Watch this video below for steps to rid your home of mold and mildew.

In the video above, bleach is used to clean and kill mold. I would not recommend using bleach to clean / kill mold as bleach would release harmful fumes which are equally bad for your health. White vinegar is a safer alternative to bleach for cleaning mold and mildew.

To clean and kill mold with white vinegar, mix 1 part of white vinegar to 1 part of water and spray the solution onto the problem spots. You may use undiluted vinegar solution to treat stubborn mold stains. Let the solution to sit for at least 15 minutes before scrubbing off with a mixture of Borax and white vinegar. Repeat this process until all the mold and mildew are gone. Rinse well with clean water or wipe clean using damp cloth if rinsing is not possible. Allow the areas to dry completely.

Related Posts:

• Removing mold mildew from wood
• Mold Removal with Tea Tree Oil
• Black Mold Removal – Part 2

While tea tree oil is expensive, its broad-spectrum fungicide power seems to be able to kill almost all mold species. Tea tree oil is definitely a better alternative to bleach as it is natural and it does not produce harmful fumes that hurt the environment or the surrounding living beings.

Kill mold and mildew with tea tree oil

1. Mix 2 teaspoons of tea tree oil with 2 cups of water in a spray bottle.
2. Shake well to blend.
3. Spray the tea tree oil solution onto the problem areas such as moldy ceiling, musty rug, moldy shower curtain, bathroom tub, walls and floors.
4. Let the solution to stand, do not rinse with water.
5. It will take few days for the strong smell of tea tree oil to dissipate.

This tea tree oil spray works wonder in killing and preventing mold. It can also help to remove musty mold odor. I usually keep a bottle of this spray in the bathroom for regular cleaning. Spray tea tree oil solution regularly on the areas prone to mold and mildew, such as bathroom walls and shower curtain can help preventing mold and mildew.

Related Posts:

• Control Mold and Mildew in Your Home
• Are you missing out the Mold Manuscript Course?
• Hydrogen Peroxide for Mold Removal

Hydrogen peroxide, H2O2 breaks down to water and oxygen, thus creating no residual toxins of any kind when used to clean or kill mold. You can hardly see any evidence of its use in the surrounding environment after a few hours of the application.

Therefore, hydrogen peroxide is a much safer alternative as compared to bleach for removing mold at home. As hydrogen peroxide is less abrasive, it is also safe to be used on porous materials like wallpaper or fabric surfaces.

I usually get my bottle of hydrogen peroxide from a regular drug store. They commonly come in 3% concentration, which is pretty good for the mold cleaning job. It is very affordable; a bottle of hydrogen peroxide only costs me less than a dollar.

Here’s how I kill mold with hydrogen peroxide:

1. Mix one part of hydrogen peroxide with 3 parts of water.
2. Fill this hydrogen peroxide solution into a spray bottle.
3. Spray the solution onto the mold contaminated areas and let stand.
4. When the solution has dried out, re-apply hydrogen peroxide solution again onto the same areas and let it sit for another 15 minutes.
5. Then, scrub the areas to remove all the mold stains.
6. You may need to repeat step 4 to 5 when dealing with stubborn mold stains.
6. Wipe clean with a sponge or cloth.

Since light will reduce the effectiveness of hydrogen peroxide, I usually keep the bottle of the remaining hydrogen peroxide in dark place and away from direct sunlight.

Related Posts:

• Control Mold and Mildew in Your Home
• Mold Removal with Tea Tree Oil
• Are you missing out the Mold Manuscript Course?

What to Do if You Encounter a Mold Problem

If by chance, you do encounter a mold problem, the first thing that should be done is to eliminate the source of the moisture or water.  Then you should dry the area out by using a dehumidifier.  To further eliminate the mold problem, you need to scrub the surfaces that have mold with mold removal products. You can use normal household cleaners to minor mold infestation. The next step to solve the mold problem is to bleach the affected areas and to do a weekly vinegar rinse. Then it is highly advisable to paint with oil-based paint if possible.  This eliminates any future mold problem by trapping any remaining mold spores.  It is also recommended to use an air purifier to eliminate airborne spores from the area.  This is what you should do if you encounter a mold problem in your home.

