is it mold??? arghhh!
we suddenly noticed a bunch of black spots on the ceiling (which is quite high) of one our bathrooms. the ceiling is painted; the rest of the bathroom is tiled, and in great shape. are these black spots mold?? if so, how does one remove them and keep them from spreading? thank you.
we suddenly noticed a bunch of black spots on the ceiling (which is quite high) of one our bathrooms. the ceiling is painted; the rest of the bathroom is tiled, and in great shape.
are these black spots mold?? if so, how does one remove them and keep them from spreading?
thank you.
And … if you’re going to go the BIN route, definitely solve the problem first (clean up the mold and figure out how to ventilate the bathroom properly).
Dilute bleach solution. Get up there with a sponge and wipe it off. Wear gloves, don’t stand where you’re liable to drip in your eyes.
And, like everyone else has said, it is probably a ventilation issue. In a bathroom, you can safely start by assuming that the moisture source is in the room, not in the walls.
Do the mirrors steam up when you shower?
We have this problem very occasionally–like mid-August, when even a big open window isn’t enough ventilation.
We get rid of the mold with a Magic Erase and a little bleach. If we had the problem this time of year I would dig a little deeper,but for us it’s seasonal.
It’s possible that the mold is coming from lack of ventilation, especially over a shower, as pointed out above. It’s also possible that the mold is coming from a very slow steady leak in the apartment above yours. Either way, painting it with mold resistant paint is not going to do anything for you long term. Improving the ventilation in the room or fixing the upstairs leak would be the way to solve the problem.
what the heck is an “EcoBroker?!”
rob
Hi,
I’m an EcoBroker and one of the things I learned is that the only effective way to get rid of mold is to remove the humidity.
It might simply be from a badly ventilated bathroom so try better ventilation first. You won’t get rid of the mold you have now but dry mold is not an issue. Like the previous posters said you can simply hide it with paint.
If the mold comes back then your problem is bad ventilation above the sheet rock in the ceiling. You need to get in there and make sure it is being vented outside, probably to the roof.
Gennaro Brooks-Church
ecobroker.com
i believe ironballs is talking about “Killz” which is mildew resistant primer. paint over it any color when it dries. ventilate well if you use it, it’s super strong. might be worth drilling a little hole in the sheetrock to see if it’s coming from above. easy enough to spackle over it.
What IB said, and before painting, wash the mold (or mildew) off with a dilute bleach solution,
It could be chocolate chips from a cookie gone wild, but most likely it’s mold from either a leak from above, or possibly your bathroom just isn’t vented well enough the mold is caused by condensation building up on the ceiling.
If it’s the later, they have stain killing mold resistant paint (I think it’s called BIN) that can easily be painted over your existing bathroom ceiling that would probably resolve the problem.