Bathrooms are often sanctuaries within our homes. Maybe you like to relax at the end of the day with a warm bath or shower? Maybe you enjoy cranking up the tunes during your morning shower? Whatever your routine, there is one thing that is common about all bathrooms, they contain a lot of water. Sinks, toilets, bathrooms and showers, in addition to the steam they create, results in bathrooms frequently being the warmest and wettest locations in a home. This unfortunately means that bathrooms are also the most likely places in the home to experience mold growth.
Not only is bathroom mold unsightly and sometimes intimidating to clean, but it can additionally be persistent and annoying to permanently remove. If you notice mold growing in your bathroom, it’s important to seek professional help to remove the contamination and ensure you are no longer creating an environment that facilitates mold growth. Proper ventilation can allow you to reduce the amount of moisture building up in your bathroom, and the expert team at InchByInch Inspections can help identify mold growth and what may be causing it, then efficiently remove the contamination. In this blog post, we hope to answer some of the most frequently asked questions related to bathroom mold growth. If you have any additional questions or want to book an inspection or removal service, contact our experienced team at 416-826-7172.
Why do I have mold in my bathroom?
Mold may be growing in your bathroom for a variety of reasons. Humidity that builds up as the result of hot showers or baths can settle onto services and into crevices over time to create a warm and moist environment for optimal mold growth. As well, any water that remains in the sink, bathtub, shower or toilet can evaporate over time, increasing water vapour in the air and allowing moisture to continue to build. Mold, including black mold, can feed on the cellulose found in body oil, hair and debris that build up in shower and sink drains over time. In general, bathroom humidity can also settle on walls and ceilings, allowing mold to grow on these porous surfaces in small amounts until they become noticeable. This is especially true in the corners at the tops of walls that are difficult to reach and clean. Overall, this results in bathrooms being the perfect location for mold growth.
If you notice excessive moisture build up in your bathroom, it is likely facilitating mold growth. In order to reduce mold-causing moisture, here a few tips to include in your bathroom maintenance routine. First, ensure you have a functioning bathroom fan and leave it on during a shower or bath and for 30-60 minutes afterwards. Second, if possible, open a window following a shower or bath to allow excess steam to escape. Next, during a shower, make sure the shower curtain is in place to prevent water from escaping and collecting on the floor. Then, if you notice a puddle or excessive condensation, clean it up as soon as possible to avoid long term water exposure on a given surface. Additionally, keep an eye on caulking and grout in order to fix any cracks as soon as possible to prevent water leakage. Finally, paint walls and ceilings with a mold and mildew resistant paint to help reduce moisture build up on porous surfaces.
If you are concerned about moisture build up in your bathroom, see mold growth in your bathroom or suspect mold may be growing, we recommend contacting a professional technician, such as a member of the InchByInch Inspections team. We can then help identify any mold in your bathroom and determine how you can reduce moisture build up in the future. By efficiently and permanently removing any mold growth, we can then prevent any additional damage from occurring.
Can bathroom mold make me sick?
Any mold growing in your home can make you sick, including bathroom mold growth. Symptoms can vary between individuals depending on the length of the exposure and if you have a mold allergy or any type of respiratory condition. In general, mold exposure symptoms can include headaches, difficulty breathing, asthma attacks, sore throat and prolonged flu-like symptoms such as chronic fatigue. These symptoms can also be worse in individuals who are young, elderly or otherwise immunocompromised. For most people, they notice they are experiencing mold exposure symptoms because they feel better whenever they are away from their home. If you are noticing any of these symptoms, it is important to get your home professionally inspected for mold growth. Overtime, these symptoms can become more dangerous, and prolonged mold growth can also affect the structural integrity of your home. At InchByInch Inspections, our expert technicians have years of experience identifying mold growth in even the toughest to reach corners of your home. We can help you permanently and efficiently remove any mold contamination to alleviate your symptoms and reduce any additional damage to your home. We also always finish any removal service with an air quality to test to ensure all mold, including airborne spores, are removed and you are now breathing the best quality of air.
Can you kill bathroom mold with bleach?
In general, bleach can be effective at killing mold, but only if it is growing on hard surfaces. As well, mold can only be killed if it can be seen, and mold can often grow in areas of your home that are either inaccessible or difficult to inspect. Therefore, if your bathroom is creating an environment that allows mold to visibly grow, it is also likely growing in places that you cannot see. With bleach, although you may be able to clean surface mold, it is unable to clean any airborne mold, resulting in spores remaining that can land and grow on surfaces. Most importantly, even though it can be effective on hard surfaces, bleach can actually make mold growth on porous surfaces worse, due to its high water content. This means that if you are treating loose or old caulking and grout, cloth shower curtains, shower mats or towels, bleach will be unable to effectively kill the mold. We therefore always recommend hiring a professional to completely remove mold contamination in your home or bathroom.
How do I get rid of bathroom mold?
If mold is growing in your bathroom, the best way to get rid of the contamination is to hire a professional. An expert technician will be experienced in conducting a full inspection of all possible surfaces where mold could be growing. With years of experience, professionals know where to look for mold, even if it may not seem obvious to the homeowner or is difficult to inspect. By hiring a professional, you can then ensure you are fully removing and remediating all surfaces, including behind dry wall, between tiles, underneath wallpaper or in difficult to reach corners. This is important to ensure that mold doesn’t return, however if your home is creating an environment that is favourable to mold, you may need to make changes to your ventilation or drainage systems to ensure the problem doesn’t persist. Finally, with InchByInch Inspections we always complete every removal process with a thorough evaluation of the air quality to ensure that all spores, including those that are airborne, have been removed. This is an important step to confirm that the contamination removal was successful and that the air quality of your bathroom or home is optimized.
Bathrooms are often hot and humid multiple times a day as people use the sink, shower and bathtub. This results in moisture build up that can ultimately facilitate mold growth and affect the overall health of you and your home. Therefore, it is important to reduce moisture build up in your bathroom by ensuring there is proper ventilation, using a dehumidifier and limiting the amount of water vapour collecting on surfaces. If you notice mold growing in your bathroom, or are concerned that it may be growing, the expert team at InchByInch Inspections can help identify the contamination and permanently remove the mold. Always remember that even if you cannot see mold, it may still be growing in your home, especially in tough to reach and see corners. If you experience any of the symptoms related to mold exposure or a mold allergy, you likely have mold growing even if it is not visible. That is why it is important to hire an expert technician from InchByInch Inspections, to ensure your home is properly inspected and any mold growth eliminated. Prolonged mold growth can affect both your personal health and the structural integrity of your home, and therefore any mold growth should be taken extremely seriously. If you have any additional questions that were not answered in this blog or are interested in booking an inspection or removal service, contact the trusted team at InchByInch Inspections at 416-826-7172. Let us help you optimize the air quality of your bathroom and home by removing mold growth before it can cause significant damage.