Related Posts:

• Control Mold and Mildew in Your Home
• Are you missing out the Mold Manuscript Course?
• Mold Removal with Tea Tree Oil

Bleach is the product we have known for years to be good at killing bacteria and viruses. Some believe bleach can kill mold as well. Yes, bleach is a mold killer, but that’s limited to molds grow on non-porous materials such as counter-tops, tiles, bathroom, shower glass, tubs, etc. When dealing with mold infection on non-porous surfaces, you can use a mixture of less than a cup of bleach to one gallon of water to effectively disinfect and kill molds.

However, the use of bleach to kill molds on porous materials is not recommended for the fact that bleach contains 99% of water. When bleach is used to clean and disinfect porous materials like wood and drywall, the Iodin structure of bleach prevents Chlorine from soaking into the materials to kill the roots of molds. While the water element of bleach penetrates through the surfaces and feed the roots. Therefore remediating porous materials with bleach is said to accelerate mold growth rather than stopping and killing it.

Bleach is corrosive. It releases harmful fumes that can cause serious health problems. When bleach is used as mold removal product, make sure you follow proper safety measures to protect yourself from inhaling the toxic fumes.

In conclusion, bleach can be used as mold removal product for non-porous surfaces like glass, tiles, tubs, counter-top and etc. Do not ever use bleach to kill mold on porous materials like wood and drywall. It expedites mold infestation due to the water content of bleach. Remember to put on protective gears whenever dealing with any mold removal product such as bleach. Do not mix bleach with ammonia, as this will create toxic fumes. Bleach is not registered with EPA as a mold removal product. Thus the effectiveness of killing mold with bleach is not proven.

Related Posts:

• Control Mold and Mildew in Your Home
• Removing mold mildew from wood
• Black Mold Removal – Part 1

To get rid of mold on clothes, you need laundry stain remover and vinegar or bleach.

First step in fabric mold removal involves spraying of stain remover over the moldy spot and let it soak for at least 15 minutes before you throw it into your washing machine.

Alternatively, you can use a mixture of vinegar and water to pre-treat the moldy clothes. Vinegar is a good disinfectant and it removes stains well.

After that, put the clothing into your washing machine with 1 cup of vinegar and let it filled with water. Soak the laundry for a couple of hours before adding any laundry detergent.

When washing fabrics with mold and mildew, use the hottest possible water as high temperature can kill mold. For white clothes, you may replace vinegar with bleach for the same procedure.

When mold removal is done, allow the clothing to dry thoroughly under the sun to destroy any possible trace of mold on the fabric.

Watch the video below to learn how to remove mold from clothing / fabric.

Other topics on Home Mold Removal:

• Flood water and home mold removal
• Mold removal products – options to get rid of mold (Part 1)
• Mold Removal and Pesticides

• Ammonia

• Hydrogen peroxide

• Detergent and water

• Tea tree oil

• Baking soda

4. Use Ammonia for mold removal
Ammonia, similar to bleach kills mold growing on non-porous materials like bathtubs, tiles, countertops, and glass. However ammonia is not an effective killer for mold growing in porous materials like drywalls and woods. Ammonia is a harsh chemical, it emits toxic fumes when mixed with bleach. Use ammonia with care.

Removing mold with ammonia
- Make an ammonia solution using a ratio of 1 part of ammonia to 1 part of water.
- Fill a spray bottle with ammonia solution and spray it onto the moldy surfaces.
- Leave the solution to sit for several hours before rinsing with water.
- After rinsing or wiping with water, allow the areas to dry completely.

5. Use hydrogen Peroxide as mold removal product

Hydrogen peroxide is effective at killing molds as it has the elements of anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal. It is a much safer mold cleaner as compared to bleach because it does not produce toxic residue or toxic fumes that harm the environment. Hydrogen peroxide is good at cleaning mold on almost any materials including clothes, walls, bathroom fixtures and other kitchen appliances.

Kill mold with hydrogen peroxide
- Get a bottle of hydrogen peroxide with 3% concentration from your local drug stores.
- Transfer the hydrogen peroxide into a spray bottle and spray it onto the mold infected surface
- Leave it for at least 15 minutes for hydrogen peroxide to take action and kill the molds.
- After that, scour the area to remove all the mold and mold stains.
- Lastly, wipe clean the areas to remove the remaining mold dusts.

