All contaminated surfaces will be vacuumed with a HEPA vacuum to trap mold spores and, at the same time, release clean air, unlike traditional vacuums. Next, a professional will spray and clean the surface that was once contaminated with microfiber cleaning cloths. If the surface is stained and resistant to bleach, or if you plan to repaint and follow the paint manufacturer's instructions, clean the cleaned surface with a dilute bleach solution. Use 1 part bleach to 3 parts water, according to Sherwin-Williams.
If you don't want to use bleach but do want something other than water, try vinegar, borax or branded products that you can find in a hardware store or home center, which also get rid of mold. However, even if you sterilize the surface, there will always be enough mold spores floating in the air for mold to grow again if the conditions are right. Blue mold is another common color of household mold that can appear in damp areas of the house, such as on bathroom walls and ceilings. Mold and mildew, for all intents and purposes, are essentially the same thing; mold is used generically to describe many minor mold problems in the home, such as in grout on shower tiles.
In addition to making this job much more complicated, removing contaminated material also greatly increases the risk of removing mold. If you see mold on any interior wall, evaluate the condition of the wall and the extent to which the mold has taken hold. Green mold is also very common in homes and, like blue mold, tends to appear in damp areas, such as on shower walls and in damp corners. Mold can appear in many shapes and colors, none of which accurately determines the actual mold species.
Whether the mold is on porous or non-porous surfaces, probably the most important aspect of cleaning is to prevent mold from reappearing. When this happens, the drywall must be removed and replaced, as you won't be able to get rid of all the mold under these circumstances. Local public health departments offer advice on mold testing and refer you to a mold remediation company. The Department of Environmental Protection recommends professional removal of mold colonies that cover more than 10 square feet (approximately a three-foot by three-foot patch).
This threshold was established because of the understanding of what makes cleaning up mold and mildew a risky task from a health point of view. This is true regardless of whether the mold or spores are alive or dead, which is why the EPA generally does not recommend using chlorine bleach or other biocides as part of mold cleaning.
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