) or in the same place to pull a ventilation box/pipe. In general, in this case, the task is to provide an air supply to the bathroom to activate air exchange.

Folk methods

Most of the folk remedies allow you to get rid of the external manifestations of fungus for a while. You will remove its traces from the surface, but its spores will remain in the material. And since this is so, after some time the spots will reappear. Only a cardinal solution to the problem of humidity – effective ventilation – can help. In a dry room, fungus/mold will not be able to develop.

Using remedies that are harmless to humans

To get rid of mold in the bathroom, ordinary vinegar and baking soda will help. Methods of their use are several:

• Wipe the walls with alcoholic table vinegar, leave for a few hours, closing the doors, wash off with water, then ventilate.
• Method for horizontal surfaces – pour baking soda, pour vinegar, wait until the reaction ends and wash off with water.
• Wipe the walls first with baking soda, then vinegar, then water.

How effective these remedies from mold, it is difficult to say, but vinegar from hardness salts helps perfectly – the white scale is washed off without a trace.

The next folk remedy for fighting mold in the bathroom is peroxide. She also wipes the walls. But it should be remembered that peroxide in large quantities is toxic and you need to work in a mask and gloves. Also do not forget that it has a bleaching effect. If you treat the grout in the joints between the tiles, it will become a few tones lighter.

Hazardous substances

In first place in terms of frequency of use – chlorine and chlorine-containing products for cleaning sanitary ware – Belizna, Domestos, Utenok, etc. They are diluted with a certain amount of water, lubricate the walls, especially carefully treating the joints between the tiles. External manifestations (dark spots) go away very quickly, literally before your eyes. For some time after treatment, mold does not appear, but sooner or later (usually in the fall or spring season), it begins to appear again.

Work with chlorine and preparations from it should be gloves, respirator and protective clothing. After treatment it is desirable to turn off the ventilation (if there is forced), close the doors tightly, the bathroom for some time not to use. Chlorine in a free state is not long, but at this time is very active and its vapors including. Such a “gas” chamber will allow you to disinfect the corners that you can not reach with a brush.

The next most popular way to get rid of mold in the bathroom is treatment with a solution of copper sulfate. Take 100 grams of powder, dissolve in 10 liters of water and this solution is used to treat the walls and ceiling. Precautions are the same as when using chlorine. The results, in principle, are also not very different – a temporary getting rid of black marks.

Store remedies

In any construction store there are many different antifungal compositions. They differ in the spectrum of action and the method of application. There are means that are distributed with a brush or roller, there are in aerosol packages or with lever sprayers. Some compositions require the use of protective equipment (gloves and respirator), others are harmless to humans. In any case, study the instructions before starting work.

When choosing a means for destroying black mold in the bathroom, pay attention to what materials it can be processed. There are means specifically for wood, there are – for concrete and brick, there are also many universal, suitable for all building materials.

List of products

Here are a few remedies that are recommended by those who have already used them:

With the help of these means you can get rid of mold in the bathroom for a long period of time.

How to get rid of it permanently

If you want to get rid of mold in the bathroom for good, you will have to start a full-fledged repair. You have to remove all the trim along with the plaster. Bare walls – concrete or brick – to treat primer with antibacterial properties (there are such), when plastering to use a composition with antifungal additives or add to the standard cement-sand mortar it can be independently. After drying plaster – primer, then finishing tiles using glue with antifungal additives. Even grout joints should be with the appropriate properties.

With this state of affairs and normally working ventilation, you will no longer have problems with mold and fungi. All other methods allow you to get rid of mold in the bathroom only for some time.

Below is a description of some of the means that can be used to fight fungus and mold during the renovation of the bathroom. The same means can be used to treat already finished surfaces, but they are more effective exactly at the stage of finishing work.

Now you know how to get rid of mold in the bathroom for a long time and even for good.