Can Bleach Make Mold Worse?

To have molds in your home is equivalent to making way for devastation. Mold is such a thing that fills home and business owners with dread.

The most practical way to identify any mold problem, prevailing in your home is to simply look out for the mold symptoms or presence. Moreover, if you are getting a musty and earthy odor, get cautious, it can be the mold smell.

Instead of being fearful, you should center your focus on mold remediation by hook or by crook without bleach.

You need to know that there exists no “magical fix” for mold problems. Here a question pops up: If not itself magical, how to do the magic that kills all molds?

Instantly, what strikes your mind when someone talks about mold contamination fix? Like many others, you might be thinking of bleach.

Yes, you are right. Bleach kills molds but you need not forget that it comes with a catch.

One of the most frequent questions we encounter from our consumers concerns the usage of bleach for mold removal. It is generally speculated that bleach is the best solution when it comes to removing molds from homes and buildings.

Should you use Bleach for Mold Remediation?

Well, scientifically speaking, it may not always be the case. What is beyond doubt is that bleach can make molds worse. Therefore, bleach is not a permanent and viable method of getting rid of molds.

By now you might be brooding over the subject of mold contamination. Don’t you worry! We’re here to make you cognizant of when and where can bleach be used to eradicate molds as well as how bleach plays its part in making molds worse.

Let’s Jump In!

When to Opt for Bleach for Mold Remediation?

Clorox, a well-known fungicide (mold-killer), is considered to be a go-to cleaning agent when referring to molds.

It is significant for you to learn that Clorox only removes molds from hard, non-porous, impermeable surfaces like bathtubs, tiles, countertops, etc. This pinpoints the fact that bleach can only be used to treat surface microbial growth effectively. It cannot be applied for porous surfaces.

How can you Clean Moldy areas using Bleach?

When you are to use bleach to wipe out molds from non-porous surfaces, you need to be careful enough as bleach is corrosive and dangerous. Since chlorine bleach does not soak-in non-porous materials, this killing action can be easily mediated.

1. Use a diluted Clorox solution (one-part bleach mixed with ten parts of water).
2. Apply the prepared solution to the contaminated spot or non-porous surface.
3. Scrub the entire area and let the solution sit for 10-15 minutes.
4. Rinse the area with clean water and immediately dry it to ensure that mold does not return.

This way you can deal with trivial mold issues in your homes yourself. You can also mix a small quantity of any detergent with the bleach disinfectant to remove grime as well.

Now let’s apprise you of the inefficacy of bleach in treating molds in homes in buildings.

Can Bleach Make Mold Worse?

On porous surfaces, bleach is not what is recommended. This may sound counter-intuitive to you- it is against the common notion that bleach is the solution to all moldy problems.

Chlorine bleach is mostly water (90%). The water in the bleach solution carries chlorine which is an active chemical component. Mounting evidence suggests that employing bleach on porous surfaces is equivalent to feeding the molds and making the problem even worse.

How can this happen?

It is believed that on porous and semi-porous surfaces like drywall, hardwood floors, carpet, ceiling panels, wood, concrete, etc. chlorine in the bleach doesn’t penetrate but the water in it does. This soaking down of water into the porous surfaces to where the roots of these vexing molds lie is a real problem.

This water absorption gradually sets up moist conditions for molds to grow above, beyond, and underneath the porous surfaces. The moisture allows molds to carry on with their feast. This is how they debilitate the structural integrity of your homes and workplaces.

Therefore, if you’re using bleach on porous surfaces, you are not pushing molds out but are preparing grounds for them to grow profusely. Undoubtedly, Clorox will help remove molds from the surface but roots will remain underneath which may go undetected for quite a long time.

For a better understanding, one can precisely state that choosing bleach for moldy porous surfaces is analogous to cutting off some of the leaves of a plant while feeding and nurturing the roots.

The plant will regenerate leaves as it has been nourished by leaving the roots uncut. Moreover, bleach action on porous materials doesn’t keep the molds from returning due to their widespread roots in the particular material.

In such a case, simply covering the surface with the bleach solution won’t help and kill molds entirely and permanently. This is how Clorox can make molds worse.

So, when the mold burden in your home is gigantic, hire a professional mold remediation company to clean and clear your home from molds with tools and skills.

Conclusion:

Technically, bleach does kill molds but this is not as simple as it appears to be. Bleach is thought to be an ideal disinfectant for non-porous materials.

Owing to the low penetration power of chlorine and high penetration power of water, molds thrive at unusual rates when Clorox is applied to porous surfaces. Thus, it is a pretty big deal to remove molds from porous surfaces.

Is your home affected by mold? Are you looking out for mold removal services in Cincinnati? Look no further. We are one of the best water damage restoration and mold remediation company in Ohio.

Get in touch with our experts today and get heinous molds out of your homes.