# Chances that this is a sign of mold?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chances-that-this-is-a-sign-of-mold/669497>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [September 23, 2013, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chances-that-this-is-a-sign-of-mold/669497 "2013-09-23T06:24:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chances-that-this-is-a-sign-of-mold/669497/1 "2013-09-23T06:24:35Z")

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So my bathroom floor is the typical “linoleum” (as opposed to tile or something). In one corner next to the bathtub (coincidentally, where a not quite closed shower curtain might let water through) is a “streaky” stain, one pink and one grey/black. They’ve been there for quite a while (how long, I don’t know) and neither seems to have grown or changed recently in my memory.

Scrubbing doesn’t seem to do anything to it. I usually keep the bathroom well-ventilated (at least by my definition; the only time I close the door, usually, is during the winter to keep the heat in while I get dressed, and even then I keep the door open afterward).

Any chance that this stain is a sign of mold? I tried looking this up in Google, but all the images seem to show a perfectly clean linoleum sheet on top, with the mold only visible underneath.

Thanks in advance.

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**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/22080_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chances-that-this-is-a-sign-of-mold/669497/2 "2013-09-23T09:45:41Z")

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Since it seems to be static, my unproffesional opinion is that it’s not mold. In my experience, mold grows and spreads pretty fast.

Have you tried spraying it with a bleach solution? That does kill mold.

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**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2013, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chances-that-this-is-a-sign-of-mold/669497/3 "2013-09-24T16:58:18Z")

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I sometimes get pinkish stains where water sits in the bathroom, and I think it’s just minerals from the hard water (possibly combined with metal salts from the pipes).