by mom101 on February 22nd, 2006

mom101

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What is the best way to remove pink mold from a tile shower stall?

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  • by mumfymac on June 21st, 2006

    mumfymac

    ...or you could just buy something that actually works like Dettol mould and mildew remover, spray on, walk away and get a life...

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  • by notmrjohn on February 22nd, 2006

    notmrjohn

    I hate that pink stuff too, it really clashes with my avocado green and harvest gold decor.
    I dunno as there is a specific 'best' way, a 'non-best' way would involve abrasives or scrapers that would scratch the grout or even tile causing all kinds of lil gouges and nooks and crannies for more mold to grow. There are all kinds of commercial products available but most of them are just variations of a simple and much less expensive formula you can make at home.( This formula works on other colors of mold too, its not prejudiced.) Mix one cup regular house hold bleach (Clorox) with one gallon of water, or 1/4 cup to a quart, a ratio of about 16 to one. The addition of a tablespoon or so of detergent helps the solution soak in and stay wet a bit longer.
    CAUTION DANGER BEWARE LOOK OUT !

    Do NOT add any detergent or anything else containing ammonia! Mixing ammonia and bleach releases chlorine gas. Which, in an extreme case, could kill you flat out dead. ( But didn't she leave a lovely corpse, so nicely bleached and shiny clean?) You can use a stronger bleach solution, right up to pure bleach, but that is gonna irritate your eyes, nose, skin, and lungs as well as being more expensive. And at the lower concentrations you are gonna want to have some ventilation, open the door, turn on the bathroom vent, open a window, even set up a fan to circulate the air (don't point the fan right at the tile you want the solution to soak for a while) Do not climb into the stall and shut the door behind you.
    You can apply the solution out of a bucket with a good quality sponge, the solution can eat away at cheaper sponges over time. Wear some good rubber gloves and avoid splashing the stuff on you or your clothes. An easier way is to buy a squirt bottle and put some solution in that and just squirt it on. You still need to wear the gloves and take the other precautions. You can get squirt bottles at Walmart, just don't buy the cheapest ones. Bleach is an oxidizer and can cause the springs and other parts to rust. You might need to go to a slightly more upper scale store or a janitorial supply outfit, which will have some truly awesome squirters. I recommend the ones with an adjustable nozzle for quick broadcasting or precise crevice attack and the trigger pump and not the thumb pump, which causes the tragic Numb Thumb Condition. In pinch, or if you are a real penny pincher yourself, you can use a squirt bottle that you used up the original product, just wash it way good and make sure it didn't ever have ammonia in it. What ever bottle you use, label it! Big, clearly visible, and evident, " Junior, hand me that bottle of hair detangler."
    However you get the bleach onto the walls, let it sit there 10 to 15 minutes, keep it wet, you may need to reapply some ever few minutes. You might need to scrub some with a medium stiff brush, don't use a metal brush, something about as stiff as an extra firm toothbrush. In fact a toothbrush is an excellent tool for getting into the grout, but it is so danged small! Unless you got a really big mouth. After 15 minutes or so rinse it all off real good, just grab the shower hose and spray away, if the tile is real tired use the pulsating massage mode.
    If the mold is really bad or you missed any apply some more solution. Just like shampoo, apply, rinse, repeat steps one and two. After the final rinse, dry it real good, use a squeegy, towels, etc. Set up a fan for a while.
    There might be some mineral deposits on the tile, besides the unattractiveness of the minerals themselves, they give mold an excellent substrate from which they can be very difficult to remove. ( Awkward sentence, that.) There are products for that too, Lime-Away, clr etc. Most of them are diluted muriatic acid. You can buy muriatic acid at Home Depot and dilute it yourself for cheaper, if you feel mad scientific enuff. Cheaper and safer is just regular white vinegar. Mix it at least 50-50 with water, straight vinegar works just fine. CAUTION DANGER BEWARE LOOK OUT ! Do NOT mix vinegar and bleach, more of that chlorine gas. Put it in one of your labeled squirt bottles and follow the same procedure as you did with the bleach. The vinegar works great as a regular cleaner on glass shower doors and tile.
    That's how to get rid of the mold. Of course an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, or maybe a cup is worth a gallon, they're both a 16 to 1 ratio. You might need to reapply a sealer to the tile and grout (which should be done yearly anyway.) You can get some at Home-Depot or better yet at a local hardware or tile supply, where they can tell you how to use it. Hopefully you don't need to regrout. Mold likes the same kind of shower that we do, warm and wet, mold likes it dark too, I like to see what I am scrubbing, so after your shower give the stall a quick wipe down with a towel, leave the door or curtain open, try to get some air circulating in there, open a window curtain to let some sun in, uh... after you have dressed. You can keep a small sgueegy in there for a quick apres shower wipe down. If you don't have a sgueegy you should get one, they work great as well as giving you the opportunity to occasionally use a funny sounding word, which is actually spelled squeegee, which, while even funnier, I am not going to go back and try to find the places I misspelled it.
    That pink mold is probably of the genus Fusarium, which is commonly found on tomatoes, so don't let any tomatoes use your shower. Unless its that cute tomato from down the street, in which case please leave the window curtain open. CAUTION DANGER BEWARE LOOK OUT ! Fusarium is also responsible for spoiling jet aircraft fuel, if you are showering in jet fuel do not smoke.

