I would like to know how to keep mildew from forming on my walls, especially in the winter time. It really makes a mess, and it's hard to clean as well, especially behind the beds and dresser. Is there anything I can do to keep it from coming back next year?
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Ive tried avout everything, so after every shower/bath, I squeege the tile down and if it's very humid or damp in there, then I'll mist the walls with a mixture of some bleach and water. Hope it helpss!
It works for me :)
Usually mildew forms if there is excessive humidity in your house and it is worsened with warm indoor temperatures. Maybe this is more common in other areas of the country than in the midwest where I am from, but I would suggest you check your house for moisture sources frrom the following areas; running the shower without running an exhast fan in your bathroom, a dryer vent that is not hooked up correctly or venting to the outdoors, cooking a lot without a vent hood that exhasts outdoors, gutters and downspouts that are plugged up or disconnected and not pulling water away from the foundation or having the dirt around your house slope in toward the foundation, any exhast fans that vent into the attic and not through the roof, or an attic with exhast vents that have been closed up (you should have some air flow from the outdoors in most attics).
I see that someone has already covered the reason for the mildew forming in the first place, so I'll give you a way of destroying it. There is a product called Kilz, a form of paint, that you paint over the mildewed area. As far as I know, it comes only in white, so you would want to paint another color over it once it is dry. You may have to put more than one coat on to be sure the black is covered, as mildew will bleed through regular paint.
If condensation is the cause I agree with Tabbycat - mildew forms where there is moisture laden air - usually hitting a cooler surface where it condenses forming the moist conditions in which moulds/mildew grow. Minimize the internal sources of moisture, as in Tabbycats post, and increase ventilation. This could be by opening windows to create a through draught, a cheap extractor fan, (bathroom type), or even having a fan running in the room to keep the air circulating will help. Heating the room, so the walls are warm and the moisture remains in the air and doesn't condense out may help too. I have seen hints from people suggesting venting the clothes drying inside the house will save money on heating bills and re moisten dry air but it looks like a recipe for many mould and rot problems to me.
Washing the walls with bleach, (sodium hypochlorite solution), will kill the mould/mildew and its spores, if that is possible depending on the wall coverings.
Regards
Jo
I had a friend with the same problem. The entire family had bizarre types of symptoms, colds, rashes, fatigue. It turned out that there were 6 types of dangerous molds growing. Molds are only typically dangerous to people when there are more than one type at a time. They produce toxins to kill each other, and that is what causes human symptoms. Having mold on your walls is not normal. Bleach will kill the active molds, but will not kill the spores, and it will grow back after three to four weeks.
I've never tried this myself, but I have a friend that sprays her bathroom walls (with no windows) once a week with Lysol disinfectant spray. It works for her.
I agreed. Squeegee the tile down after showers works for me!!!
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