How to get rid of mould in bathroom

We’ve been testing anti-mould paint. Like many homes in the UK we have black mould on the bathroom ceiling and walls. It’s horrible, unhealthy and unsightly. We tried cleaning the walls and ceiling (with a general detergent) but it keeps on coming back.

At this time of year (winter) the mould on our bathroom walls and ceiling is getting worse quickly. It’s a combination of not opening the windows after taking a shower or bath (and therefore the high moisture in the room) and the bathroom being on the north side of the house (and therefore very little natural day light in a cold and damp room). It's essentially a combination of condensation on the cold walls (external walls) and ceiling).

After many years of cleaning the black mould spots ceiling and walls (only for the mould to come back) we decided to take a different approach to prevent mould in the bathroom - Anti-mould paint.

Anti-mould Paint

To test whether the anti-mould paint claims are true, we painted just the bathroom ceiling with the white anti-mould paint and painted the bathroom walls with a regular emulsion. First though we cleaned the ceiling and walls thoroughly.

One year later and there is still no mould on the bathroom ceiling. The anti-mould paint worked!

Here, you can clearly see the difference between the ceiling (anti-mould paint) and the walls (regular emulsion paint).

The anti-mould paint we used on the ceiling was Auro 344 High Grade Lime Paint. It is a highly alkaline paint (black mould hates alkaline surfaces). As you can see it has excellent anti-mould qualities. We used both a brush and roller to paint the ceiling (brush for the edges). It goes on transparent (which takes some getting used to) and dries to a brilliant white finish.

Other high alkaline or anti-mould paints for interior walls and ceilings are:

* Auro 327 Natural Anti-mould paint (white)

* Keim Innostar (white & colours)

* Graphenstone Ecosphere (white and pastel shades) pH of about 13

* Keim Ecosil ME Interior Silicate Paint (white and colours)

We recommend wearing safety goggles when painting with Auro 344 and any other high alkaline paint. If the lime paint gets into your eyes it will sting and needs to be washed out quickly. Make sure you read the safety information on the paint tin and via this website.

We are very happy with the anti-mould paint that we used - Auro 344. Our next project is to paint the bathroom walls with an anti-mould paint too!

If you have a similar or worse mould situation in your bathroom or above the shower, you might want to clean the walls before you paint with Auro 412 Natural Mould Remover. It's chlorine free and comes in a easy spray dispenser.

One other thing we would recommend for damp rooms and rooms adjacent to showers and bathrooms is a dehumidifier. The are great for removing excess moisture in the air (especially in winter and colder months when you do not want to open windows for long periods). You can even use the collected water in your steam iron as it is condensed water and therefore distilled water!

Of course painting walls and ceiling with anti-mould paint isn't going to get to the cause of the mould and damp problem and the mould may still come back (albeit to a lesser extent). A longer term fix will be to find out what is causing the mould in the first place and to fix that. After all damp in houses can cause other problems too, not least to the structure of the building in the longer term.

However, if you are looking for a way to dramatically decrease mould in your home. Anti-mould paint is a great way to go. Frankly,now that I've discovered and tested it. It's the only thing I'll be using on my ceilings from now on!