How to Clean Mold

[Hostels]

Does anyone have tips for cleaning up mold problems?

Any environmentally-safe solutions?

Mold on ceilings & walls, in air conditioners... or worse?

I've seen mold problems in a couple of hostels...

[santa klaus]

The most important thing is not to clean up the mold but prevent it in the first place. There´s little point in cleaning up mold if it´s only going to be back in 2 weeks.

You´ll have mold if you have poor ventilation and/or poor insulation of windows and/or walls. You have to fix that first.

[Hostels]

Good tip about ventilation & prevention. I'll add that to the Start a Hostel guide.

[aboriginalhostel]

The most important thing is not to clean up the mold but prevent it in the first place. There´s little point in cleaning up mold if it´s only going to be back in 2 weeks.

We have returning mold problems in the showers. It's been cleaned off regularly with special chemicals but the worse thing when it shows up on the allegedly mold-free siloplast. Then we redo the insulation in the showers again... and again...and again...

[santa klaus]

If your bathrooms have a window, replace one glass with a ventilator. Make sure it´s a powerful one. Hook it up with the lightswitch and a relay, so it continues running for at least 10 minutes after the light has been switched off.

If there´s no window, it´s going to be more expensive. You´ll need to get ventilation with air ducts.

In both cases, make sure the bathroom door lets air in even if it´s closed. The easiest solution is to cut off 2 cm on the bottom of the door.

There is absolutely no way to prevent mold if the steamy air isn´t sucked out of the room immediately, especially in common bathrooms or in in private bathrooms of dorm rooms.

[Plakian]

Klaus is absolutely right. But if Budapest has a fairly muggy atmosphere, especially in the winter, you will be dragging in damp air which will not help. In addition to Klaus' suggestions you could try a dehumidifier with the water outlet discharging over a drain.

[santa klaus]

You´re not dragging in cold damp air from outside (that would be the worst thing you could do), but warm air from the adjacent rooms, replacing the damp bathroom air blown outside. In winter, when you have your heating running, that air is usually pretty dry, exactly what you need, so no problem.

[gordo]

klaus is right... but sadly its not always that simple.
we have mould problems in one of our bathrooms... though the one next door that almost identical (actually has more showers) has NO mould problem.

guess which one has an extractor fan running bascially 24/7?
yup, the mouldy one!!!

you've also got to be careful which kind of paint you use in bathrooms... we found out the hard way when it started discolouring like 2 days after the bathroom was available again. bugger.

[santa klaus]

That sounds weird. Do they have identical building material? Maybe one has a cold wall (bad insulation) and the other one hasn´t? Maybe the heating in one of them isn´t working well? Maybe one is just used much more often?

[aboriginalhostel]

If your bathrooms have a window, replace one glass with a ventilator. Make sure it´s a powerful one. Hook it up with the lightswitch and a relay, so it continues running for at least 10 minutes after the light has been switched off.

If there´s no window, it´s going to be more expensive. You´ll need to get ventilation with air ducts.

In both cases, make sure the bathroom door lets air in even if it´s closed. The easiest solution is to cut off 2 cm on the bottom of the door.

There is absolutely no way to prevent mold if the steamy air isn´t sucked out of the room immediately, especially in common bathrooms or in in private bathrooms of dorm rooms.

That makes sense, cheers for that! But I guess we have to go for the air duct system then...