I live in a large flat with a small bathroom. This bathroom has been blessed with no ventilation bar a small crappy fan. As a consequence mould has colonised the ceiling.
Any ideas on the best way to rid ourselves of the mould?
Ideas should be:
a)Deadly to mould,
b)harmless to ceiling,
c)Entertaining after a couple of beverages
i was always a fan of the massive bleach dose - of course, since this is your ceiling this could be awkward to apply without shedding skin/hair/eyesight…
wear a raincoat and chem-lab goggles and clothes you don’t care about; enough bleach will kill anything
First, get a good bottle of Tilex mould and mildew remover, and whipe off the existing stains.
The mould is accumulating becasue someone has used the wrong type of paint in your bathroom.
Go and get a liter or two of a paint that is recommended for use in your bathroom. (Ask your retailer what’s the best for high-humidity areas)
Next, if you rent, demand that your landlord obtain and install a ventilation fan as a replacement to the crappy one (I assume is in the ceiling). This replacement fan should not be any less than 110 CFM.
If neither of these is an option, simply mop the ceiling with a sponge mop and floor cleaner, and from then on in, after a shower simply blow fresh air into the bathroom from outside of it with a strong room fan. We used to have to do that. It’s a pain, but whatever.
Again, if you rent, certain areas have a law that REQUIRES a working ventilation fan in a rented unit. Check your rental laws and see if that’s the case where you are.
I had a mushroom the diameter of a tyre* appear in a cupboard. (OK, I didn’t use the cupboard very often!).
Appparently it was ‘wet rot’ - there was a tiny leak from the roof above, and this thing just grew.
The builder told me ‘wet rot’ was better than ‘dry rot’.
I scraped it all off, and then plastered over the leak.
Shouldn’t you arrange something (like ventilation), otherwise it will presumably simply recur?
Clorox Cleanup on a sponge will get rid of mildew quickly. I have poor ventilation in my bathroom, I have to clean mildew off monthly. I use no gloves or goggles, just be carful you don’t over saturate the sponge so it doesn’t drip. Hopefully you haven’t let it go to the point where the drywall has been ruined already. If that is the case you may need to get a new ceiling. They do make special mildew resistant paint. It doesn’t stop the mildew from growing but it comes off effortlessly.
[quizical look]
I can figure out why our British pals would have problems with mold–a maritime climate and all–but one would think that the people of the nations where “mushrooms the diameter of a tyre” were INVENTED wouldn’t have to ask us Yanks how to get rid of 'em.
[/quizical look]
I don’t know if this would help, but you can buy stuff called “Damp Rid” http://www.damprid.com. This is supposed to absorb moisture out of the air to prevent mold. You should be able to find this, or a different brand, in a store where you live.
A good emergency mold killer is Listerine mouthwash. I used to use this because the smell of bleach made me ill. Luckily we’ve moved to a less damp house.
Spraying bleach lets you watch the mold die and vanish. Yeah, you should take some precautions, but the SAFER methods aren’t nearly as much fun.
Barring a new fan, the only thing you can really do is just keep cleaning it off as it grows back. Mildew resistent paint will help but have you ever painted a ceiling - it’s worse than mildew. My rec: Tilex (or bleach - practically the same thing) and get a small clip-on or free standing fan that you can run. If you can get rid of the moisture (or at least reduce it), you can get rid of the mold.
I’d recommend living somewhere other than Scotland, for starters.
OR you could just call your letting agent to do it again and shout at them until they do it.
I get a spray bottle. One fourth bleach, the rest water. You can spray lots of places with it easily. Or use a mop.
No window in the bathroom?