Mold on shower grout and caulk

schreibdave

9 years ago

What strategies or products do people use to clean/prevent mold from forming on the tile grout in the shower? Thanks

Featured Answer

fillmoe

9 years ago

There are probably lots of products to clean the tile and shower, although I've been told to stay away from the acid-based cleaners that smell like rotten eggs because they degrade the grout a little each time you use them.

After you clean, let the area dry and apply a grout sealer made for wet locations on the grout lines and let the sealer dry.

I have been testing Krud Kutter Mold & Mildew Stain Remover Plus Blocker with a blue label. The product doesn't seem to clean quite so readily as the regular red label Krud Kutter, but I've sprayed this on the inside of the shower curtain to prevent mold and so far, about 3 weeks, it is working. The label instructs to repeat this every 1 to 2 months.

Comments (11)

emma
9 years ago
I have never had mold in any of my bathrooms and I am assuming that is because I don't run a lot of hot water, just enough to get it warm and I dry it when I finish. Can't help you with the grout. We did an update to our last home, put in some tile and I was very sorry I did. I like low maintenance and tile/grout is not. No tile in my new home.
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krissie55
9 years ago
After showers, wipe down tile. Use a fan blowing into shower area for a few hours. I leave a fan on all night after showers.

Mold/mildew love moist areas.

Temperature of water does not make a difference, it is getting rid of moisture that works.
emma
9 years ago
Hot water will steam up the mirror and make surfaces damp.
mercy_leigh
9 years ago
50% white vinegar/water in a spray bottle. I used to clean my bah weekly with Comet. Four times a year, at least, I would go over the grout and caulk with bleach gel and a scrub brush. I usually use vinegar and/or Borax for most other cleaning in the home but was stuck on Comet in the bath. One day I was fretting over needing to get more gel bleach for the molding grout lines and decided to spray down the tile surround with the diluted vinegar. No scrubbing, just sprayed and walked away. A little later I noticed the grout looked less mold speckled.. The next day, only the caulk showed some lingering mold. Since then I have switched to just Borax and vinegar to clean the tub itself before spraying down the tile surround with diluted vinegar. In the warmer months, I sometimes give the tile a quick vinegar spray after my showers as our bathroom is windowless.
jomuir
9 years ago
We used to have a big problem w/moldy caulk & the corners of the bathtub. What we did was a deep cleaning & re-caulking, then after every shower, we squeegee and use a microfiber cleaning cloth to dry the corners of the tub, and where the caulk meets the tub. No mold since. It was a hassle at first but it only takes one minute to do and now that we're in the habit it's worth the extra minute. I tired a spray product before we did this but it aggravated my asthma with all the fragrance it had.

This works great for us, but it's only the two of us and we generally shower one right after the other so the last one to shower wipes the tub. Could be tough to get kids to comply.
emma
9 years ago
jomuir, I'll bet you two race to see who can shower first. LOL
cold_weather_is_evil
9 years ago
We have NO mold in the bathrooms but I assume it's because we have porcelain tile, a super arid climate, and we ventilate.

However, my wife is sure we have mold (everyone gets it!) and because she's blind and because she never believes me (something about "laziness", I think), every few months I spray everything in both areas with bleach in a home depot spray bottle, then wash everything with greased lightning and then rinse with the shower hose.

Still no mold, but clean! Porcelain tile is as maintenance free as any thing you can get, and it laughs off chemical damage. After spraying down the bathrooms I go from there and mop the whole house. 100% tile on the floors and the whole house takes fifteen minutes. Not bad at all.
cleanfreak_2010
9 years ago
I just started using Wet and Forget Shower a few months ago and wow, it's my new best friend! Just spray it all over your shower stall before bed, then rinse well in the morning. do it weekly, and you never have to scrub or even wipe...it's squeaky clean. I started out with a two weeks dirty shower. scrubbing it was starting to kill my back, so I'm thrilled with this stuff!
grandmamaloy
9 years ago
I've found that drying the tile afterwards helps a whole bunch. I keep a towel there for just that purpose and I just wipe the tile down after each shower. It just takes a few minutes and is SO worth it when it can take hours and $$ to get rid of the mold and mildew AFTER it appears. Leaving the shower curtain open to allow it to dry even further also helps, though you need to close it later so the curtain also dries out.
rosesr4me
9 years ago
I too wipe off the tile after every shower - I have found that it makes the most impact with the least amount of effort. Most times I am in a hurry and may not get all the grout lines...instead of mold I get soap scum. But that is easily remedied with a mixture of vinegar, cornstarch, and Dawn. Has anyone tried a steamer?