You’ve determined that you have a toxic mold problem. Now how do you get the stuff out of your building? The first step is identifying the source of the conditions in which mold thrives. Then you — or a mold remediation professional — will change those conditions, take special precautions, and tackle the job of mold cleanup.
Five Steps for Removing Mold
- Resolve your moisture problem. If water is leaking, dripping, or accumulating anywhere on your property, you will have to figure out where it’s coming from and stop it. If you have high humidity in a room from other sources — aquariums or house plants, for example — you will need to use a dehumidifier or increase ventilation to the room to bring the humidity down. If your living space has become wet because of a flood, broken water main, or other cause, your first step should be to thoroughly dry the space, using ventilation, fans, heaters, dehumidifiers, or disposable absorbent materials (such as paper towels). Work quickly. It takes only 24 to 48 hours for mold to get a foothold in damp material under the right conditions.
- Protect yourself. Have children, the elderly, anyone with a compromised immune system from chemotherapy or HIV disease, or anyone with a known allergy to dust or mold, leave the building for the duration of your cleaning project. Leave an air purifier running near you as you work. Rent and use a high efficiency respirator designed for particle removal, especially for large jobs. Wear goggles that form a tight seal around your eyes, and rubber gloves. Wear clothing that covers all exposed skin; plan to remove and discard the clothing outdoors, if possible, or remove clothing and seal it into plastic bags before leaving the containment area. Put on fresh clothes that are handed to you through the window or that you bring in with you sealed in several layers of plastic. Do not touch any surface before you leave the room.
- Contain the mold. Mold will release spores when it is disturbed, so begin by sealing off the space you need to clean. Mold spores can travel attached to dust or floating on air currents. Each mold-contaminated area must be sealed off, one room at a time, using plastic sheeting and duct tape over doors, windows, cracks, and air vents. If the room has an outside window or door, leave it unsealed and place a fan blowing OUT to draw air and mold spores out of the living space while you work. Turn off any central air or heating systems before you begin.
- Clean and disinfect. Because mold loves damp conditions, most patches of mold growth will be moist. Any mold that has dried is especially dangerous, because the powdery mold spores will easily become airborne. If you encounter dried mold, mist it with water before cleaning.
- Non-porous surfaces, such as metal, glass, hardwood, plastics, and concrete: scrape off as much mold as possible, then scrub with a moldicide or fungicide cleaner.
- Porous surfaces, such as carpeting, ceiling tiles, wallboards, and porous possessions, such as upholstered furniture, clothing, and books: if an item can be thoroughly cleaned and dried, and the mold has not destroyed the surface (remember, mold is eating anything it grows on), porous items might be reusable. In most cases, however, mold-infested porous surfaces will have to be torn out and thrown away.
- Remove mold-contaminated objects and cleaning materials. Seal mold cleaning supplies and all waste materials in heavy-duty plastic bags. Pour water used in cleaning up mold directly down the drain. If possible, do not carry mold-contaminated objects through other rooms; the sealed plastic garbage bags should leave through the window and not be carried through the house.
Allow any area you have cleaned to dry thoroughly before you remove the plastic sheeting and duct tape.
Mold removal is difficult work. If your job will take several hours, plan to work only 30 minutes at a time, taking breaks outside with the respirator off.
Consider Professional Mold Eradication
If you are unable or unwilling to take the required precautions to clean a moldy room, consider leaving this work to the professionals.
If you clean up a moldy area yourself, using all precautions, and you still suffer a negative reaction to mold — or if your mold problem recurs in the same area — think seriously about consulting a mold remediation specialist.
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