Why Mold Grows In The Winter
Mold is a type of spore-producing fungus that can grow in both indoors and outdoor environments. These spores spread by floating through the air, and begin to grow when they land on a damp surface or object.
So why does mold grow in our homes during the winter? Well, mold spores thrive in moist, warm environments. Winter brings lots of moisture with extra rain, melting snow, and ice. The colder months also mean higher temperatures in our homes due to indoor heating.
Mold spores exist in all indoor environments. While theres no way to prevent spores, theres a lot you can do to ensure your home is not a friendly environment for them to land and begin to grow.
Where is mold most likely to grow?
Mold spores can enter your home through open doors and windows or through your homes ventilation systems. They may also enter by attaching themselves to clothing, shoes, pets, or other vehicles. Mold spores can only begin to grow and thrive in conditions that contain sufficient moisture and a source of nutrients. Thats why dry, exposed areas of the home tend to be free of mold.
During the winter, mold is most likely to grow in basements , on windows where condensation has built up, and in areas with poor air circulation, such as behind walls or in closed closets or attic spaces. Mold spores also grow on objects with high cellulose content.
Here are the places and objects in your home where youre most likely to discover mold during winter:
- Walls and wallpaper
Where To Look For Bathroom Mold
The main problem with bathroom mold is that it can appear almost anywhere from caulk to towels. Bathroom is perfect for mold growth due to a constant high level of humidity.
If you want to check your bathroom for signs of mold, then you should pay attention to these places:
- Caulk, grout, and tiles
- Towels and bathroom robes
- Shower curtains and mats
Of course, if you are not sure whether or not you have mold in your bathroom , you can always rely on professionals to do all the necessary checks. Furthermore, they will provide insights into how to keep your bathroom mold-free. In case you already have bathroom mold, they will deal with it effectively to prevent it from coming back.
Best Cleaning Products For Bathroom Mold
With any cleaning product for bathroom mold, you should use gloves and work in a well-ventilated area. Wearing a mask is recommended as cleaning mold can cause the release of mold spores into the air.
There are plenty of products that claim to kill mold, but good old soap and water are usually enough to do the trick. You can also make a bathroom mold cleaning solution with items from around the house.
Borax, a white mineral powder, is a natural way to clean mold in the bathroom. Mix 1 cup borax with 1 gallon of warm water. Pour some of the solution into a spray bottle. Spray directly onto the surface you want to clean. Use a scrub brush, sponge, or clean rag to remove mold stains. Use the remaining borax mold cleaner to mop tile or vinyl floors.
Bleach is another good option for removing mold stains in the bathroom, but it should only be used in a well-ventilated area. Always open a window or turn on your bathroom exhaust fan when working with bleach. A 1:10 bleach to water solution is effective on nonporous surfaces like sinks, tubs, toilets, and showers, but it should not be used to clean mold from the ceiling or walls.
Read Also: What To Do When You Have Mold In Your Apartment
How To Clean Mold Off Bathroom Walls
Similar to cleaning mold from bathroom ceilings, you can clean mold off walls with soap and water or vinegar in a spray bottle. If you have scrubbable painted walls, you can apply the vinegar directly to the mold and scrub it away. Allow the area to dry, then cover it with a stain-blocking paint. If you have tiled bathroom walls, follow our cleaning instructions in the following section.
If the mold has infiltrated the drywall or spread across the entire wall, it will be difficult to remove it yourself. Hire a professional to remove the mold instead. Disturbing that much mold could pose a health hazard and cause it to spread to other areas of your home.
Mold Cleaning Trick #: Vinegar
Vinegar has been found to kill 82% of mold species! Plus, it is great at preventing mold in the first place. Vinegar contains no toxic fumes like many other agents used to kill mold, such as bleach.
- Pour mild white vinegar into a spray bottle, do not dilute with water. Vinegars acidic qualities make it quite deadly to mold, thats why you dont want to water it down.
- Spray affected surface areas with straight vinegar solution and then wait one hour. If your bathroom has windows, open them up and let it air out during this time.
- After an hour passes, use hot water and a clean towel to wipe the area. Make sure surfaces are dry to prevent mold from coming right back.
Vinegar isnt always strong enough to get rid of mold on its own, but it is great at preventing mold from growing in the first place. Keep that spray bottle of vinegar in your bathroom at all times and use it to spray surfaces prone to mold whenever they get wet. This makes it difficult for mold to grow, which means you wont have to waste time removing it in the first place.
Read Also: How To Detect Mold Spores In Air
Regularly Conduct Maintenance And Repairs
Routinely inspect your home for leaks, damps, flooding, or clogged gutters, especially after a storm or heavy rain. During dry weather, check for cracks or signs of foundation shifting. After finding such problems, have them repaired as soon as possible because where water damage occurs, mold growth often would soon follow.
