Mold is a very common thing, a type of fungus that is all around us in the air. Fungi such as black mold found in bathrooms generally thrive in humid conditions, thus making your shower and bathroom a prime candidate for mold growth. Keeping the air dry and fresh with a bathroom vent or fan is great, but what if your bathroom doesn’t have a fan?
Let’s go over some great tips on how to prevent mold in your bathroom even in that situation.
#1: Dry Everything Off
Something very simple that you can do to prevent mold from growing in your bathroom is to dry everything off when you are done bathing or showering. Mold absolutely loves moisture and humidity, so drying everything off regularly should help to prevent it.
Just take a towel and wipe off your shower, as well as the walls and ceiling, if there is any condensation present. If you do this, you may not even have to follow any of the other tips that we provide, although it certainly would not hurt.
#2: Keep Windows and Doors Open
Humidity builds up quickly in rooms with limited or no ventilation or airflow, which is why the problem here can occur in the first place, because your bathroom does not have a fan. If your bathroom has a window, try to keep it open whenever you can. Keep it open for a couple of hours every day to let moisture out and to let new air in, and if at all possible, have the window open while you shower.
That airflow will carry out a lot of that humidity. To make a good cross breeze, for even better ventilation, keep the bathroom door open at the same time. If your bathroom doesn’t have a window, keeping the door open is your next best bet.
#3: Use a Dehumidifier
Although good dehumidifiers are not exactly cheap, it is one of the best ways to prevent mold from growing in your bathroom. If you have a bathroom without a fan, without a window, and one that is often in the dark, this is one of your best bets.
Just turn on the humidifier for a few hours per day and set it so that it really dries the air and sucks out as much moisture as possible. It doesn’t need to be anything huge or fancy, at least not if you just need it for your bathroom.
#4: Use Portable Air Fans
Another good way to get some air flowing in your bathroom, to help carry the humidity away and to allow wet surfaces to dry faster, is to use a portable air fan.
Now, we are going to say that this is not one of the best ways to help solve this issue, especially not when compared to a good dehumidifier or a cross breeze thanks to an open door and window, but it is absolutely better than nothing at all.
#5: Try to Expose Your Bathroom to Sunlight
One of the primary things for you to know here is that mold generally requires a lot of darkness to take hold and to flourish. Mold does not grow well or at all when there is plenty of sunlight. If you have a bathroom without a window, the only thing you can do is to keep the door open so at least some light can get in.
However, of course, the best is if you have a large window that is not covered by a curtain. The more UV rays can get into your bathroom, the lower the chances of mold occurring.
#6: Use Tile or Other Non-Porous Materials for Your Shower
Showers usually always have tile on the walls, but not always on the ceiling. Well, mold is known for growing on porous materials, particularly some building materials like gypsum and drywall. However, it cannot take hold very well on porous and rock-hard materials, ones like ceramic or porcelain tiles.
Yes, mold can still grow on these in some cases, but it’s not as likely as it growing on porous building materials.
#7: Use a Showerhead Filter
One great thing that you can do to prevent mold spores from the water making it into your shower is to use a good showerhead filter. Something like an activated carbon shower filter can trap and remove a lot of mold spores from the water.
Yes, these showerheads are a bit pricier than ones without filters, but in this sense, it is definitely worth it, particularly if you consider all of the other benefits that come along with using a filtered showerhead. Just remember that these filters do need to be changed and/or cleaned on a fairly regular basis.
#8: Regularly Clean the Showerhead
As mentioned above, to prevent mold spores from building up in your showerhead and being expelled into your bathroom, it is a good to clean it on a regular basis.
Filling a bag with vinegar, a cleaner like CLR, or anything else that can kill mold, and then submerging the showerhead in the bag for 30 to 60 minutes should be enough to take care of this. For the best results, clean your shower head at least once per month.
I wrote in detail about how to clean a shower head in this article.
#9: Use Mold Killers as a Preventative Measure
Although if you follow the other steps as provided so far, you really shouldn’t need to do this, it is definitely an option. You can spray vinegar on hard surfaces to kill mold and mold spores. You may also use a mixture of one part bleach to sixteen parts water, and spray that on hard surfaces.
For porous surfaces like grout, adding a bit of dish soap to the mixture will help it penetrate into the grout. You may also use professional store-bought mold killers.
#10: Use an Air Purifier
An air purifier that has a HEPA filter can remove something like 99.9% of mold spores from the air.
Allowing an air purifier to run in your bathroom for just an hour will go a long way in preventing mold from occurring.
Some More Tips…
Let’s go over a few more valuable tips and mistakes that you need to avoid in order to prevent mold from growing in your bathroom:
- Don’t make the mistake of using a space heater to try and dry out your bathroom. While hot air can dry objects, the air itself can hold more moisture when warm, and will thus leave your bathroom humid.
- Don’t keep your bathroom in the dark.
- Don’t allow stale air to build up in your bathroom. Good airflow is key to preventing mold growth.
- Make sure that you follow the directions and warnings if using any professional mold killer.
Summary
If you follow the ten tips that we have outlined here today, and you avoid those crucial mistakes, then you should be able to prevent black mold from taking hold and growing in your bathroom.
Sure, having a good bathroom fan helps, but it’s also not the end of the world if you don’t have one. It just takes a bit of vigilance.