Getting rid of black mould

fatboyonadiet · 12 January 2009 at 1:00PM

A friend has a problem with black mould, what's the best way to get rid of it? He's had vents added to stop it from egtting worse but what's the best way to get rid of the existing problem?

nesssie1702 · 13 January 2009 at 10:52AM

While cleaning the mould away from the wall will make it look better, your friend really needs to tackle the source of the problem. It's either caused by condensation or by rising damp.

Is the mould on an external wall? What room in the house is affected?

Do they dry washing inside the property? This will release a lot of water vapour and can make the mould growth worse, especially if windows aren't open when the washing is drying out. If the mould is in the bathroom, it's likely that the window isn't being opened to ventilate the room after showers or baths.

Is the property well heated? A combination of heat and increased ventilation will help improve the situation

HTH

helenjg · 13 January 2009 at 10:57AM

Bedzilla wrote: »

You'll probably find a mildew specific cleaner in any supermarket that will do this. Alternatively, diluted bleach should apparently have the same effect. You should make sure the room is ventilated when doing it though, as they are very chemical cleaners.

Agreed

I used a cloth with a bit of neat bleach on mine (though it does only occur on off white satinwood painted windowsills so can get away with it – maybe someone else can confirm if using it on other surfaces/colours is ok?)

Also once a week when its dry outside I open all the windows just a bit for the day when I’m out at work. This helps massively with the damp problem, and really freshens up the house.

kaya · 13 January 2009 at 11:35AM

Milton sterilising fluid

Flamingo_2 · 15 January 2009 at 3:33PM

We have a similar problem and i'm hoping it's caused by condensation rather than damp! The research i've done said that the black mould needs to washed off using a fungicide wash (we got ours from Wickes about £4). Don't use bleach as it only kills the mould on the surface and not the spores in the actual wall.
We're also going to get a dehumidifier.
We've also increased the length of time our heating is on - a warmer property creates less condensation and therefore less mould.
Things like opening the bathroom window after a shower, opening kitchen window whilst using tumble dryer, only boiling the amount of water you actually need in the kettle (produces less steam) and boiling veg etc on the hob with lids on the pans or opening the window.
Keep a gap between the wall and any furniture near the wall - to allow the air to flow and circulate.
Hope that helps

furndire · 15 January 2009 at 3:41PM

We now have this problem with one of our tenants. (I have just ordered a dryer for the house - it'll be far cheaper for me in the long run than losing tenants) The house was fine last year, when previous tenants were using a dryer to dry their washing. The water from your clothes has to go somewhere, think about the difference with the weight of your clothes dry, and wet - thats the weight of water going into the atmosphere/furniture/carpets in your home. And there it sits, until the house gets heated up again and there is water vapour again in the air. You need to get the house thoroughly warm and open the windows and let the air circulate through to drive the moisture out.
Comparatively warm moist air hits cold windows - result, condensation. Wash/dry clothes three or times a week - an awful lot of water in the house.

Dettol Antibacteria Mould & Mildew remover is extremely good. You just spray it on and leave it. It does contain bleach. Green spray bottle from Wilkinson/ Home Bargains etc is the cheapest place to get it. I have used diluted bleach, but this is far easier

cookie_monster · 15 January 2009 at 3:46PM

We used dettol mould cleaner, it seems to work for about 3 months but comes back.

Getting rid of black mould

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