Note: Keep the spray bottle of remaining hydrogen peroxide in dark place as light reduces the effectiveness of hydrogen peroxide. For more effective mold removal, you may consider using hydrogen peroxide with vinegar during the cleaning process.

6. Cleaning mold with detergent and water
You can use a solution of detergent and water to clean off surface mold from non-porous material such as glass and tiles. Detergent is not a mold killer, the solution is meant for scrubbing off the visible mold from the surfaces. When mold grows on non-porous material, it is good enough to have all the surface molds cleaned thoroughly. It is not necessary to kill the mold.

7. Other natural mold removal alternatives:
- Tea Tree Oil
- Baking soda

Related Posts:

• Hydrogen Peroxide for Mold Removal
• Control Mold and Mildew in Your Home
• Removing mold mildew from wood

• Borax

• Bleach

• Vinegar

1. Borax as mold removal product
Borax is natural household cleaning product that is commonly used for cleaning toilets and drains. Borax is a non-toxic cleaner as it does not release dangerous chemicals or harmful fumes. Borax is a natural mold inhibitor, when mixed with water it can be used to kill mold.

Cleaning Mold with Borax solution
- Use 1 cup of Borax to 1 gallon of water to create a cleaning solution.
- Before you begin the mold removal process with Borax solution, vacuum all the loose mold to prevent mold spores from becoming airborne during the cleaning process.
- Apply the Borax solution onto the mold infected areas and scrub hard with a sturdy brush to remove all the surface mold. You may repeat this process 2 – 3 times for stubborn mold.
- Wipe off the excess moisture and the residual mold dust. This is to prevent the mold particles from spreading into the air when the surface has dried up..
- Do not rinse the treated areas with water, the Borax solution that left behind will prevent molds from growing on the areas again.
- Allow the cleaned areas to dry entirely.

2. Use bleach for mold removal

Bleach is an effective mold killer for surface mold. It is good at killing mold species that is growing on non-porous materials like glass, tiles, countertops, and bathtubs. Bleach kills mold that it comes into contact with. However, for molds growing within the surface like drywalls and woods; bleach cannot reach into the porous materials. Thus using bleach as mold removal product on these materials is not effective for bleach can only kill the surface mold and leaving the roots untreated.

Killing mold with bleach solution
- Make sure the area to be treated with bleach solution is well ventilated as bleach produces abrasive fumes. Put on long rubber gloves to protect your hands during the mold removal process.
- Create a mild solution that made up of one cup of bleach to one gallon of water.
- Apply the bleach solution onto the mold infected surfaces.
- Leave the solution to set in. Do not rinse with water as bleach will prevent mold growth in the future.

Using bleach as mold removal product: The Cons
i. When bleach solution is used on porous materials, the chlorine in bleach cannot break into the surface, it is left on the surface while the water component is being absorbed into the porous material. This provides further moisture for the mold to thrive on. While the surface mold may be killed but the roots of mold growth are left untreated, which implies the return of mold and this may result in repeated bleaching.

ii. Another downside of using bleach to kill mold is that bleach can cause damages to the materials being treated as bleach is an abrasive chemical. Besides that, bleach produces toxic fumes when mixed with ammonia.

3. Vinegar as mold removal product
Vinegar is a natural and safe mold cleaner. With its mild acidic element, vinegar is able to kill about 80% of the mold species.

Removing mold with vinegar
- Use the white distilled vinegar to remove indoor mold.
- Transfer the undiluted vinegar into a spray bottle and spray onto the mold infected areas.
- Leave the vineger to sit for at least an hour.
- Wipe up the area with water and leave it to dry thoroughly.
- To prevent mold growth on surfaces, you can spray the vinegar on the surfaces and leave it without wiping clean with water. In order to ensure the surfaces stay mold-free, you may need to repeat this every other day.

Related Posts:

• Control Mold and Mildew in Your Home
• Removing mold mildew from wood
• Mold Removal with Tea Tree Oil