Clean floors not only are hygienically safe but also symbolize discipline and cleanliness. However, different types of water affect the bathrooms differently.
The moisture that is retained in the gaps of tiles and ceiling causes mold to grow.
Moisture serves as a fruitful medium for mold spores to sprout and grow.
The mold growth in the bathrooms is unsightly, unwelcoming, and highly unhealthy.
How Does The Mould Grow In A Bathroom?
It takes a very short period, i.e., for the mold to spread and the ceiling and floors to be blackened with fungus growth.
Multiple articles surfacing on the internet can help make your bathrooms fresh and clean. They suggest tons of treatments that can save our bathrooms from being a greenhouse for mold to grow.
The vents, or exhaust pipes or leakages, caters high level of humidity, and closed windows keep the moisture in the form of water vapor retained in the little cracks or openings in the bathroom.
Health Hazards With Mold
Mold not only looks unhygienic but can cause serious health damage.
Mold can aggravate allergies and respiratory tract problems, as spores travel to fungus and can cause multiple breathing disorders like COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder) and other temporary and permanent disorders of skin and lungs.
Mold can aggravate the chances of asthma with increased wheezing and coughing. Individuals who have such problems and allergies should be most determined to get rid of mold from their homes.
It has been seen that bleach serves as an efficient method of cleaning out the mold. The strong chemical effect just serves as a temporary purpose of eradicating the mold. However, bleach is unable to kill the spores that are deposited in the air.
Furthermore, its strong chemical composition is best towards the natural mold composition (fungus) growing in the bathrooms, floors, and ceilings.
Try to treat with something that would destroy its natural composition so that it doesn’t regrow.
Understanding The Nature Of Mould
Fungus or common bathroom mold is alkaline in nature. To neutralize its effect, we treat it with substance acidic in nature and more naturally occurring acidic but Salad vinegar or lemon juice. Vinegar saves you from unwanted smells by neutralizing the odors.
We are going to look into how to get clean and fresh bathrooms that are also mold-free. Let us see what you will need and how it can be done.
Supplies You Will Require:
- Salad vinegar
- Spray bottle
- Rubber Gloves
- 3M Microfibre Wipes cloths
- Simple, clean cloth
- Plain water
- Bucket
- Scrubbers or brushes
- Ladders
These are steps that you will have to follow:
Step 1
Put on your rubber gloves before starting the process. Fungus grows in spores, which can come in contact with the human body and can grow in places where the moisture may be present, i.e., middle of your fingers, fingers, nails, or anywhere on the skin, which tends to be to have sweaty open pores.
Step 2
The first task should be wiping the mold-infested surfaces using a clean cloth. Make sure no moisture or water retention would dilute the effect of the vinegar.
Step 3
In a spray bottle, use the bottle of vinegar alone. Household vinegar has 5 to 8 compositions of Acetic Acid and hence comprises 2.5 pH, which is a significantly strong acidic structure.
This actually inhibits the growth of mold. Do not add water as we want the acid to be concentrated.
Spray the vinegar on the mold-infested area and leave it on the infected area for more than an hour (the more, the better) before moving to the next treatment.
Step 4
Take a scrubbing brush or any cleaning brush you have for that purpose and scrub the mold-infested area where you have sprayed vinegar.
After the period of time, you have left the vinegar to stay in that very place, the color of the mold will have neutralized to show that the vinegar has done its task. Make sure you brush and scrub all the discoloration areas, which may have chances of mold growth.
For hardened fungus that has grown in layers, you should use a brush with hard bristles, so it helps to get those nasty and stubborn patches of mold off the surface.
Once you have scrubbed the surface, it can be helpful to spray the surface with vinegar again if you think it is still required (provided if there is any left on the surface), or you can leave it for a few more minutes before wiping it off.
Step 5
Wipe the debris of the mold scrub using a brush or a clean cloth. Make sure you use a fresh cloth.