Make sure to make your house as watertight as possible. Regularly inspect and maintain seals around doors, windows, and pipes. Clean roof gutters to avoid clogs, plug holes on roofs and make sure to direct water away from your house.
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Can Slight Mold On A Ceiling Cause Health Problems
Yes, slight mold on your ceiling can cause health problems. Mold spores are invisible to the naked eye, but when they are present in large enough quantity, they can cause serious health issues. Symptoms of mold exposure include coughing, sneezing, watery eyes, and difficulty breathing.
People with asthma and other chronic respiratory illnesses are particularly at risk for health problems due to mold. In addition to causing respiratory issues, mold growth can affect peoples immunity and can lead to allergic reactions and skin rashes.
To reduce your exposure to the mold, it is important to clean the mold off of your ceiling and any other areas where it is present. Be sure to wear protective gear, such as gloves, a mask, and eye protection, when cleaning the mold.
It is also important to regularly check your ceiling and other areas of your home for mold growth.
Recommended Reading: How To Clean Mold From Ceiling In Bathroom
How To Get Rid Of Mould On Walls
When removing mould, make sure you wear protective goggles, rubber gloves and a face mask its not a glamorous job, so its important to do all you can to avoid exposing yourself to mould spores in the air. You should have a window open if possible to allow ventilation while cleaning.
PlumbNation, Suppliers of Plumbing and Heating products in the UK, has offered four cheap methods to Cosmopolitan on how to get rid of mould once and for all. .
White vinegar for heavily mouldy areas
According to the pros, mild white vinegar is a brilliant mould deterrent for âstubborn sporesâ. They say: Its acidity makes it inhospitable for mould to grow, and vinegar can clean up to 82 percent of mould species.
Simply spray the vinegar solution onto the affected areas and wipe the surface with warm water after an hour. Dry the surface thoroughly with a towel to prevent any mould regrowth. Keep a bottle of vinegar handy in the bathroom and spray onto mould-prone surfaces every few days. Vinegar ensures that mould will never grow again on the applied surfaces.
White vinegar can be picked up for as little as 29p from local supermarkets, such as Sainsburys and Asda.
Baking soda
Another cheap cleaning agent to remove mould is baking soda, say the experts.
They advised using one teaspoon of liquid soap, one cup of baking soda and enough water to form a paste. Then apply the paste to the affected areas and leave for an hour before wiping it away.
Hydrogen peroxide
Selecting Suitable Bathroom Caulk
Don’t grab the first type of caulk that you see on hardware store shelves. Not every caulk is suitable for the amount of moisture in a shower or tub. Look for products that are labeled for bathroom use to find a caulk that is mold resistant, waterproof, and designed for sealing shower and tub gaps.
Generally, bathroom caulk falls into two different types, including silicone and latex. Silicone is a better option for protecting against moisture, though latex caulk is easier to work with. Many DIYers opt for latex to ensure that the gaps are properly filled and the finished product looks good. You can also find caulk products that combine silicone and latex to create a siliconized latex caulk for a strong seal and easy workability.
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Keep The Bathroom Well Lit
More than just the boogeyman prowls at night: Dont let the mold growth monsters sneak out from the depths of the dark! Like the blackish color that mold is, it also thrives in dark environments. Keep the bathroom well lit with adequate lighting or allow sunshine in through open windows during parts of the day.
Removing & Preventing Bathroom Mold
First and foremost, mold must be removed from the surfaces of your bathroom. If you can see traces or smell the musty odor of mold, it should be completely cleaned from all surfaces. There are many commercial cleaning products that can effectively remove and kill mold on surfaces. You can also use a cup of standard household bleach diluted within a gallon or more of water to clean mold from your bathroom walls, floors, ceiling and other surfaces.
Once the mold is removed, prevention is key to stopping mold in your bathrooms. Controlling moisture or air humidity is vital to your success. While there is no way to remove all moisture from your bathroom, allowing water to evaporate quickly is essential. There are a few ways to do this:
Recommended Reading: How To Spot Mold In House
Tip 1 Make Sure Its Not A Ghost
Ghosting doesnt just happen in the dating world. The mold on your ceiling might actually be smoke, soot, or dark dust. These black specks resemble mold. But instead of spiraling, ghost marks appear in straight lines to match your ceiling beams.
The reason being roof frames are colder than the rest of your ceiling boards. So when you smoke, cook, or burn logs in your bathroom hearth, smoke and soot particles cling to your structural roof frames. Ghosting is tough to clean you might just end up painting over the dark spots.
Health Issues Caused By Mold And Mildew In Bathrooms
Mold and mildew can cause eye, skin, nose, throat, and lung irritation if not taken care of. If you have asthma or allergies, it can cause more of an issue for you, possibly causing a serious infection.
Dont let it get to this point! Take note of our tips for preventing mold and mildew to avoid having this issue at all.
