DIY Tips to Remove Mouldy Paint in the Bathroom

17 February 2015

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It’s at this time of year that condensation arrives in the home. The combination of warm heating indoors, the cold, damp weather outside and a lack of ventilation – because, let’s face it, who wants to open their windows to let the chilly air in during the winter?! – is often the cause of condensation in the home and, ultimately, damp walls. This is especially prevalent in bathrooms and often results in mouldy, furry or down-right gross bathroom walls. Yes, damp can get under the paint in the bathroom and cause chunks of paint to flake off the walls. Couple this with spots of mould all over the walls and your bathroom starts to look pretty disgusting! Lets face it no one wants shabby walls spoiling the look of their new bathroom suite! So here are our tips for clearing dampness and flaky paint when the mould has taken hold:

How to Remove Mould Before Painting:

1. Prepare the Wall

Scrape off the flaky paint using a cheap stripping knife or a triangular shavehook. Be sure to scrape all the crumbs away, brush down the walls, then vacuum them up so that they don’t stick to the new paint! It will look a lot worse to start with but we promise you that it’s worth it!

2. Apply Solution

Mix up a solution of 2 parts bleach with 10 parts water in a spray bottle (an empty cleaning spray bottle will do) and spritz the bleach water onto the walls to kill the mould. This is exactly the solution you’ll find inside pricey mould-killer products so just mix up your own, but be very careful when spraying because any splashes back on your clothes will bleach them – you might want to wear something old that you don’t mind ruining!

3. Repaint

Allow this to dry thoroughly (probably overnight while you have a good rest after all that scraping!) and all the mould will have been killed off. Then paint the walls with two coats of satin soft sheen paint such as diamond eggshell – never use matt – which will resist the condensation in future and any moisture will simply run off the walls or can be easily wiped down with a cloth or old towel. Make sure you are careful when painting that you don’t splash onto the existing pieces in your bathroom such as your bath or toilet!