Hi -

We just acquired a small summer house. We easily removed wallpaper from the kitchen walls, revealing wallboard that was water stained and had many areas of mold. (We already had the roof repaired to take care of the leaks.)

What is the best way to clean the mold off the raw wallboard and do the least damage to it? I tested using Tilex for mildew. It did a great job on the mold but also dissolved off the joint compound and some wallboard surface! The mold seems to be mostly where there was joint compound, btw.

Thanks so much,

Barbara

 

Since you are working on the bare sheetrock, I would try a mixture of bleach 25% in water and mist it on lightly. What you are looking for is a change in the color of the mildew to show that it has been killed. It will change from dark, greenish black to a yellowish color. Rather than try to remove it with a wet solution, I would next let it dry and try to brush as much off as possible with a coarse cloth.

With the mildew killed and as much as possible brushed off, I would next prime with a good primer sealer such as Zinsser 123 and add a mildewcide to the primer only. This will have the chemical next to the drywall where it may need to be.

http://www.zinsser.com/product_detail.asp?ProductId=34

You will need the sealing ability of a good primer sealer anyway to seal in the water stains to keep them from showing through the paint later on.

The mildew was probably in the joint compound because it is porous and would hold moisture and the mildew.

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks a gazillion, Chris. It helps a lot.

>>try to brush as much off as possible with a coarse cloth.

 

Coarse cloth - a towel? A brush would do.