Water Damage

How To Get Rid Of Black Mold

If you want to experience a frightful event, go away for a Christmas vacation and return home to have your bathroom floor covered with water and the vent fan hanging askew.

You get the roofer out to replace the shingles that were blown off in the wind and then clean up the mess, drying the vent fitting and the walls.

Then a few month later you notice black objects on the floor that seem to be coming from the walls and ceiling. This is black mold, and you need to know how to get rid of it.

The secret

There is no need to panic at this point. There is no great secret, you just have to do it. These directions will greatly help you in your project.

In this case, the first step would be to have a roofer check the entire roof for other missing shingles and possible water leaks. Mold and mildew love moist, dark areas.

Until you are assured that there is no more source of moisture there will be no question of stopping it. Once the roof is repaired and the shield is intact then start running a dehumidifier in your home.

You have stopped the source of the water, now you want to suck it out of the walls, woodwork and anywhere else that it might be lurking and breeding black mold.

Cleaning up the existing spores should be next on your agenda on getting rid of the mildew and mold spores. The best cleaning agent is a ten per cent solution of bleach. Mix one part chlorine bleach to ten parts water and spray it on the effected areas.

Spray it on, let it set for a quarter of an hour and then scrub it off. Repeat as necessary until the ceiling and wall are free of black spots. Be careful of carpets and drapes as they can be permanently bleached by the solution.

You want to learn how to remove the mold, not change the color of your carpets. If your carpets were damaged, and show signs of black mold growing under them, the safest way to get rid of black mold is to replace the carpets. This is an expensive solution but removing mold from carpets is an almost impossible task.

Green solutions

If you do not like the idea of using bleach, there are a few safe, natural products available. One is Molderizer, and is an organic, commercial strenth solution that romoves mold spores and spots.

Now that you know how to get rid of black mold, consider ways to keep it out of your home. Air filters will trap the spores as they drift into your home from the outside air.

A vacuum cleaner that features a HEPA filtration system is also a good investment. You can vacuum them up and remove them from your home before they have a change to multiply