How To Clean Visible White Mold From Paneling

Posted on: 6 April 2016

Share

If you can see visible white mold growing on paneling in your home, you probably have water damage behind the paneling that is allowing the mold to grow. In order to eradicate the mold entirely, you are going to need to remove the paneling and kill the mold at its source. However, until you have the time and resources to identify the source of the leak and remove the paneling, it is best for safety reasons to remove the visible white mold you can see on your paneling. 

Supplies:

Most of the supplies you will need should be items that you already have around your home. You will need a bucket, bleach and access to water. You will also need some dry clothes that you are willing to throw away after you have used them. You will also need a vacuum and some trash bags.

Additionally, when working with mold, you should always protect yourself by wearing a mask, protective eyewear and gloves. 

What You Are Dealing With

The white fuzz you see growing on your paneling is actually mildew. This white fuzz grows when either cardboard or wood endures extended exposure to excessive moisture. If you can't see moisture exposure on the outside of your panel, the back of your paneling is likely getting wet from a leak in your roof or a busted pipe somewhere in your home. 

Vacuum Your Wall

Take your vacuum and put an attachment on it that you can use to clean the surface of the wall. Run the vacuum over all the surface that has white fuzz growing on it. You may also want to vacuum the areas around the white fuzz even if nothing is growing visibly; the vacuum will still help to remove and loosen the spores.

Create A Bleach Mixture

Next, create a traditional mixture of diluted bleach. You'll want to balance out one part of bleach with four parts of water. Create this solution in the bucket you got out.

Cleaning The Paneling

Make sure you have rubber gloves on and dip a cloth into the bleach mixture. If you don't put on gloves, your hands are going to smell like bleach for a long time; the gloves will protect you from smelling like bleach and from coming into direct contact with the mold spores.

Ring out the cloth so it is damp, not dripping wet. Start at the highest point where the mold occurs, and wipe in a downward motion. When you reach the bottom, rinse and wring out the cloth, and start again. After you go top to bottom with the bleach rag, go across the whole area left to right. This will help ensure that you don't miss anything.

The bleach will kill any remaining mold spores that were not vacuumed up.

Drying The Paneling

Once you have cleaned the entire area, run over the paneling with a dry rag to remove any remaining moisture. Put the wet and dry rags into a garbage bag, seal it up, and throw it away. Dispose of the water in the bucket. 

Set up a fan in the room with the paneling so that it dries completely. This will get rid of the visible white fuzz on your paneling. Eventually, you are going to need to find the source of the mold in order to prevent the white fuzz from returning again. A mold remediation specialist can assist you with that. 

Speak to local mold removal experts or click here to learn more.