Mould removal

[John]

I have on my bathroom ceiling a spot of mould literally the size of a 5p piece. I have been into the loft and looked and there is no sign of anything untowards above the mould spot. I have been watching it for a good

12 months and it hasn't gotten any bigger so I am not unduly worried. The time has come to redecorate the ceiling and I want to do something with the mould before I emulsion. I know you can buy these Mould & Mildew killers etc but I am loathed to pay £6 for a bottle, use a thimble full and keep it in the garage forever more. Is there anything that I am likely to have in my garage or house that will prevent it from striking through the new paint coat. Would gloss paint do or will the emulsion (Vinyl Silk) not stick to the gloss?

TIA

John

[Lobster]

Make sure the mould's dead first (just use bleach or disinfectant if you understandably don't want to shell out on the proprietary stuff), then as you say, you'll probably want to seal it to prevent the stain coming through the new paint (that's just a cosmetic thing though, the expensive Mould Killer won't do that job.) Either use some special Stain Block paint (tin or aerosol), or an oil based undercoat (ie best not gloss, as you say) will do the same job.

David

[Brian]

Oh that's revolting leaving it for a YEAR ! Have you not heard of domestic bleach?

[meow2222]

Remove it, use thin bleach to kill.

put a little copper sulphate or a 16 pack of well ground aspirin into your new paint.

NT

[John]

Remove it, use thin bleach to kill.

put a little copper sulphate or a 16 pack of well ground aspirin into your new paint.

NT

Thanks for the reply, as it is my En-suite bathroom if SWMBO says she's 'got a headache'. I can tell her to go lick the bathroom ceiling! :-)

Is that a real remedy or am I missing something?

Cheers

John

[Andy Dingley]

If you use enough of it, aspirin makes an effective wood preserver. It's also a useful precursor chemical for making fireworks. Ibuprofen is no use at all, but good old salicyclic acid has all manner of uses.

OTOH, I wouldn't expect it to do a damned thing here. Mould grows because it likes the damp and if you have the damp, then you're going to see mould eventually - no matter what you've tried to poison it with.

As it's a bathroom, how's the ventilation? Also how's the loft insulation? Spotty mould has been known to appear under cold spots (giving rise to condensation) where there's a gap in the loft lagging.

[John Schmitt]

Aspirin is acetylsalycilic acid, a completely different compound. Salycilyc acid is used as an antifungal treatment.

Absolutely. A bit of house dust and damp, and the mould will hear its dinner gong.

John Schmitt

[Andy Dingley]

I'll take your word for it, but I'm amused that neither of us managed to spell it correctly even once !

[meow2222]

But it turns into salicylic acid, thats the point.

As someone said above, eventually the salicylate wil be gone, but I've found it works well for years, all for the 30p price of a pack of aspirin. I used it in someone's grotty old bathroom that had mould all over the place, and after the repaint, lemme think, several years anyway and still no mould.

NT