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Bleaching Mildew - Rinse Necessary?
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Posted by vjrnts (My Page) on Tue, Aug 9, 05 at 11:11
| We have a 1920 house with a basement that is partly earth-floored. We intend to get concrete poured in those sections, but in the meantime, there was a musty smell in the basement that air conditioning and a dehumidifier has almost completely eliminated. This is the good news!
The bad news is that in numerous places on the basement walls there are black stains that are most likely mildew or some kind of mold. I know that scrubbing them down with a chlorine-water solution is the best way to clean it off, letting the bleach sit for at least 15 minutes before rinsing. But I wonder if it's necessary to rinse at all? The walls are cinderblock, painted in places, and bare masonry in others. We don't live down there, so if it's a little fume-y we can escape, and I'm a little concerned about how I'd go about rinsing the walls without accumulating puddles of water on the floor.
What do you think? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Bleaching Mildew - Rinse Necessary?
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| You could email Clorox Bleach that question. Not rinsing would save a lot of work. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Clorox
RE: Bleaching Mildew - Rinse Necessary?
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| That was my thought too. Thanks for the link, I've sent off an inquiry and, if/when I get an answer, I'll post it. |
RE: Bleaching Mildew - Rinse Necessary?
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| I wouldn't bother rinsing. Depending on how big the area, I probably wouldn't even dilute the bleach. Kill all that mold full strength. My luck if I diluted it, just enough would come back that I have to keep doing it. Even if it was my living space. I wouldn't stick my nose in a bleach bottle but to me it smells a heck of a lot better than musty mold. |
RE: Bleaching Mildew - Rinse Necessary?
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| Somewhere I remember reading that diluted bleach actually works better. I don't recall the details, but it made sense at the time. |
RE: Bleaching Mildew - Rinse Necessary?
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| This may seem like a no brainer, but having done this myself, I just want to say please make sure to wear protective eyewear, clothing and headscarf, because that cinderblock will splatter when scrubbed!! I used diluted bleach, no rinse, worked great, mold/mildew didn't return! |
RE: Bleaching Mildew - Rinse Necessary?
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| The Clorox people got back to me and said that rinsing was imperative, since otherwise the bleach would "keep eating away at it." Eating away cinderblock? And for how long? Bleach neutralizes with time, doesn't it? The e-mail I got from them wasn't very well written, which makes me doubt the whole thing. Thanks for all the advice so far! I'd love to hear more personal experience from anyone who's had to de-mildew his or her basement walls! |
RE: Bleaching Mildew - Rinse Necessary?
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| What you can do is spray the wall down with bleach ... let it sit for a couple of hours, then spray it with baking soda in water to neutralize it. |
RE: Bleaching Mildew - Rinse Necessary?
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| What you can do is spray the wall down with bleach ... let it sit for a couple of hours, then spray it with baking soda in water to neutralize it. Bleach isn't acidic, so baking soda won't neutralize it. (It is very corrosive, but not acidic. Household bleach has a pH of 11 or higher, which puts it definitely in the alkaline range of the pH scale.) An acid like vinegar would work, though, or sodium sulfite (not sulfate) which one can find at pool stores. I like the idea of neutralizing instead of rinsing. |
RE: Bleaching Mildew - Rinse Necessary?
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| I have some kind of black mold/mildew on the basement cinder blocks. If I use a diluted bleach solution, will it stain the wall or the floor if it drips? |
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