Mold cleanup: what you can do yourself, and when to hire it out

A gray patch on the bathroom ceiling, fuzz on the back of a dresser that sat against an outside wall, spots under the kitchen sink after a slow drip. Plenty of mold problems in Little Rock houses are small enough to clean up on a Saturday with a bucket, a respirator and a trash bag. This page lays out the cleanup the way the U.S. EPA describes it for homeowners, adds what tends to be different in a humid Central Arkansas house, and says plainly where the do-it-yourself line is.

Is this a DIY mold cleanup? Check before you start

EPA's Mold Cleanup in Your Home puts the line at size: if the moldy area is less than about 10 square feet (roughly a 3 ft by 3 ft patch), in most cases you can handle the job yourself. It then lists the situations where you shouldn't, even when the patch is small:

• Lots of water damage, or growth over about 10 square feet. EPA points you to its remediation guide for schools and commercial buildings, which it says applies to other building types too.
• The heating and cooling system may be involved. If mold is near the system's intake or is part of a moisture problem in the ducts, EPA says not to run the system at all, because it can spread mold through the building. See mold in air ducts first.
• The water was sewage or otherwise contaminated. A backed-up drain or floodwater calls for a professional experienced with contaminated water.
• Someone in the house has health concerns. EPA says to talk to a health professional before starting.

Measure before you decide. Multiply length by width for each patch and add them up. Then be honest about what you can't see: a two-foot stain on drywall that was wet for a week is often a much bigger patch on the back side, and EPA's own photos show wallboard that looks fine from the room and is covered on the reverse.

What to wear

EPA's Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture and Your Home lists three pieces of gear, all sold at hardware stores:

• An N-95 respirator. EPA puts them at about $12 to $25. It only works if it fits, so follow the fit instructions that come with it.
• Long gloves that reach the middle of the forearm. Ordinary household rubber gloves are fine with water and mild detergent. If you use a disinfectant, bleach or a strong cleaner, EPA says to choose natural rubber, neoprene, nitrile, polyurethane or PVC.
• Goggles without ventilation holes, to keep spores out of your eyes.

Don't touch moldy material with bare hands, and keep kids and pets out of the room until you're done.

Mold cleanup step by step

1. Fix the water first. EPA's first instruction is to fix plumbing leaks and other water problems as soon as possible and dry everything completely. In Little Rock houses the usual culprits are a dripping supply line, an AC condensate line that backs up, a bath fan that vents into the attic, or furniture pushed tight against an outside wall. Clean before the source is fixed and you'll be cleaning the same spot again by August.
2. Keep the spores in that room. Close the door. If the patch is near a return grille or supply register, shut the system off while you work.
3. Hard surfaces: scrub with detergent and water, then dry. Tile, glass, metal, sealed countertops, plastic. EPA's remediation guide calls this a damp wipe: mold can generally be removed from hard, nonporous surfaces by wiping or scrubbing with water or water and detergent, followed by quick, thorough drying.
4. Porous materials: decide what goes. EPA says absorbent materials such as ceiling tiles and carpet may have to be thrown away once they are moldy, because mold grows into the crevices and can be difficult or impossible to remove completely. Bag moldy drywall, carpet pad and insulation in heavy plastic inside the room before carrying it through the house.
5. Dry it, and keep it dry. EPA's window is 24 to 48 hours for wet materials. Outdoor air in Little Rock averages above 60 percent relative humidity every month of the year (the monthly numbers), so opening windows usually adds moisture. Run the AC or a dehumidifier and check the room with a cheap hygrometer.
6. Look again in a week or two. EPA's test for a finished cleanup: the moisture problem is fixed, there's no visible mold and no moldy smell, the spot shows no new water damage or growth when you check back, and people can use the room without symptoms. Some staining may stay; EPA notes mold can leave cosmetic damage that no cleaning removes.

What not to do

• Don't make bleach the plan. EPA says using bleach or another biocide is not recommended as a routine practice during mold cleanup. A background level of spores remains no matter what, and they won't grow once the moisture is gone. Dead mold can still cause allergic reactions, so it has to be removed, not just killed. If you do use bleach, ventilate, and never mix it with cleaners that contain ammonia.
• Don't paint or caulk over it. Clean and dry the surface first; EPA says paint applied over mold is likely to peel.
• Don't shop-vac dry growth. EPA's guide warns that wet vacuums can spread spores when there isn't enough liquid, and shouldn't be used on porous materials like drywall. Professionals finish with HEPA vacuums for that reason.
• Don't open a wall to chase it. If the smell or stain points inside a wall or ceiling cavity, you're past a 10-square-foot job. Tracking down a musty smell covers what to check from the outside first.

Small jobs that come up in Central Arkansas homes

• Bathroom ceilings and grout. For mold that keeps coming back in a shower or bathroom, EPA's tip is more ventilation (run the fan, open a window) and cleaning more often. Check that the fan actually exhausts outdoors and not into the attic.
• Window sills and frames. Little Rock's 6 a.m. humidity averages 79 to 88 percent depending on the month, and water that beads on cool glass runs onto wood sills. Wipe it, dry it, and find out why the room is that damp.
• Stored belongings. Shoes, luggage and boxes in a humid garage or closet. Hard items clean up; porous ones may not. For anything valuable or sentimental, EPA suggests a specialist in furniture, rug or document restoration.
• Under the kitchen or bathroom sink. Fix the drip, replace a swollen particleboard floor in the cabinet rather than trying to clean it, and dry the space before restocking it.

What usually isn't a DIY job here is the crawl space. Growth spread across the joists of a vented crawl space adds up to far more than 10 square feet, the space is cramped, and it comes back unless the humidity under the house is dealt with. See crawl space and attic mold.

When mold cleanup becomes a job for a pro

Call someone when the growth is bigger than about 10 square feet, when it came back after you cleaned and fixed what you thought was the leak, when it's in the ductwork or air handler, when the water was sewage or floodwater, or when drywall, ceilings or flooring have to come out. At that point it's mold remediation in Little Rock, with containment, removal and a written scope. For a rough range before anyone quotes, try the mold remediation cost estimator. Or call, and we'll connect you with a local mold professional who serves your town.