Should you clean mold with bleach? No! Use this instead.

It’s not uncommon for me to find mold in areas of homes that experience elevated levels of humidity, particularly basements and bathrooms.

Naturally, this brings up the conversation about how best to clean mold.  Almost everybody has the same go-to solution: bleach.  Bleach is often seen as the nuclear option for cleaning because it doesn’t seem like anything could survive a good bleach soaking.  Unfortunately, in the case of mold this is not true.  The area might look good after a thorough bleach clean, but the mold is likely to return.

So what can you do?  I recommend using Borax to clean mold.  Borax is a natural white powder that is based on the element boron.  It is an effective mold killer and deodorizer.  There are Borax based cleaners, but you can simply mix the powder with water for a more cost-effective solution (pun intended for my chemistry friends).  One cup of Borax powder to a gallon of water is a good ratio for effectively killing mold.

On top of being the more effective option, Borax is also lower in toxicity, better for the environment, and does not emit toxic gasses.  It’s an all around safer product.  Next time you need to clean mold, leave the bleach in the laundry room and get some Borax.

Keep in mind that many species of mold cannot be seem by the naked eye, and even after you clean you may still have high presence of mold. The only way to confirm this and know if you have done a proper cleaning is to have lab testing done. We offer surface and air testing with results in 24 hours – learn more.