Does Bleach Kill Mold?

The myth that bleach is a solution to your mold problems is something that we see time and time again. Clients tell us they’ve remediated their mold themselves by treating it with chlorine bleach, or even worse – a poorly trained remediation company will perpetuate this myth! It drives us mad because we know how dangerous mold is for your health, and bleach… can actually be making the problem worse. 

Why Does Bleach not Kill Mold?

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Environmental Protectional Agency (EPA) has revised their recommendations and removed their suggestion to use bleach to kill mold. 

Here’s the truth:

Bleach can kill mold but only on hard impermeable surfaces like a bathtub – it can not kill mold on hardwood floors, drywall, or any other porous surface. The reason behind this is because mold has roots that it spreads very deep inside porous surfaces. When you spray bleach on mold it will not kill the root (so it’ll look like the problem is solved, but really you just drove it deeper). 

How exactly does it drive the problem deeper?

Bleach is MOSTLY water. When you apply it, the NaOCl quickly evaporates out, leaving behind – yes, you guessed it – water. The water will then soak into porous surfaces like dry wall, and feed the mold spores at their roots, making the problem much worse.

So what do you do if you have mold in your home? Please don’t spray bleach on it. Instead, call a mold remediator to properly remediate your home. Make sure to ask questions like “how will you contain the mold spores as you remove the mold, so it doesn’t contaminate the rest of the house?” “Do you use bleach or any other chlorine products during the remediation process?”. 

Make sure you link up with a mold-literate practitioner to then help you heal, simply removing the mold is not always enough in addressing mold-related illness. Often times your body needs help removing the mold from the body. That’s where we come in!