Removing mold

Depending on the extent of your mold infestation, you can either remove the mold yourself or have a professional come in.

4 things you should do when removing mildew

1. Do not wipe dry: Make sure to moisten the infested spots before you start scrubbing. Just spray it with some water. This way, you prevent spores whirling around and getting elsewhere (including your skin and airways).
2. Prevent dust: Do not breathe in any dust floating in the air. Protect yourself with a mask and gloves.
3. Clean toroughly Rigorously clean the infested spots. Even already killed mold spores can cause allergic reactions and illness.
4. Disinfect: Ideally with potent alcohol.(Chloride containing mold remover can irritate mucous membranes and stay in the air for a long time.)

Find and remove the cause of your mold infestation

First, you have to figure out why mildew way able to grow in the first place. There can be a variety of reasons. Almost always, high humidity plays a role in the formation of mold spots.

Likely causes for mold formation

1. No ventilation: If the humidity stays high for longer periods of time, that's a good climate for mildew.
2. Water leaks: Leaky pipes going behind walls or below the floor, leaky spots in a floor above you frequent sources of seemingly inexplicable high humidity.
3. Poor isolation: The lower temperature of the surface of inner walls, often present in poorly isolated building parts increase the risk of mold formation.

Eliminate mold formation/growth causes

In order to make sure mildew stays gone, you have to make sure the conditions change. As said above, high humidity is one of the main reasons of mold formation. You can fix it by lowering humidity by airing the room regularly or by using a dehumidifier.

Air humidity

High air humidity can have a variety of reasons:

• Leaky spots: untight walls, leaks in a drainage pipe or water pipe primarily affect the drywall, but also lead to evaporation and therefore in increased air humidity. If that is the case, only a restoration will have a lasting effect.
• Steam from bathroom and shower: Bathrooms and showers are permanently steamy which means the air humidity is very high. Water is condensing and walls, niches and windows become wet, even drops can form. Frequently airing the room can help if done consistently. A bathroom ventilating fan will reliably remove the humid air.
• Steam caused by cooking: Don't underestimate the amount of water that evaporates when cooking. Whenever you make noodles or tea, stew vegetables or fry meat, quite a lot of water evaporates and, when cooling down again, has to go somewhere. Likely in niches, corners or along walls. What helps? Having (and always using) a fume cupboard, putting a lid on top of pots and pans, and airing the room after cooking.

Prevent future mold formation

To make sure the mildew stays gone, you have to create conditions that mold don't like. Make sure the air humidity is consistently low, avoid thermal bridges and materials that are a hotbed for mildew.