How to Get Rid of Moulds?
Getting rid of mould in your home takes time and elbow grease – and you probably won’t be using that ‘miracle’ mould killer you picked up at the supermarket. Most of our clients are from
Brisbane,
Wagga Wagga,
Hervey Bay,
Coffs Harbour,
Canberra,
Cairns,
Bundaberg,
Albury,
Bendigo, and
Ballarat.
It’s important you don’t just ignore
mould growing in your home. It can give off toxic spores and vapours which can be dangerous to your health – possibly resulting in allergic reactions, asthma and flu-like symptoms.
Step 1: Assess the damage
Before starting, work out what kind of surface the mould has attached to:
If the mould is on something that’s super-porous, like a textile, clothing or furniture, there’s a good chance it can’t be completely removed and it may need to be thrown out. Anything like wicker baskets, textiles, paper and cardboard or carpet needs to be chucked away – don’t even bother with these surfaces. (And don’t just let carpet dry out if there’s been water damage, as mould spores will be left behind, buried in the carpet fibres.)
Non-porous surfaces such as hard plastics should be relatively easier to clean.
Semi-porous surfaces will be variable.
Mould in the grout or silicone in your bathroom is worth a separate mention. Once mould gets its grip there, getting rid of it is almost impossible. When mould grows, it develops hyphae, or roots, which grow into the grout or silicone. You can clean the surfaces of the grout or silicone, but not deep into it. In those cases you have to replace the silicone or re-grout your bathroom.
Step 2: Vacuum the mould
The next step is to vacuum up the mould, but your vacuum cleaner needs a good HEPA filter, otherwise you could be making the problem worse by spreading the mould around.
Step 3: Remove the mould
Our
mould removeal experts recommend using diluted vinegar, which causes mould to overeat and die.
How to use vinegar to clean mould
Pour a concentration of 80% vinegar to 20% water into three buckets.
Grab a microfibre cloth, dip it into the first bucket, then use it for cleaning a patch of mould.
The same microfibre cloth should then be rinsed in the second bucket, then rinsed again in the third to ensure cross-contamination doesn’t occur.
Microfibre cloths, which reach deep into tiny crevices and have a slight electric charge, can be bought cheaply and washed on a hot cycle in the washing machine with vinegar up to 100 times.
After using vinegar there may still be streaks or discolouration on surfaces which you should be able to remove with bleach.
Do mould cleaning products work?
Commercially available mould cleaning products may look like they’re doing the job, but it’s probably an illusion.
Most of them use bleach as an active ingredient. Experts we spoke to say there’s evidence that bleach can kill fungi, but it needs to be at a 10% concentration to work.
But even at a higher potency, bleach won’t penetrate porous materials, so if the mould is growing on plaster, grout or wood, it will kill mould on the surface, but not below it.
Bleach takes the colour, or melanin, out of fungi, making it invisible. You can’t see it anymore, so you think the bleach has done its job, when that’s not necessarily the case.
Strong bleach is also harmful to grout and tiles as it erodes and corrodes the surfaces, making them more porous, which in turn makes them more vulnerable to further fungi growth.
When to call in the Mould Removal Professional
If mould covers a large area of your home – experts say a rough guide is one metre square – and is dense, if you’ve had flooding, or if householders are asthmatic, it’s best to call in the
mould removal experts.
Related Mould Removal Articles
Protecting Home and Business from the Dangers of Mould
Black Mould Launceston and all over Australia – All You Need To Know
9 Tips to Prevent Mould