How to Remove Mold is probably a question that’s on a lot of people’s minds. It might be in your basement, or in the laundry room, maybe even in your bathroom. In any case, there are only 5 simple steps you need to do — however, the 5th way is the hardest. But before we get into that, do not use bleach and think you will be done. Bleach will not kill mold, by itself.
How to Remove Mold: Prep Kit
The first thing you need to know about mold, is that it likes warm, moist air. In fact, that’s one of the reasons it can actually grow in our lungs. So to prepare, I am going to give you a list of items that you MUST have to do it yourself. Some of them might seem frivolous, but it’s your health we are talking about here. I am talking about death, if you don’t have a prep kit for this.
Commonly called “black mold” for its greenish-black color, Stachybotrys is a toxigenic mold that thrives in wet conditions and is most likely to be found on cellulose-type materials, such as wood, drywall, or even stacks of damp leaves. It starts out as small black spots that become larger and spread. Stachybotrys is a dangerous mold that can cause a host of physical symptoms, including severe headaches, unexplained nosebleeds, upper-respiratory discomfort, and fatigue. It also might cause bleeding in infants’ lungs. If a family member has any symptoms, and you’re concerned, your home might be infested with black mold!
Source: BobVila.com
Your Prep Kit
Your prep kit to remove mold will be a few items, the most important is a p100 respirator. You will be working with both chemicals which are hazardous to your health, and the mold itself. There’s a “disease” called Valley Fever. It’s essentially when a mold spore gets in your lungs and reproduces. It acts like cancer, but it’s possible to fight it. Unfortunately, the meds which you take to get rid of Valley Fever, are also hazardous to your health. In any case, you don’t want mold to get it your lungs, as it will thrive there. Get the p100 respirator.
Next, you will need Goggles, unless you bought a full face respirator, such as this one. The goggles should be able to keep fumes and splashes out of your eyes. Nothing which we will be working with here should permanently hurt you, but it’s good to take precautions anyway. If you plan to make a business of this, you will want reusable safety goggles. If this is a one shot use, then this cheap pair will work fine for you.
Now, we require some spray bottles. You will be mixing some chemicals with water, or spraying them directly. The cheap ones sold at a grocery store will jam with these mixtures, so we’re going to get them online. I recommend this pump sprayer or maybe these spray bottles. They are made for cleaning solution mixtures or even for direct use of the materials we will be using.
Chemicals
Now, let’s get down to the chemicals themselves. White vinegar — This one can be the cheapest you can find at Walmart or Smart & Final, or you can get it here. If you have a small project, then go ahead and get 1 gallon (3.79 l). If you have a big project, opt for 3–5 gallons.
Next, we want some Borax. I like the detergent booster. The one I am linking to, is twice the cost of one, but 4 times the amount. You can get some at your local store if you prefer.
And yes, we need some bleach. But bleach itself won’t kill all molds. The steps we will show you is key.
⚠ Bleach should not be used in an enclosed space without a P100 respirator AND Chemical goggles (linked above).
Pool Shock can replace Bleach
Once open, bleach loses its effective usage, within 6 months, but if you do the job properly it should be fine for this. You do not have to buy bleach if you don’t want to. Instead, you can opt for Pool Shock. You will however need to pre-mix it into a bleach like consistency first. 4 Tablespoons (2 oz) of pool shock per gallon of water is equivalent to 1 gallon (3.79 l) of bleach. So if you don’t have bleach on hand, you can use pool shock too. This pool shock (when added to water), is the equivalent of 6.5 gallons (24.61 liters) of bleach. This is a much cheaper option.
Pro Tip: Pool shock can be used to purify water and ensure it is safe to drink. To disinfect drinking water, mix the pool shock solution in a 1:100 ratio (1.25 oz) of bleach mix to 1 gallon (3.79 l) of water or about 2 and 1/2 tablespoons.
If you plan to do mold clean up as a business, I recommend buying a 50 gallon (0.19 m³) pail of Pool Shock. It is the best price I could find for you. This will save you in the long run.
Remove Mold Steps
First thing you need to do, is put on your ventilator mask. Even though it is unlikely to be deadly, we should try to keep mold spores out of our lungs. They love warm, humid spots (just like your outbreak area). You will need to do some penetrating tests, it IS invasive. You need to see if the mold is only on the walls, or if it goes deeper than that. Go ahead and poke holes in the drywall in the area you can see mold. Holding a flashlight on its side, with the beam running parallel to the wall, can shine and show where mold is.
If the mold is only on the walls, that’s great! If not, go ahead and open up the wall, removing any damp materials that aren’t flat, such as fiberglass filling. You will need to replace this section — but we will do it after we get rid of most or preferably all the mold.
Aeration for prevention
Dry the area out. Use a humidifier or 3, use air movers such as fans, of commercial strength if needed. Once everything is dry, you will need to check for soft spots on the walls. Soft spots indicate more wet areas. Again, dry if you find any. If you find any water leaks, fix them. If the problem is improper ventilation, then fix that too. Proper ventilation will stop mold from growing in the first place.
After everything is dry, you have to heat the area up. It needs to get up to 140F, mold cannot survive in this heat environment. Put thermometers both high and low, in crawlspaces’, basements, etc. As long as you can heat the area up, holding the temperature at 140F, the heat will kill the unseen mold. Remember, you can’t see all mold, it might be in rafters, or in walls, or even behind insulation.
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Pro Tip: If you check out our Telegram channel, there’s a method shown to create a candle that burns super hot (400F+) and very clean (no smoke). This candle will be able to heat the area to 140F, if you can’t do it with heaters, and you don’t want the mess of smoke or fire damage — like most people You might need a few of the candles, but it is all something you can do yourself with relatively little cost. Bonus, once you have a few of the candles, they can be used over and over — including to heat your home without electricity.
Repeat, Repeat, Repeat
Now the repetitious part, put the white vinegar in a pump spray bottle and spray in overlapping lines. Spray top to bottom, side to side. White vinegar will kill the mold. You can and should soak the area with this white vinegar. Once you do this step, let everything dry again, and then repeat this step two or three times. The vinegar will stink, but it won’t hurt anything. It’s important to get all the mold.
This step, will be to spray bleach down on everything. Bleach itself doesn’t kill all mold, and it doesn’t prevent its regrowth. That’s what the next step will be for. This step is more of a precaution, but still essential to properly Remove Mold. In each and every step to Remove Mold, you should be wearing a p100 ventilator, but this is the MOST critical step to don your protective breathing gear. Not wearing a ventilator during this step can cause you to burn your lungs, causing permanent damage. Chlorine fumes are extremely dangerous.
Last Step to Remove Mold
In the final part, you will want to mix water and borax (detergent booster) in your pump sprayer. Just pour in the borax until it no longer dissolves into the water. Spray down the whole area again. The borax is also a mold killer, it changes the surfaces of the walls to an alkaline base, interrupting further mold growth inhibiting it. Rinse and repeat, after drying the area. More is better when it comes to mold. This Remove Mold step will also retard the mold from coming back in the future, if we missed a spore. There has been shady companies who don’t do this step, so they get repeat business.
Project Remove Mold completed successfully
While I said there were 5 simple steps to Remove Mold, now is when you should go back and make any repairs or material replacement, repaint, and do any finishing touches including cleaning up your mess. If you liked this article, come check out our Telegram channel. Please also like and share this post to social media!
