Cleaning Mold From Home Can Be A Challege

Cleaning mold from the various surfaces in your home can be a challenge - especially if you’re looking for ways to clean mold without compromising your health.

The goal when dealing with mold is to get rid of it before it spreads - and boy, can it spread fast! Once mold starts to proliferate, it can become a huge problem, rotting wooden surfaces and releasing indoor air pollutants that can lead to major health problems.

If you’re ready to get rid of the mold in your home, follow these simple tips for success.

How to Get Rid of Mold

Not all mold is black mold, but this is the most pernicious of all types of mold. Black mold is incredibly toxic and it can worsen a respiratory illness and aggravate both allergies and asthma. Mold grows rapidly and can have a major impact on the health of your family.

Mold can appear anywhere in your home, including in the kitchen, bathroom, and basement. These areas are the most likely to have a build-up of moisture, but you can minimize the accumulation of mold by cleaning regularly and taking other steps. For example, you can squeeze shower doors after you use them, keep the tile grout clean, and repair any leaks as soon as they appear.

No matter how often you clean and disinfect the surfaces in your home, though, mold can still sneak in. Fortunately, there are a few simple ways you can get rid of it.

How to Treat Mold with Hydrogen Peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide is one of the best tools around when it comes to getting rid of mold. Not only is it antiviral, antifungal, and antibacterial, but it’s also incredibly easy to find. Most people have it in their medicine cabinets already!

Plus, hydrogen peroxide can safely be applied to all kinds of surfaces, including bathroom tubs and fixtures, kitchen counters and appliances, hard flooring, and even walls. Sometimes, it won’t even harm the paint on your walls (though of course, it’s always a good idea to double-check on this first).

To use hydrogen peroxide to get rid of mold, pour a 3% concentration into a spray bottle. Test it out first on an unconscious section of the wall or surface - that’s just to make sure you don’t have any damage or discoloration.

Fully saturate the moldy surface and leave the hydrogen peroxide on for ten minutes. Scrub the surface to remove the mold and any lingering stains. Once the mold is gone, wipe dry and rinse with water. Repeat as needed!

Black Mold Removal Using Vinegar

Vinegar is another useful household remedy that can help you get rid of black mold anywhere in the home. Vinegar is mildly acidic and has the ability to disinfect, deodorize, and clean. It doesn’t kill all species of mold, but it’s effective against the vast majority of them - more than 80%, in fact.

You can use white vinegar safely on most surfaces and although it doesn’t smell the best, the odor does go away quite quickly.

All you need to do is pour the undiluted white vinegar into a spray bottle. It’s important that you only use white vinegar and not any other type (like apple cider or red wine). You should also avoid diluting the white vinegar with water, since adding water will make the acetic acid in the vinegar less effective.

Instead, just spray the pure vinegar to the moldy surface. Let it rest for an hour. You can then clean with water and let the surface dry. You should find that the vinegar-y smell goes away in an hour or two.

Getting Rid of Mold With Baking Soda

Baking soda is another remedy you can use to get rid of mold. Again, this is a product that you’re likely to have in your house.

Not only does baking soda kill black mold, but it also absorbs moisture that attracts mold in the first place. It’s also safe to be used around people and pets - it is truly a triple whammy!

To use baking soda to get rid of mold, just apply a quarter of a tablespoon of baking soda to a spray bottle of water. Shake the mixture until it has dissolved, then spray the moldy area with baking soda and water. Use a scrubbing brush to get rid of mold on the surface, then thoroughly rinse with water to remove the baking soda or leftover residues.

Spray the area once more and allow the surface to dry. Unlike the other remedies recommended above, for this one, you don’t need to wipe. Letting some of the baking soda remain on the surface will kill any leftover mold and prevent new mold from forming in the future.

If the mold is especially hard to remove, you may need to double up on your techniques. You can combine two parts of baking soda with one part white vinegar and one part water. It may bubble a bit! Stir your mixture until it becomes a thick paste, then spread it onto the affected surface and allow it to dry. Scrub the stains away - you’re as good as gold!

Black Mold Removal Using Essential Oils

Even essential oils can be used to get rid of mold. These natural compounds serve a variety of benefits, but you do need to make sure you choose the right ones for effective mold control.

Tea tree oil is one of the best. IT serves as a valuable antiseptic, deodorized, and even insect repellent - but many people aren’t aware of the fact that it can also get rid of black mold.

This natural fungicide cleans up mold quickly and prevents the spores from ever returning.

To use it, just combine a teaspoon of tea tree oil with a cup of water. Mix it into a spray bottle and shake to thoroughly combine the oil and water. Spray the moldy area, let it dry for an hour, then wipe away with a microfiber cloth.

Some essential oils can be irritating to the skin, so you may want to wear gloves just in case. 

How To Treat Mold With Lemons

Lemons can also get rid of mold - and they’ll do it without leaving behind any unpleasant odors. Lemons are natural antiseptics, but can also act as deodorizers, stain removers, bleaches, and cleaners. They can also get rid of black mold since they are so acidic.

