Mildew, Mold and Your Home
Mildew can be a tricky and problematic pest in your home and in the paint you use. The dark and damp areas of your home are a favorite spot for mold and mildew to setup and grow resisting all kinds of popular paints and coatings. Its spores are resilient and can dig in and resist cleaning and scrubbing with most household cleaners. If the proper steps are not taken, mildew can come back over and over, compromising your home and your family's health.
The basements in many homes will have problems with mold and mildew. If you have problems with moisture in your basement or roofing and drainage problems outside, mildew can quickly cause problems in your house. Before you go and spend your money on cleaning up the mildew in your house, you may want to take steps to address what is feeding the conditions its growing in. Eliminate its root causes first.
Consider the conditions of the room the mildew is growing in when planning for its clean up. Be sure to keep your bushes and trees properly trimmed so that vegetation does not promote the growth of mildew or mold. This will allow airflow and sunlight to reach the walls and discourage mildew growth. Keep your gutters maintained so that they do not get clogged or leak at the seams. Bad gutters can feed the existence of mold or mildew and do damage to your home by not moving the water away from your house.
Whether the problem with mildew is on the interior or the exterior of your home, the approach should be the same. Use a stiff wire brush to heavily scrub the area if your mildew problem is bad enough. After finishing a clean up and scrubbing you should clean the area from a choice of three cleaning agents. Your first option is to use a mixture of 1 part chlorine bleach mixed with 3 parts water. Another option is to purchase a commercial mildew cleaner and preventer and use as directed. The last option, and the cheapest one, is to purchase TSP or tri-sodium phosphate and mix it with hot water. You can find this stuff at most hardware stores and other paint retailers.
If the mildew problem was on a painted surface, you can wait a few days for the cleaned area to dry and then repaint it. You should purchase a fungicide additive for the paint your going to use or purchase a paint that has anti-mold agents in it or is at least mold resistant. For stubborn problems, you should consider priming the surface with a shellac based primer. Follow all the directions that come with these products. Remember, the best anti-mildew paints are not effective on their own if you do not completely clean the affected areas. If any spores remain on the surface, they will surely multiply and the problem will return.
The basements in many homes will have problems with mold and mildew. If you have problems with moisture in your basement or roofing and drainage problems outside, mildew can quickly cause problems in your house. Before you go and spend your money on cleaning up the mildew in your house, you may want to take steps to address what is feeding the conditions its growing in. Eliminate its root causes first.
Consider the conditions of the room the mildew is growing in when planning for its clean up. Be sure to keep your bushes and trees properly trimmed so that vegetation does not promote the growth of mildew or mold. This will allow airflow and sunlight to reach the walls and discourage mildew growth. Keep your gutters maintained so that they do not get clogged or leak at the seams. Bad gutters can feed the existence of mold or mildew and do damage to your home by not moving the water away from your house.
Whether the problem with mildew is on the interior or the exterior of your home, the approach should be the same. Use a stiff wire brush to heavily scrub the area if your mildew problem is bad enough. After finishing a clean up and scrubbing you should clean the area from a choice of three cleaning agents. Your first option is to use a mixture of 1 part chlorine bleach mixed with 3 parts water. Another option is to purchase a commercial mildew cleaner and preventer and use as directed. The last option, and the cheapest one, is to purchase TSP or tri-sodium phosphate and mix it with hot water. You can find this stuff at most hardware stores and other paint retailers.
If the mildew problem was on a painted surface, you can wait a few days for the cleaned area to dry and then repaint it. You should purchase a fungicide additive for the paint your going to use or purchase a paint that has anti-mold agents in it or is at least mold resistant. For stubborn problems, you should consider priming the surface with a shellac based primer. Follow all the directions that come with these products. Remember, the best anti-mildew paints are not effective on their own if you do not completely clean the affected areas. If any spores remain on the surface, they will surely multiply and the problem will return.
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