Cleaning Mold – how to clean mold

When you find mold in your home, you probably do one of two things: Ignore it or get concerned and do something about it. Here is some info on how to clean mold you may find in your home (the doing something about it part!).

Clean off that mold
For our purposes we’re going to assume that the mold you’re cleaning is on some ordinary household surface, such as a wall, under a cabinet or in or around a shower. In most cases, we also have to assume that the water and moisture that attributed to the mold to be cleaned in the first place is no longer present (shower stalls are different and for another topic!).

The easiest way to clean up any mold is to spray it down with water and bleach. In most cases you’ll get by with a 50/50 mixture of bleach and water.  If you’re worried about using chemicals, you can try a very diluted mixture, i.e. 1 part bleach to 16 parts water and see if your mold cleans off. You can also try any standard detergent like dish soap, avoiding bleach altogether. If that doesn’t work, then there may be no way around using bleach.

After applying your mold cleaning solution, try wiping the mold off with a rag or brush. No worries if it doesn’t come off right away, you may need to spray the mold again and let it sit for a while before scrubbing off.

Remember, that unless you’ve eliminated your moisture problem that caused the mold to grow it will come back before you know. If you have slight moisture frequently present, you can try painting the area with paint containing mildewcide to help control surface mold.