Mould

Merlin5 · 11 Dec 2013 at 23:52

I had a new bathroom built end of last year. Around the clear silicone at the bottom of the shower screen there's a small formation of mould. Also, there's some behind the plastic wedges that support triangular glass corner shelves. There's 2 shelves above each other, and each shelf has 3 plastic wedges. Two wedges screw into the fixed glass part of the screen and one wedge screws into the tile. Each tile wedge has got some black mould behind, but the wedges attached to the fixed screen are fine. I was thinking of using domestos to clean it up, apparently it works as well as any mould remover?

I have a low voltage humidistat fan above the shower which comes on automatically each shower I take and stays on for as long as it takes for the humidity to lower. I have the window open when I shower. I wipe down the whole bathroom every day after each shower, takes about 15 minutes. Is there something else I should be doing? Or is this to be expected? It's a small bathroom, about 6' x 5' so moisture hits everything easily. The rest of the bathroom is still brand new looking and mould free. And that's the way I want to keep it! Now that I think of it, I do remember pulling some excess sealant away from around the post a few months ago, to try and push the shower screen seal further up. Maybe it broke the seal of the silicone?

This is my fan btw. Is it good enough or do I need a better one? Extract performance seems on par with others I've seen which are more costly.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-Bathr...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

boxman2000 · 12 Dec 2013 at 08:16

I just tackled some mould in my bathroom shower. I got a cheap water sprayer from a garden centre, put some bleach in it and a little water (as little as possible to be able to spray it) and leave it to soak for as long as you can (depends what/where you're applying it).

Regarding the shelves, probably best to remove the shelf and give it all a good clean.

Silicone may clean up with a bit of bleach and a toothbrush (let it soak in as well) but you may have to remove it - WD40 should do the job and if it's quite recent you may be able to just do that small area (although I'm sure the 'correct' way is to remove the lot and do it all again.

Failing that, I used baking soda mixed in with bleach (it smells so open the windows) and scrub with a scrubbing brush - did the job as well for the tougher areas (grout etc).

No idea on extractor I'm afraid - if you don't get mould on the ceiling or any/much on the tiles/wall then you're probably fine.

Merlin5 · 12 Dec 2013 at 20:53

Cheers boxman. In the end, I decided to buy HG mould remover because it's meant to be brilliant and easy to use. Spray, leave for 30 minutes and rinse off.
I'm not sure if I needed to buy it though because I'm going to remove the silicone anyway. Here's what I have now.

My worry is applying the new silicone without making a complete mess of it. Do I need to smooth it with my finger or the smoothing tool, or just squeeze it out carefully around the post and along the side and not touch it? I've never done it before and I know it looks easier than it is.

koolpc · 12 Dec 2013 at 20:56

Merlin5 said:
Cheers boxman. In the end, I decided to buy HG mould remover because it's meant to be brilliant and easy to use. Spray, leave for 30 minutes and rinse off.
I'm not sure if I needed to buy it though because I'm going to remove the silicone anyway. Here's what I have now.

My worry is applying the new silicone without making a complete mess of it. Do I need to smooth it with my finger or the smoothing tool, or just squeeze it out carefully around the post and along the side and not touch it? I've never done it before and I know it looks easier than it is.

Use your finger. Wet your finger first. It can be messy but you can get a great finish if done right. I did our bathroom last month. I cut out all the mouldy sealant and then after a thorough clean and dry I put new sealant down. Looks great now.

Merlin5 · 12 Dec 2013 at 21:00

koolpc said:
Use your finger. Wet your finger first. It can be messy but you can get a great finish if done right. I did our bathroom last month. I cut out all the mouldy sealant and then after a thorough clean and dry I put new sealant down. Looks great now.

When I've removed the silicone, is it worth me spraying some mould remover in those areas for good measure before applying new silicone?

What happens if I do make a mess of applying the new stuff, shall I try and remove it immediately while it's 'creamy' or would that make more mess than waiting for it to dry for an hour and then peeling/cutting it out?

Traffic_Warden · 12 Dec 2013 at 21:05

Is the fan working properly? Is it ducted to the outside? I've seen so many fan's that are just put up, and pumping all the moisture into the loft space.....

Is the window far away from the shower?

Merlin5 · 12 Dec 2013 at 21:32

Traffic_Warden said:
Is the fan working properly? Is it ducted to the outside? I've seen so many fan's that are just put up, and pumping all the moisture into the loft space.....

Is the window far away from the shower?

Yep it's working fine, comes on at the drop of a hat. Hole cut in wall above shower and the fan is slotted into that. There's no loft, it just extracts moisture to the outside. The window is very close to the shower, you can get an idea of it here, it's only about 5 and half foot from wall to wall.

koolpc · 13 Dec 2013 at 05:43

Merlin5 said:
When I've removed the silicone, is it worth me spraying some mould remover in those areas for good measure before applying new silicone?

What happens if I do make a mess of applying the new stuff, shall I try and remove it immediately while it's 'creamy' or would that make more mess than waiting for it to dry for an hour and then peeling/cutting it out?

Make sure you buy mould resistant sealant. Even though it should be better than normal stuff you may still get mould in the future. No need to be over careful with spraying mould remover after removing sealant but no harm in doing so.

Removing it while creamy is ok as long as you have some sealant cleaner with you as it smudges terribly. Just be careful putting the stuff on. Not too thick.

boxman2000 · 13 Dec 2013 at 10:32

Yep, nothing like good old spittle when applying new silicone sealant!

I'd probably give it a good old clean before reapplying but just make sure it's completely dry before doing so.