How to Clean Black Mold in Shower?

Mold of all kinds likes hiding in damp and warm places in the home (and outdoors too).

Black mold in your home is not only unsightly but a health risk as well. Finding the right way to clean it away and specifically get rid of black mold is a major step towards keeping your home clean and healthy.

The main cause of black mold in shower silicone is dampness. The best way to get rid of this mold is to clean it off with bleach and detergent.

To prevent mold from recurring, try ventilating your bathroom, keeping it dry, or cleaning it regularly with vinegar, baking soda, or hydrogen peroxide.

To clean black mold, you’ll need baking soda, bleach, a paintbrush, white vinegar, borax, gloves, plastic wrap, a spray bottle and a respirator (or face mask).

The focus of this cleaning routine is to not only have a sparkling surface in your shower but kill and eliminate the mold to prevent its recurrence.

How To Clean Black Mold On Shower Silicone

At times, using a single cleaning ingredient alone such as bleach can give a false impression that you’ve cleared away the mold when you’ve only bleached it out. Soon afterward, the mood will grow back.

Since black mold in the shower silicone grows because of dampness, it is important to find the cause of the damp conditions to be able to get rid of the mold for good. This works for pink mold too. (See our guide on how to get rid of pink mold in your bathroom here.) 

This procedure applies to a lot of molds in the bathroom or elsewhere in your home. First, you need to gather the needed items, then start the cleaning process.

What you need:

You will need the following items for the cleaning process:

• Baking soda
• Bleach
• Paintbrush
• White vinegar
• Borax
• Gloves
• Plastic wrap
• Spray bottle
• Respirator (or face mask)

The gloves and gas mask are meant to protect you from the chemicals and fumes from cleaning items some of which are quite toxic. You’ll also need some clothes that can withstand chemical and color spilling from the cleaning process.

Whatever you do, never mix bleach with ammonia since the reaction is very explosive and will harm you.

The good news is, the whole procedure will take you about 20 to 30 minutes to get the desired results.

Follow these cleaning steps to get rid of black mold in your shower silicone:

1. MIX THE BAKING SODA WITH BLEACH.

Get a plastic bowl then mix the baking soda and bleach into a soft paste. You can make as much of it as you need given that both ingredients are quite cheap.

2. APPLY THE MIXTURE TO THE MOLDY AREA

Dip the paintbrush into the paste and apply it to the area with the black mold. Apply on it as much of the paste as you reasonably can while ensuring that you cover the whole area.

Do so quickly given that the bleach easily disintegrates the bristles of the paintbrush.

3. COVER THE SOLUTION WITH THE PLASTIC WRAP

The plastic wrap is meant to hold the moisture within the cleaning solution to allow it to work. You should cover the area with the solution for between 10 to 15 minutes for the best results.

After this period of time, you can remove the plastic wrap and observe the results. The expectation is that you’ll see a sparkling clean silicone.

If that’s not the case, you’ll then need to use the spray bottle to spray some bleach at the meeting point between the silicone and the wall and wait for a few minutes. You should get the results you desire in a short while.

You can repeat this last stage as many times as you wish until you get the desired results.

4. RINSE OFF THE CLEANING SOLUTION

The rinsing process only needs water to be poured on the areas that came into contact with the cleaning solution.

If there are any remnants of bleach or any part of the cleaning solution, you can give it a light scrubbing and you’re good to go.

When working with these ingredients and items, you’ll need proper protection from the bleach. Bleach is highly acidic and mixing it with other chemicals such as baking soda emits fumes that may harm you. Also, its acidity will harm your skin if it comes into contact with it.

Other Ways to Get Rid of Black Mold in Shower 

In cases when you don’t have all the ingredients and items above, you can use the alternatives listed below:

1. Using white vinegar on its own. You don’t need to dilute or even rinse it off afterward. For this method, the vinegar should be left to sit on the mold for at least 30 minutes before being rinsed off.
2. You can also use a diluted solution of Borax. You should mix 204 grams of borax powder in 3.8 liters of water. Simply spray it on the affected areas then leave it as it doesn’t require rinsing. Leaving it on the surface of the silicone prevents future mold growth.
3. Using baking soda paste and hydrogen peroxide. Make a baking soda paste and apply it to the affected areas then pour hydrogen peroxide on it. As the paste fizzes, scrub it off then rise it with water.
4. Using diluted bleach. Diluting one part bleach to 10 parts water gives you a solution you can spray and leave on the affected areas of your silicone. You can either spray the bleach on the mold or put cotton balls soaked in bleach on the affected areas.

If the above solutions don’t work straight away, it could be that the mold has affected the areas underneath the silicone. This may force you to replace the silicone with a new sealing. Given that silicone is not used for covering very large areas and is easy to remove, the task can take you under an hour to complete.

How To Prevent Black Mold In Your Bathroom

To keep the black mold (any type of mold) away, you need to do the following:

• Let natural light into the bathroom. Natural light kills mold and most types of harmful microorganisms.
• Ventilate the bathroom as much as possible. This may take the form of allowing in natural currents of air or creating some with a fan (let it run for 30 minutes after your bath).
• Eliminate the dampness and keep your bathroom dry. As stated earlier on, damp conditions are a breeding ground for mold. Having a dry bathroom entail cleaning any remaining water after a shower, fixing leaking taps or pipes and wiping off water from the walls and floor.
• Spray the bathroom walls and floors with white vinegar. This kills the mold and any remaining spores.
• Frequently wash your shower curtains and liners. Also, it is better to go for curtains and liners that are resistant to mildew. The same goes for bathroom rags and any clothing materials including your towels.
• Avoid leaving bottles or other items in the bathroom. These provide crevices for mold to thrive.
• While renovating, remove old pipes with PEX plumbing

With these tips, your bathroom will easily be free of mold and mildew. While cleaning is easy, prevention is far much easier and safer.