What Is Mold Resistant Paint and When Should It Be Used?
Mold poses a common yet dangerous problem for homeowners. Often found in places with a lot of moisture, it can cause serious damage to your home and your health. Luckily, mold resistant paint is a safe option to help avoid this problem.
Every homeowner dreads finding mold in their home, as it presents such a challenge. It’s dangerous to have in the home, and to get rid of too. Once you have tackled it, you’ll have to take steps to ensure that it never comes back. It’s difficult, but it certainly can be done. This is where mold resistant paint comes in. How does it stop mold, and what makes it different from other types of paint?
The Dangers of Mold
If you have mold in your home, it’s something you have to address right away. It’s a dangerous substance and can spread quickly, making it a hard job to get rid of totally. It will show up in any room that sees a lot of moisture, so bathrooms and kitchens are susceptible to it. However, if your home is damp, then you can find it almost anywhere in the home.
Mold is dangerous as the spores are easily breathed in, and lead to all kinds of health issues. There are lots of people with mold allergies, so exposure to mold in their homes can make them feel unwell for as long as the mold remains. More seriously, it can seriously harm those with lung and immune issues, so you’ve got to ensure you’re preventing mold.
Mold and Paint
Mold takes root in your home with the spores find a surface that they can stay and spread on. These surfaces need to be moist in order for this to work, so any damp surface is perfect. Mold finds it incredibly easy to spread across walls and ceilings in this way.
Some think that cleaning the mold off and reapplying paint will be enough to stop the mold. In fact, paint on its own is not going to stop mold. It can easily get behind the paint and begin to spread again, without you even knowing it.
How Mold Resistant Paint Works
Mold resistant paint is different, as it is designed to stop mold in its tracks. Unlike regular paint, it contains anti-microbial properties that inhibit the growth of mold. While normal paint is easily penetrated by mold and allows it to grow, the spores can’t grow on mold resistant paint thanks to these properties.
As the name implies, the mold and mildew resistant paint isn’t going to totally stop mold. It’s resistant to mold, but if there’s a chink in the paint then the mold can find it and start growing. This is why it’s important to fully cover a surface with the paint, to ensure that it creates an effective barrier. Use it in any room that’s prone to mold, and you’ll see it’s much less likely to take hold.
How to Use Mold Resistant Paint
Mold resistant paint works in much the same way as any regular paint, so you’ll just need to use it in any room where it’s needed. You’ll be able to get it in almost any color you can imagine, so it will be easy to get the shade you want for your home. That’s good news if you’re trying to stop mold from growing in a bedroom or living room.
What’s important to remember is that it can’t stop already existing mold from growing further. You can’t paint it on the mold already on the wall, as that won’t stop it. Instead, you need to remove the mold fully before you start. There are lots of tutorials online to help you remove mold safely, so you can try those before you get to painting. If you’re going it alone, be sure to protect your home before you start. A lot of cleaning methods call for bleach to kill off the mold. If you’re going to use bleach, cover your floors and use old clothing as you work, to prevent bleach stains.
If there’s a lot of mold, or it’s causing you health issues, you can hire experts to help you with this step.
Once the mold has been totally removed, the surface can be prepared and painted as normal. To ensure that you get the best results, ensure that you follow the instructions on the paint brand you buy.
Preventing The Return Of Mold
Now that you have removed the mold and you’ve applied the mold resistant paint, you’ll want to make sure that mold never comes back. When you take the right precautions, your room will be safe from mold.
Firstly, the mold resistant paint will do a lot to help protect you. You can’t be 100% free of mold spores in any home, but with the paint in place, you’ll see that it can easily prevent mold from taking hold again.
To keep that room as dry as can be, you’ll need to ventilate it as well as you can. Open windows whenever the weather allows you, and allow fresh air to flow in. Having enough flow is key to keeping the room dry and ventilated, to stop mold from forming.
In some rooms, such as the bathroom, you’ll need to ensure your ventilation system is up to date and able to cope with the high levels of humidity in there. You also need to ensure that your bathroom appliances are installed correctly to avoid any leaks. Using Shluter Systems or shower paneling helps avoid mold and mildew and ensures your bathroom remains leak-free.
If there’s a real issue with damp in the room, a dehumidifier could be the answer. These machines are designed to draw water out of the air and store it in a tank, away from your walls. These are an excellent solution if you suffer with persistent damp. You can even reuse the water for things like filling up your toilet tank, if you’re looking to be more eco-friendly.
Final Thought
Use all of these techniques and you’ll be able to ensure that the mold doesn’t make a return into your home.
Mold in the home is stressful and can even be harmful to your health. Luckily, it can be removed and you can prevent it from coming back. Use mold resistant paint to stop it from taking hold again in your home, so you can stop worrying about mold making its home in your home.