How to Get Rid of Mold in a Wall

Mold in a wall can be a very serious problem. Often a person is unable to sell a home because of mold in that home. Mold also can cause serious health problems for anyone who lives in that home especially young children or the elderly. Usually this problem is best dealt with by a professional but if you must do it yourself, here's how to do it.

Things You'll Need

• protective equipment to protect respiratory system and to protect against injuries.
• a crowbar and other demolition equipment.
• an electric sander
• New insulation
• New drywall
• a dehumidifier
• a box fan
• bleach and water solution
• spray bottle

Instructions

1. Mold grows in a warm, wet, dark place. You can't do anything about the warm dark part and you really don't want. It's the moisture along with the mold you need to get rid of. Since you do not want to deal with this problem again, the first thing to do is to find out where the moisture originated and deal with that problem before you can deal with the moisture in the wall otherwise you'll have to deal with the mold again later.

2. First thing you need to do is obtain any required permits and have a dumpster available for the demo. Then it's time for demolition. Don your protective gear. Then take down all water damaged drywall, and insulation. If it's damp, it's damaged. Be ruthless about removing the mold damaged materials. Remove whole sheets of dry wall rather than trying to save material. Better to get all the moldy material now than to have to deal with it later. Once you're inside the wall, make sure that outside of the wall doesn't have any mold damage. If it does, it would be in your best interests to remove that too.

3. Remove as much mold as possible from the inside studs by first sanding off the visible mold. Now treat the exposed wall studs with bleach water solution of 50% water and 50% chlorine bleach and scrub stubs with bristle brush. Allow solution to be sprayed into crevices and into joints. work bleach solution into joints and crevices with a toothbrush.

4. Dry thoroughly using dehumidifier in the room and use box fan to circulate air through the area treated with the bleach solution. This will insure the area is thoroughly dry. Give 48 hours of dry weather after removing mold and treating wood surfaces before replacing insulation and drywall to be sure that all moisture is removed.

5. Replace insulation and drywall. Mud and tape and paint.

Tips & Warnings

• All of the equipment including the protective equipment can be rented in many areas.

• Always use protective gear to protect both respiratory system and against injury especially during demolition.

• Be sure that there are several days of dry weather available before beginning this project if possible.