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Work With A Mold Removal Professional
While you can prevent mold by following all the measures mentioned above, there are still many places mold can grow that you may be unable to reach.
The insides of walls and the corners behind furniture are hidden places where molds tend to hide. Also, molds are continually evolving and finding new ways to thrive in unusual areas around the home.
As a result, you must seek the help of a professional for both mold remediation and prevention. Our experts at EcoFMR.com do not only inspect your home for mold and offer mold remediation services. They also educate you on all you need to know to keep mold away from your home or office. We will even advise on the differences between mold remediation and mold removal and what you should consider.
This article was originally published in Dec-2020 and was last updated in Apr-2021.
Bonus: How To Prevent Mold In The Laundry Room
Depending on where you wash your clothes, you might also have an additional room to take care of. If you have a separate room for laundry, the possibility of mold developing in there is practically the same as in the bathroom. With that in mind, you should check this room as regularly as all the others.
In the laundry room situation, you should take the same precautions to prevent mold from growing. Start with the basics make sure your windows are open regularly and fans turned on. If there is a need for them, add dehumidifiers to keep the level of humidity under control.
Floor covers can also be a base for mold to grow on, therefore it is very important to clean them regularly and to keep them dry. If you have carpets, ensure that there are no wet spots or actual signs of mold.
Regularly check behind your washing machine to make sure everything is leak-free, and keep your washer slightly away from the wall so that there is plenty of space for air to flow and keep the wall dry. Check if your dryer exhaust pipe is well connected and properly sealed. If not, the hot, humid air from the dryer will seep out and wreak havoc. While you are at it, dont forget to check the inside of the washing machine as well.
Additionally, be prudent in cleaning any dust and excess laundry lint which may be collecting around the dryer area, and behind the machines. This is prime food for mold.
Get Special Gift: Industry-Standard Mold Removal Guidelines
Also Check: How Do You Get Mold Out Of Leather
Dealing With A Moldy Bathroom Ceiling In Your Chicago Home We Can Help
Always think twice about a ceiling mold cleanup job. If the affected area measures more than 3 square feet or youre concerned about health issues, play it safe. Were here to help.
Our teams are industry-certified in all types of mold removal and remediation. We eliminate mold from popcorn ceilings in bathrooms, beamed ceilings in kitchens and vaulted ceilings in dining rooms.
For Chicagos trusted mold removal and remediation experts, call ServiceMaster Restoration by Zaba: 773-647-1985
Why doesnt chlorine bleach kill mold on popcorn ceilings?
Chlorine bleach is only meant for use on non-porous materials. It kills surface mold, but it isnt effective against mold thats permeated a textured surface.
Why cant I paint over mold on a bathroom popcorn ceiling?
Painting over mold in a ceiling temporarily hides it, but it doesnt stop the mold from growing. Water-based paint makes the problem worse.
Why is mold in a bathrooms popcorn ceiling a health problem?
Mold growth produces mycotoxins. These dangerous substances enter the body through the lungs, eyes and mouth causing a variety of serious health issues.
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How Do I Prevent Mold In My Bathroom Naturally
Some natural ways to prevent mold include spraying hydrogen peroxide or white vinegar on the area of concern. You can also try adding one-quarter of a tablespoon of baking soda to a spray bottle of water and once dissolved, spray it directly on the mold. For tough spots, make a paste of two parts baking soda, one part white vinegar and one part water and place the paste directly onto the mold. The juice of several lemons also works on mold too and leaves a pleasant lemony scent.
Read Also: How To Eliminate Black Mold
Mold Prevention For The Bathroom
Although following these tips will help with mold prevention, sometimes mold still rears its ugly head. If you need assistance with removing mold from your Maricopa County home, or if you want more information on how to prevent mold in your bathroom, MoldGone is here to help! Call us at 480-418-7228 or visit moldgone.com to schedule a free inspection.
How To Prevent Black Mold In Your Shower
Last Updated on by RTL Staff
Home»Blog»How to Prevent Black Mold In Your Shower
Picture this: youre cleaning your bathroom, and you notice a patch of black gunk in the shower pan or wall tiles. Upon further inspection, you realize that the gunk in question is mold. Dark colored mold. Fear swirls in your gutis this the dreaded black mold that can render a home uninhabitable for months at a time?!
If you ever find yourself in the above situation, then try not to panic. While homeowners have come to fear all kinds of dark-hued mold, the term black mold really refers to one specific species: Stachybotrys chartarum. Any type of mold can be gross to look at, of course, and there are a wide variety of fungi that can release illness-causing mycotoxins.
However, the fact remains that not every type of bathroom mold is going to be true black mold, nor is its presence going to warrant ripping up shower tiles and replacing all of your furniture.
So, how do you know whether the mold in your shower or tub is true black mold, or something else entirely? Whats the correct way to clean up a mold infestation? And how do you prevent the mold from coming back again and again?
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