How to Get Rid of Black Mold on Basement Walls
Many homeowners have to deal with black mold. Black mold is a fungus that feeds off a variety of surfaces and thrives in humid, damp locations void of sunlight. It can cause health problems. You commonly find black mold growing along basement walls. Since basements offer the perfect breeding for mold and its spores, the black mold can multiply and spread, causing a full-blown mold infestation. Fortunately, there are ways to remove the black mold from your basement walls and prevent it from returning. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- Rubber gloves
- Safety goggles
- N-95 respirator
- Bleach
- Bucket
- Spray bottle
- Stiff scrub brush
- Mild dishwashing liquid
- Cloth
- Stiff-bristled brush
- Dehumidifier
- UV lights
Instructions
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Wood Basement Walls
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Create a cleaning solution of 1 1/2 cup of bleach to 1 gallon of warm water. Pour the cleaning solution into a spray bottle.
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2
Don your gloves, goggles and respirator. Mist the molded wood with the cleaning solution. Scrub the cleaning solution into the wood with a stiff scrub brush. Allow the solution to air dry onto the wood basement walls.
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3
Fill a bucket with 1 gallon of cool water. Add 2 tablespoons of a mild dishwashing liquid to the water. Mix thoroughly.
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Submerge a cloth in the mixture. Scrub the wood with the saturated cloth. Allow the wood basement walls to air dry.
Concrete Basement Walls
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5
Create a cleaning solution of 4 parts warm water and 1 part bleach.
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6
Saturate a stiff-bristled brush into the solution. Scrub the concrete basement walls with the brush until you have removed all black mold. Be sure to wear your goggles, respirator and gloves while working.
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Allow the solution to air dry onto the basement walls.
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Rinse the basement walls by scrubbing them with a clean scrub brush saturated in cool water.
Black Mold Prevention
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Provide adequate ventilation and circulation. If possible, open doors and windows to the basement to allow fresh air to flow into the area.
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Run a dehumidifier in the basement. Dehumidifiers pull the moisture out of the air. Without moisture, the mold cannot thrive. Use a dehumidifier to considerably reduce the number of mold spores in the basement air.
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Place UV lights inside the basement. UV lights work in the same way as sunlight. They kill growing mold. Run the UV lights for a few hours at a time. Never leave them unattended.
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1
Tips & Warnings
When removing mold always wear a pair of rubber gloves, N-95 respirator and safety goggles without vent holes.
Never mix bleach with ammonia or products containing ammonia. The resulting fumes are toxic.
References
- Photo Credit vieille cave image by Jean-Jacques Cordier from Fotolia.com
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Comments
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UV Light, Borax and Bleach DO NOT kill mold even at full strength. It only turns the mold white. To kill mold you must use a product specifically designed to kill mold. The mold you can see is only part of the problem. You are have to find and fix the reason the mold is growing in the first place. On concrete or cinder block basement walls it is almost always due to ground water pushing its way through the block or concrete. Concrete is NOT an effective water barrier. In these cases you have to dig down to the footer on the outside of the effected wall to install a french drain, sump pump or both to remove the water that is coming through the wall before it gets to the wall. Then you have to install a vapor barrier and water proof coating to the outside of the wall, then back fill it. Simply scrubbing mold with bleach is like washing a car that was in an accident and calling it fixed. Also, covering the mold with those paint like products that keep the water out are NOT fixing the problem only masking it, like putting lipstick on a pig. It may look pretty but its still a pig. BTW, all your doing when you scrub the mold is spread the spores throughout the basement and then the house as they are sucked in buy the hvac and blown thoughout your house. If its a little job you can try to do it yourself, any more than 10 sqft hire a professional. Either way do it the right way.