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  • by abby has super sneaky ninja skilz on January 23rd, 2007

    abby has super sneaky ninja skilz

    I just use a generic brand spray cleaner with bleach: spray~let it stay on a few minutes then rinse with hot water.......works every time :)

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  • by Anonymous on July 25th, 2008

    Anonymous

    Trying to go a little "greener" these days.

    I bought some Mule Team® Borax, which is a naturally occurring mineral composed of sodium, boron, oxygen and water. 20 Mule Team® Borax is not harmful to washing machines, plumbing or septic tanks and does not contain phosphates or chlorine. I use the Borax for some abrasion then spray on some vinegar water. Let sit for 20 minutes. And scrub away at it. It comes right off.

    Reading Galeanda's post validated that the vinegar does kill that gross pink stuff

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  • by Galeanda on January 28th, 2008

    Galeanda

    Bleach may remove the stain of mold but it will NOT kill it and keep it from coming back quickly.

    Try this to actually kill mold anywhere. It really works and is what tile installers and many contractors use. It's recommended in areas where they have had flooding and severe mold outbreaks.

    Fill a spray bottle with the following in it:

    1/2 gal. white vinegar
    1/2 gal. hydrogen peroxide-common peroxide available from your drugstore
    1 cup boric acid

    Keep closed tightly
    mix well - use in a spray bottle on a dry surface.

    Shake well and spray area well. The vinegar/peroxide kills active live mold and the boric acid keeps them that way. (Note: uncapped peroxide loses it's oxygen molecules to the air when not capped tight and becomes H2O [water], so keep this solution in a bottle that can be capped off tight).

    Boric acid works on mold bodies like it does on roach bodies - cuts them and they bleed to death because they cannot "coagulate".

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  • by Bobsbride on November 30th, 2007

    Bobsbride

    Spray straight bleach onto the surface, saturate it well, and let stand for about 10 minutes. Then rinse with boiling water. I fill my tea kettle all the way and boil the water, then take it straight to the shower and drench it. The boiling water gets into the microscopic crevices of the tiles, porcelain, etc. where mold spores hide out of the reach of most household cleaners. This method usually keeps the mold from coming back as soon.

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  • by look closely it is really me on November 30th, 2007

    look closely it is really me

    The pink dis-colourantion is caused by detergents in shampoo and bodywash. Either do not use or thoroughly clean after every shower with CLEAN water. Once formed 'Cillit Bang' is an effective remover of this pink problem.

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  • by Cyndi Ninja on January 27th, 2008

    Cyndi Ninja

    Bleach it, spray it down...open any windows, turn on the fans and leave it sit for about an hour. Then rinse it off

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  • by dan.Todd on July 14th, 2010

    dan.Todd

    1/4 of a teaspoon of Oil of Cloves in 1l of water.
    Spray on.
    Leave on for 24 hours.
    Sprinkle with bicarb of soda and wipe down with a cloth soaked in white vinegar.
    Rinse.
    Spray with more oil of cloves and leave on to prevent it growing back.

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