Battling Mold And Mildew On Bathroom Tiles
When we think of bathroom tiles, especially around the shower and toilet, we rarely imagine them without the potential for mold and mildew growth. These pesky, dangerous substances seem to pop up wherever there is wet and leave you with few options for removal. Today, we’ll teach you the way professionals keep their own bathrooms free of mold and mildew.
KEEPING BATHROOM TILES BEAUTIFUL, CLEAN, AND SAFE
Above all, you want your bathroom to be a safe place for your family to use; as an added bonus, looking nice and providing the right function sure doesn’t hurt. The way tiles play into this is by creating a non-absorbent surface that can easily be rinsed, wiped, and sanitized – basically, the perfect environment for that fresh and clean feeling you’re looking for. Here’s how to maintain it from mold and mildew growth:
REMOVE ANY CURRENT BUILD-UP
If you already have some troublesome spots in your bathroom, don’t fret – there are plenty of easy, affordable ways to get your bathroom back to square one. You can have a clean, beautiful, and safe bathroom to build a solid foundation of good habits upon, especially if you use one of these common cleaning solutions as your base:
Ammonia-based cleaners
Vinegar and water solutions
Bleach and water solutions
These three constitute, to varying degrees, the greatest way to rid your bathroom of mold and mildew in a single cleaning. Typically, an ammonia-based solution will need about an hour of “sitting” time before you can safely rid yourself of these spore-producing hazards, vinegar solutions often take a couple of minutes, and bleach-based solutions are often instantaneous in their effect.
Note: Never mix any of these solutions without thoroughly rinsing your bathroom, as hazardous fumes can be produced from even a little mixing on the wall. Ask any professional cleaning person, they will tell you the dangers of mixing a bathroom cleaner, especially in a confined space. You simply must pay attention to the active ingredient in any homemade or store-bought cleaning product, as the potential for creating a hazard in your home is surprisingly high if you are not careful.
PREVENT NEW GROWTH
After you rid yourself of your current mold and/or mildew, it is time to look at preventing future growth. There are a few great ways to tackle this problem, so be sure to pick and choose the best ones for your particular bathroom(s). We’ve compiled a few of our favorites here:
CLEAN REGULARLY
The first and foremost way to rid yourself of mold and mildew once and for all is to regularly clean with the aforementioned products. Using either ammonia, vinegar, or bleach on a regular basis, you should have no problem outpacing or entirely eliminating newly growing mold and mildew patches in your bathtub, shower, and toilet areas. This is important enough to note first because even the best anti-fungal measures can let you down eventually; cleaning regularly is the only way to ensure that your bathroom is truly sanitary.
LEAVE A LIGHT ON
While we’re not condoning the reckless usage of electricity, most showers and tubs feature an overhead light with a fan for a reason – which is to capture and eliminate mold- and mildew-producing humidity before it can take root. The best way to avoid the growth of fungi in your bathroom, after all, is to create a habitat that is unfriendly toward their formation and growth. By simply using your over-shower or over-tub light while you use that area, then leaving that and your bathroom’s exhaust fan on for just a few moments after the shower is off, you greatly reduce the likelihood of ever finding mold or mildew in your bathroom. Transversely, if you partition off your shower and create a dark, cool space, then you can expect to bust out the bleach more regularly.
CONTROL YOUR WETNESS
Your bathroom is, more or less, a contained space. You don’t want water inside of the bathroom reaching areas outside of it, but you also want to have the freedom to shed a couple of drops when you get out of the shower and generally not worry about the steam created by said shower and the potential damages it could cause to your home. That being said, if you limit your wetness as much as possible, you will see less mold and mildew growth in the nooks and crannies of your bathroom. Yes, this means less 40-minute showers and turning on the exhaust fan just after your weekly retreat to your bathroom’s tub. Pretty much any way that you can keep moisture to a confined, preferably humidity- and moisture-controlled area, the less you’ll see mold and mildew take root in your bathroom. This is great because nobody – and we mean nobody – likes to clean mildew from a hard-to-reach corner on their hands and knees. Less moisture = less awkward cleaning; enough said, right?
At the end of the day, preventing the growth of mold and mildew is undoubtedly the best way to maintain your bathroom and preserve the health of your family and friends within. These fungal growths aren’t very fun to deal with, and can be quite frustrating if they continue to pop up on your bathroom tiles, so finding a system that helps to keep them from your home is more than worth doing.
VISIT TRANSWORLD TILE
At Transworld Tile, our entire staff is committed to helping you find the best possible flooring, kitchen, and bathroom tiles for your home and helping you maintain them to keep your family spaces, keeping them happy, healthy, and welcoming for years to come. Each member of our team is well-versed in home bathroom tiles and materials, so you can rest assured that the advice and inspiration you’re receiving is based upon years of successful service to the local community.
Stop in and visit our showroom to see the best selection of bathroom tiles in the San Fernando and Thousand Oaks area. Here, you’re sure to find the perfect tiles to complete (or begin) your next home project!
