6 Tips for Dealing with Mold in Your Home

Mold is a nasty home invader. According to idcfireandwater.com, it begins to grow when conditions are just right. For example, a building that has issues with water intrusion is very susceptible to mold growth. Porous materials that are continuously exposed to moisture are particularly prone to this issue.

You don’t have to let this nasty growth take over your home. Here are 6 tips for dealing with mold in your home.

1) Invest in a New Bathroom Fan

Your bathroom fan should clear out most of the moisture in your bathroom within five to ten minutes. If your current fan doesn’t have this capability, it’s time to invest in a new one.

Fans are categorized by the volume of air that they move out of a room. This is measured in cubic feet per minute, or CFM. To find the proper fan capacity for your bathroom, consider your bathroom’s square footage. To get your measurements, multiply the room’s width times the length.

For example, if your bathroom is 7 feet wide and 10 feet long, it has a square footage of 70 feet. Ideally, you should have at least 1 CFM for every 1 square of the room’s area. So, this bathroom should have a fan with a rating of at least 70 CFM.

It’s best to oversize your fan slightly, so feel free to get one with a higher CFM than recommended.

2) Install Humidity Sensors

To make the most of your new bathroom fan, install a humidity sensor. This device will detect moisture levels in your bathroom. When there’s excess water present in your bathroom, the sensor will automatically turn on. As moisture levels start to fall, the sensor will turn the fan off.

This addition will prevent you from needing to turn your fan on and off manually. Consider adding these sensors to all of the bathrooms in your home.

3) Squeegee Your Shower Walls

Buy a squeegee and set it aside for this purpose only. Every time you take a shower or bath, always squeegee your tub and shower walls. When you adopt this habit, you will eliminate a lot of moisture that could otherwise potentially lead to mold and mildew growth. If you don’t have a squeegee, you can use a regular towel or washcloth.

This may sound inconvenient, but it’s a good routine to get into. It’ll only take a minute or two out of your day, which is well worth it for preventing the lasting damage that mold can cause.

4) Wipe Away Visible Mold Immediately

As soon as you spot mold in the grout lines of your shower wall or where your walls meet the ceiling, take action to wipe it away immediately. This will prevent colonies from developing and spreading throughout your home.

Aggressively scrub any visible mold with water and detergent. Allow it to surface dry thoroughly before you expose the area to moisture again. Alternatively, you may use a 90% water, 10% bleach solution.

5) Repaint Your Walls with a Mildewcide Paint

Paint with mildewcide in it is effective at controlling surface mold in both bathrooms and on outside walls in shady areas.

Many paints already contain mildewcide, so you may not have to shop at select online locations. Ask your local paint store for information on its products’ ingredients.

6) Stop Leaks When They Show Up

No matter if the leak is coming from your roof, bathroom faucet, or kitchen plumbing, address it immediately. Any leak regardless of its size will introduce excess moisture into your home.

If it’s a minor leak, you can take on some DIY work. If you aren’t confident with fixing the leak yourself, get in touch with a trustworthy plumber. While you wait to get your leak fixed, shut off your home’s main water valve to prevent mold growth.

Wrap Up

Whether you have a brand-new or older home, you can preserve its condition (and the health of your residents) by preventing mold growth with these 6 tips.