Not the one you used earlier to wipe the mold-infested surface. Clean the surface using a clean wet cloth for any excess vinegar or the scrubbed fungus.
Step 6
Using a 3M Microfibre, apply pressure on the moisture surface to absorb any excess liquid or vinegar that might have been retained in the clean surface.
Step 7
The process can be repeated twice a week until the surface is free and clear from mold growth.
Make sure that you follow the steps religiously to be through in your process, and you can ensure that there are no chances of mold growth.
How To Make Vinegar’s Effect More Effective?
Studies have reported that vinegar kills 82% of diversified species of common bathroom molds and fungus, but 18% is still questionable.
If the vinegar doesn’t seem to be working on its own, for those persistent and stubborn species of molds, you can try using it with a combination of different products.
Vinegar can be used in the following combinations to get rid of those bathroom molds.
- Vinegar WITH Borax
- Vinegar with Baking soda
- Vinegar with salt
- Vinegar with Hydrogen peroxide
- Vinegar with washing detergent
These products can be mixed with vinegar ONE AT A TIME, as each product/chemical shows a different chain of reaction while using combination vinegar.
You might want to use the product in an open-face bottle with vinegar, so it doesn’t have any gas build-up.
Test the product one by one on the surface to test which combination is best suited for the most effective result. Be careful while using such combinations.
Vinegar with Hydrogen peroxide has been declared to have the most striking results.
However, suppose none of these combinations work. In that case, this may be a big problem, as you would hire a professional infestation expert who would use the right combination to deal with your problem.
Or in adverse cases, you would require renovation of the bathroom through proper maintenance of tiles and bathroom ceiling. That will be costly, but there is no other way to do it as things will not revert back to their original position.
Hence, it is better to have an expert say what is supposed to be done and that too in a most effective way.
Special Precaution
Some of the precautions that should be kept in mind before and after dealing with bathroom molds are;
- Always use an N95 Mask before coming in contact with bathroom mold. As discussed, spores are dispersed in the air, and we would not want them to travel to your air canal.
- After you have done the mold treatment, fix any pipeline leakages, leaking taps, or pipes. We want the bathrooms to be free from any moisture that would cause the mold to grow back.
- Check the humidity level in your rooms and the house overall so that it doesn’t provide a medium for mold to grow.
- Install a heavy-duty exhaust system that keeps the level of humidity low. Keep the ventilation systems working.
Frequently Asked Questions
What strength of vinegar should I buy?
A vinegar whose strength is greater than 2 and less than 3 pH, with 5 to 8 % concentration of Acetic Acid.
Vinegar with a higher acidic ratio is most effective in killing the mold and hindering it from regrowing.
How do I clean mold from the ceiling?
Cleaning molds from the ceilings would require using a long brush that could extend to the corner, where your hand can’t reach, as the direction and placement of the ladder would provide limited access. Make sure you use a firm bristles brush.
If I do not have a powerful exhaust installed and I can’t replace it?
Exhaust serves the purpose of removing the humidity and hence, eradicating moisture.
If you do not have a powerful exhaust system and you have had a fungal problem growing in the bathrooms, you might want to use #M Microfibre, wipe clothes to wipe the bathrooms dry to avoid the mold problem to a maximum extend.
Can firm bristles damage the tile fillings?
You want to be very careful while scrubbing mold of tiles and walls, as they can damage the filling and hence, can expand the mold problem. You would not want the mold to slip through the cracks and grow.
Wouldn’t Baking soda react with vinegar due to its carbonate compositions?
Baking soda creates a foamy composition and serves as a bleaching agent. Hence, it is harmless.
Conclusion
Vinegar due to its acidic nature can serve the purpose of a disinfectant and for many other household concoctions that can benefit greatly due to its chemical composition.
Make sure that you work with Organic Vinegars and not the synthetic ones and that too with 5 -8% Acetic Acid compositions.
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