The topic of mold is something that most people don’t want to think about. If they are talking about it, it’s likely because they found some in their home, and because of how dangerous it can be, and costly it is to remove, many of them are desperately looking for other ways to get rid of this fungus.
Bleach Does Lose Effectiveness Over Time
If you decide to use chlorine bleach, you will find that it will become less effective over time. For example, if you place a glass of chlorinated water on the counter, over the course of several days, the chlorine is going to evaporate – even if it is inside of the container. It is this evaporation process that makes it difficult to determine if chlorine bleach is as effective, especially if you can escape through plastic. If it has been sitting in the store, for quite some time, it may not be able to perform as you would expect.
If you have no idea how old the bleach is that you are using, you may want to consider avoiding it as a cleaner at all. What may happen is that older bleach may only kill surface mold, and if that is the case, you can have a much larger mess than you wanted.
Bleach will not kill mold that is on a porous surface and can contribute to mold growth!
If you have ever read the label that is on your bleach bottle, it will tell you that only on non-porous surfaces is where it should be used. If that is true, chlorine bleach can only effectively kill surface mold. However, mold can grow deeply, forming roots on a porous surface, and this is also true with cereals like drywall or wood, which means that the bleach cannot exterminate the mold on the surfaces. If chlorine cannot get to the roots, then you will need to find other strategies for trying to prevent mold growth. To completely eliminate mold, bleach is certainly not the best solution. Worst of all, after cleaning where the mold is with bleach, you have not completely eliminated it.
What can you use to kill mold?
After careful consideration and many evaluations on how to eliminate mold, you may wonder if you should do this yourself or simply hire a professional. As you do your research, be very careful. Do-it-yourself mold removal solutions may actually be more problematic and may cost more money than hiring a professional in the long run.
Once you have decided that you would like to clean the mold on your own, there are other options. The best step to take is to first determine what is providing the moisture for the mold to proliferate and make changes such as adding additional ventilation to that area. There are certain issues that can be resolved if you are able to remove the mold from the material, such as completely replacing what it is attached to. By doing so, you remove the roots of the mold and it will not return.
Also, consider testing just to find out what type of mold you have in your home as it may help you find the best chemical combination to remediate it. There are many different mold test kits that you can purchase, or you can hire a professional that will do it for you. There are many types of mildew and mold that are easier to remove than others.