Add the juice from three to five lemons to a cup. Apply the juice to the moldy area and allow it to sit for a few minutes. Then you can wipe the surface down with a damp towel. Reapply and scrub the surface to get rid of your toughest stains.

Limit Exposure To Mold

Whenever you’re dealing with mold, it’s important for you to keep your health front and center. Limit your exposure to mold spores and mold, keeping them out of your eyes. Don’t inhale any, either.

To do this, consider wearing a mask or even better, an N-95 respirator. This will prevent you from inhaling any mold spores.

Wear long gloves, ideally those that go all the way to the middle of your forearm. That way, you won’t have to worry about any exposed skin. If you’re planning on using regular water and detergent (or even vinegar or essential oils), you probably don’t need to worry about buying anything fancier than regular household rubber gloves.

For more caustic chemicals, you may want to upgrade to a more durable pair of gloves instead.

Also, consider wearing goggles. Ideally, choose those that don’t have any ventilation holes. That way, you won’t have to worry about getting any mold or mold spores into your eyes, which can cause irritation.

Not everybody will have a reaction to mold, but those that do will experience symptoms like nasal congestion, coughing, and postnasal drip. You might sneeze or suffer from dry, scaly skin. You may even have itchy eyes. Over time, repeated mold exposure can cause long-term health problems like sinusitis and bronchitis - so make sure you get the mold out of your home while you still can!

Prevent Mold

While there are plenty of ways you can get rid of the mold in your home with some rigorous, highly focused cleaning techniques, we can probably all agree that it’s much easier to keep it out of your house in the first place.

Therefore, your goal should be to make your home an inhospitable place for mold to grow.

Consider the areas in your home where moisture might be a problem. Excess moisture, after all, is the most common culprit behind mold growth. Eliminate sources of moisture at the source and improve ventilation while you’re at it.

Take a look at outside areas, too. Are the downspouts and gutters clear? How is water draining? Ideally, it should be draining away from the foundation of your home instead of directly at it.

Inside the home, make sure any plumbing leaks are addressed promptly. Install (and actually use!) the exhaust fans in your kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room. If you have a basement, make sure it’s as dry as possible. Basements are notoriously damp places but you can cut down on this by investing in a sump pump to help drain unwanted water. Avoid carpets and upholstery in places where moisture is an issue.

Once you’ve made these fixes, it’s time to clear out that excess moisture for good. Power on a dehumidifier to reduce the moisture in your home. That way, it will be much harder for mold to grow.

Mold Removal

The remedies described above are some of the most effective techniques when it comes to removing mold. However, there are some other tips you can try, too.

For one, if you just have a small amount of mold on a window sill or a bit of tile, you can usually remove them with just a little bit of detergent and water. Dry completely to avoid watermarks.

If a surface is more porous - like a drywall surface -you can use a rag to just wipe the mold off. MOre abrasive cleaners have the potential to damage the surface.

Some surfaces are unfortunately so porous that they can’t be used with abrasive chemicals at all. Ceiling tiles are an example. In that case, you may have to replace the surface and start from scratch.

You can buy specialized model cleaners to get rid of mold, but always make sure you test the cleaner on a smaller, dry surface before you do so. That way, you can make sure it’s not going to cause any long-term damage. If you plan on painting, always get rid of mold beforehand so it doesn’t peel.

Finally, if you’re trying to get rid of mold on wood, try a detergent like mild dish soap first. This can help prevent damage to the wood, which can sometimes be delicate.

Natural Mold Cleaner

Here’s another natural mold cleaner to try!

Simply use a cup of bleach with a gallon of water. Apply it to the surface and don’t rinse. Easy peasy!

Another simple solution is a 50/50 blend of water and ammonia. Let it sit on the surface for three hours, then rinse.

If you decide to use ammonia or bleach on your mold stains, don’t combine them with each other or with other cleaners. It can create toxic fumes.

How to Remove Mold Outside The House

If you have mold outside the house, you can use a mixture of bleach and water.

It’s important to get rid of external mold as soon as you can, since it can eat away at stucco, wood, and other materials, causing significant damage over time.

It can also make its way into the rest of the house. Use a 1 to 10 solution of bleach and water and scrub tough stains with a stiff bristle brush to get rid of the mold.

Clean Up After Mold Removal

Your job isn’t done once you’ve cleaned up the mold!

You also need to clean up after yourself, too. Get rid of any rags in a sealed garbage bag and wash your clothes immediately in a separate load of laundry with the hottest water possible.

Mold Cleaning Tips To Keep Your Home Fresh

Now that you know how to clean mold from all these surfaces of your home, you have all the knowledge you need to stay safe. Ditch mold - and breathe better!

Shana Thompson is a full time professional writer and editor. Shana has worked extensively in the fields of content marketing, on-page and off-page SEO (guest posts, backlink acquisition), and creative writing. As an experienced pro content writer, Shana has worked on several magazines, publishing companies and marketing agencies. Many recent projects have included everything from nutrition and health services, where a lot of research and citations were needed, to writing about health, sustainable, eco-friendly products.

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