3 Tips to Prevent Mold in Your Bathroom

There are several ways to prevent mold in your bathroom, all of which come down to basic maintenance and cleaning. Mold is a great eye deterrent and a health risk, especially for people who suffer from allergies and asthma. It requires moisture, humidity and warm temperatures to grow, all of which are most abundant in the bathroom. To help prevent mold, all you have to do is try to decrease the levels of moisture and humidity in the room together with the regular upkeep and cleaning of the bathroom.

Step 1 - Keep it Clean

The most important thing to do is to keep the bathroom clean. Walls and hard surfaces should be cleaned on a regular basis with the help of detergents. There are a variety of products that help prevent mold growth, but bleach and water are often enough. Consider wiping down your bathroom with an antifungal spray at least once a month. Mold doesn’t only grow on walls and ceilings, but it actually grows anyplace where moisture is present, so frequently wash and dry your shower curtain. If it is a fabric shower curtain use your washing machine. If it is made of vinyl wash it in detergent and hot water in your bathtub. Also wash your carpets, especially if you step on them straight out of the shower. However, you should consider removing your carpets altogether since they are great absorbers of water. When cleaning your bathroom, always check for leaks. Water leaking from pipes is a moisture trap for mold, so leaks must be repaired immediately.

Step 2 - Ventilate

Apart from keeping the bathroom clean, it is also advisable to minimize the amount of humidity in the room. Therefore, ventilation is very important. If you do not have an air extractor to expel moist air outside, keeping the bathroom window open can do the job. However, it is recommended to install an air extractor for greater efficiency. If you have an air extractor make sure to keep it running for some 20 minutes after you have taken a shower. In this way you will be eliminating excess humidity from the bathroom. Moreover, to reduce moisture you might consider using a dehumidifier. Since most mold problems are caused by condensation, the dehumidifier will extract the moisture out of the air and store it in a reservoir, which must be emptied regularly. Thanks to a dehumidifier you can reduce the humidity in the air by at least 60 percent.

Step 3 - Avoid Keeping Plants In Your Bathroom

Although keeping plants is another way to have clean air in your home, they are also a great host for mold growth. Removing your potted plants might also decrease from the growth of mold. The constant watering and moist soil creates a home for mold, and often will spread mold to other parts of the room. However, if you really do not want to get rid of your plants for aesthetic reasons, consider pouring a little bit of taheebo tea into the plant's soil, which helps retard mold growth in your plants.

Mold growth in a bathroom is one of the most common problems a household can face, but it is also a very easy problem to prevent or solve. Regular cleaning, upkeep and maintenance are all it needs to be stopped from growing. These are only a few of the simplest methods of preventing mold growth in your bathroom. However, there are a lot of other things that one can do such as replacing the ceramic tiles with semi-gloss paint that contains antimicrobial additives that help stifle mold growth.