Can I Paint Over Mildew Stains

Matt is a professional painter who owns and operates his own painting business organization, specializing in interior and exterior business firm painting.

Don't paint over your moldy, mildewed walls without reading my pro tips. — Don't pigment over your moldy, mildewed walls without reading my pro tips.

Can You Paint Over Mold In a Bath?

Mold thrives on damp surfaces in poorly ventilated bathrooms that are dark and humid. The hideous mucus becomes a existent problem when it'southward ignored and allowed to spread everywhere, ruining tile grout and drywall. This presents a messy challenge when it comes time for painting.

I painted a moldy bathroom once for a client who would accept abnormally long showers without a proper exhaust fan. The bathroom was constantly humid and poorly ventilated, a perfect convenance ground for mold and mildew.

The bath walls, ceiling, and even the air ducts were covered in mold. Needless to say, the drywall underwent a deep cleaning earlier painting. The customer installed an boosted exhaust fan to help remove the excessive wet.

Painting Over Mold

You can pigment over mold in a bathroom, simply the problem will return without killing the roots of the mucus first, using the right cleaner. Regular interior paint won't kill mold, and in some cases, water-based paint can really become a food source for the mucus.

Don't rely solely on mold-killing primer, or paint, without kickoff using a good cleaner to neutralize the surface. Yes, those products can actually impale mold, only merely on smooth, glossy drywall, not chalky, porous drywall where the paint'south too thick to attain deep beneath the surface. Why get through the trouble of painting your moldy bathroom without cleaning the surface beginning?

For repeated mold growth on your bath walls and ceiling, pinpointing the cause of the problem is key, whether it'due south from a weak exhaust fan, or from clammy and muddied towels left in there for too long. Frequent cleaning is also i of the all-time preventative measures you lot can have to prevent mold growth.

tips-for-painting-moldy-bathroom-walls-and-ceilings

Footstep one: Scrub Away Mold

The first household cleaner nearly people attain for is Clorox bleach, but on porous drywall, the chlorine in bleach doesn't always penetrate deep into drywall to kill the roots of the fungus to permanently stop the growth.

The water in diluted bleach tin also end up feeding the mold instead of stopping it for good. Scrubbing walls and ceilings with bleach creates a toxic situation likewise, without good ventilation and a respirator.

All-time Cleaners for Bath Mold

Vinegar
Blistering soda
Borax
Hydrogen peroxide

The all-time natural cleaner I've used to kill bathroom mold for painting purposes is straight vinegar, no h2o added. Yes, vinegar stinks really bad, but information technology's non-toxic, and the acidity of vinegar is effective for killing mold on porous drywall. Never mix vinegar with bleach. Doing so produces poisonous gas.

Embrace your vanity and bath floor with plastic and drib cloths. Pour white distilled vinegar into a spray bottle, or a pump sprayer. Spray undiluted vinegar onto the mold and permit information technology penetrate the surface for a couple hours.

Later allowing the vinegar to burn down into the mold, scrub the drywall with a stiff bristle castor until all of the mold, or mildew, has washed off. Be certain to wear a respirator, or at the very least, a grit mask, to preclude inhalation of mold spores during cleaning. Allow the bathroom to totally dry out with the windows open before priming and painting.

Scroll to Proceed

Stride two: Employ Primer

Afterwards you've killed the mold in your bath, information technology'due south fourth dimension to prime and seal over the leftover stains before painting. Don't paint right over them.

Painting over mold stains on drywall, without priming them offset, is more likely to allow the ugly nighttime spots to show through your pigment. Without a good primer/sealer, multiple coats of paint would exist needed to fully embrace the hideous stains.

Your choice of primer here is of import because sure products can really promote future mold growth or cause failure of the paint finish. For example, Encompass Stain primer, an oil-based product, is an awesome primer/sealer for tough stains, only oil-based coatings tin can really feed problematic bath mold and mildew.

Some other example is BIN shellac primer. BIN is a great primer sealer, merely it will crevice and skin in a bathroom with high humidity. A mold-resistant, h2o-based primer is the best choice for priming over bathroom mold and mildew.

The only fourth dimension I would recommend using oil-based primer, like Zinsser Cover Stain, is for merely spot priming water and hairspray stains on drywall, but don't utilise oil primer across your moldy walls.

Best Primers to Seal Mold

Zinsser Mold Killing Primer
Zinsser Bulls Eye 123 (Mold and Mildew Resistant)

The Zinsser/Rustoleum brand has always been my become-to when information technology comes to specialized interior and exterior primer. Their products accept been around forever and work great.

The Zinsser Mold Killing primer is a protective coating that works well for preventing bathroom mold in the future, but as I explained before in this article, I would be hesitant to use this product lone to kill the mold.

The product itself even states that information technology's best used on not-porous surfaces. Unless your bathroom drywall is currently coated with a shine semi-gloss paint, information technology'southward probably more porous. Your best insurance policy to prevent a reoccurring problem is to utilize a cleaner start, but either of the two recommended products is adept for sealing over the stains and preventing time to come growth.

Pace iii: Apply Paint

At present that you lot've applied the pimer to seal any leftover stains, information technology's finally time to paint.

Best Paint for Bathroom Mold and Mildew

Benjamin Moore Aureola Bath and Spa Pigment
Benjamin Moore Regular Aureola Interior Semi-gloss
Sherwin Williams Elapsing Dwelling house Interior Satin, or Semi-gloss
Zinsser Perma-White Paint

All of the recommended products above are effective at preventing mold and mildew growth. These paints are formulated for that specific purpose. You can certainly buy an anti-fungicidal condiment and mix it with pigment y'all already have, simply improper mixing can crusade issues with the paint.

I would definitely choose a semi-gloss pigment, or at least satin, when painting your bath walls, especially the walls surrounding the shower. The shinier the paint, the more it'south going to resist water instead of absorbing it. Apply 1 glaze of primer and two coats of paint.

This content is accurate and truthful to the best of the author'south cognition and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.