You’ve been staring at it for weeks. Every time you step into that shower, there it is in all its slimy glory. But you can’t figure out how on earth it got in there because you’ve been so attentive – so vigilant and clean! What if it’s in other parts of your home too? Not to mention you heard recently that mold has been linked to allergies, asthma and other respiratory issues – particularly in infants and the elderly. Mold has taken hold and you’ve had just about enough!

But before you go rummaging through your broom closet or running out to the nearest home improvement center to buy a bottle of branded bleach to rid your home of that mold, consider what you might be doing – to yourself, to others and to the environment. But let’s tackle one thing at a time. It’s important to understand why you’re staring at a moldy spot on your bathroom tile grout, or why you might have a musty smelling basement or crawlspace.

Why mold?

To simplify, mold is nature’s trash incinerator. If you see a broken log in a forest or on a lawn, chances are, over time, it will develop mold, break down and become one with the earth yet again. It’s nature’s cycle of life. But it doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Circulating in the air outside are tiny mold spores that, with the help of moisture, attach themselves onto surfaces of all kinds, to colonize to form hungry mold.

What you might not realize is that you can also find mold spores – as well as dust, pollen and other microbes – in indoor environments like your home. And like the outdoors, when a floating mold spore finds a nice moist surface on which to attach itself, it happily colonizes into the colorful mess you’re staring at in your bathroom. So the equation is: mold spore + moisture = mold. And your bathroom is moisture central!

Regardless of where you’ve spotted the indoor moldy mess, you might want to pay closer attention to the moisture source at the root of the cause. In a bathroom it’s pretty obvious – your shower is a great place to start. But check under the sink or behind the toilet – around the piping – to see if anything is growing. Consider the condensation around just about any window frame; a leaky air conditioning unit; the laundry room; your home’s old, shifted foundation, all can cause moisture buildup in your basement; a leaky roof can create a moldy attic.

In all of these instances, your most important action to help curb the growth of mold is to fix or diminish the source of moisture in your home. Install a fan in your bathroom; make sure your pipes aren’t leaking or insulate them to reduce condensation; check your attic for any dampness (a sign of a leaky roof); maintain relative humidity – between 30 and 50 percent – with a dehumidifier. Whatever you can do to stem the moisture levels in your home will, in the end, reduce your chances of mold growth.

The “BLECH” of bleach

Now that you know what caused that nastiness to grow, how do you get rid of it? First and foremost, memorize this phrase: “Bleach doesn’t work!” In fact, not only is it a toxic and temporary solution, bleach-based products might actually make your mold problem worse. Even the U.S. government’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) warns against using products like bleach for cleanup jobs like the one you might have in your bathroom.

Your default “bleach and water” combination, or any product containing that ingredient or ammonia is a topical solution. It will get rid of the rainbow mess growing on your wall and it’ll look nice and clean, but your mold will come back. In fact, according to some studies, bleach-based products actually promote further mold growth. The reaction of bleach on mold has been shown to release mold spores into the air, causing them to travel throughout an indoor environment. It’s also pretty toxic and nasty smelling.

So what’s the alternative? You don’t want a temporary solution to something that could be causing your allergies to go in overdrive. You also don’t want anything in your home that could be poisonous to you and your family and friends (pets and plants included). The fact is, there may be as many mold products out there as there are different types of mold! Stores don’t make it easy to distinguish the human- and eco-friendly products from the not-so-human-and-eco-friendly ones, so it’s largely up to you as a consumer to do some homework.

Not easy being green

Finding and using a product for your home – one that provides both efficacy and safety (or eco-friendliness) – can be a challenge (or a lesson in frustration). How do you know if what you’re using is the best? You might have come across something called “green washing,” a term coined by consumer and corporate watchdog groups. According to one organization, “consumers are inundated with products that make green claims. Some are accurate, certified and verifiable, while others are just plain fibbing to sell products.” So while a product’s label or its Material Safety Data Sheet (produced and available from any manufactured product registered with the EPA) may say it’s green or safe, there could be hidden truths – the product might not be as “green” or as “safe” as you’re being led to believe.

While you’re contemplating a product’s “green-ness”, remember to explore its efficacy too. There’s an avalanche of mold-fighting products out there, each with a slightly different promise on the label; “mold cleaners”, “mold stain removers”, “mold inhibitors” – the list is endless, and might leave you scratching your head about which one will truly get rid of your mold. Know this: for an antimicrobial manufacturer to claim their product “eliminates” or “prevents” mold, their solution must undergo stringent testing and receive product registration from the Environmental Protection Agency. If they make claims to eliminate or prevent mold without an EPA number, they’re breaking the law.

Other solutions with “watered down” claims – such as mold cleaners and stain removers – may temporarily gussy up your moldy spots, but they won’t kill the root of the problem. Nor will they prevent the mold from coming back. If a product makes certain claims on its packaging or labeling, look for an EPA registration number.

For the sake of clarification, just because a product is registered with the EPA, doesn’t mean it’s safe or eco-friendly. The EPA only registers a product and its claims; it neither approves nor endorses any product. Moreover, the MSDS isn’t required to list all ingredients, so what you see on there may not be exactly what you get. On the other hand, if the product has some sort of a green seal or approval from any number of reputable environmental organizations, you might be on to something. But don’t let that get in the way of any further research you might want to do on the product to maintain your own peace of mind.

Different shades of green

You need to employ some healthy skepticism as you sift through the dictionary of green claims. As a start, check out these consumer product labeling terms that were recently yanked from under the green blanket:

2. Green: This term has taken on a whole new life in this environmentally-conscious era. But there are no defined benchmarks for what constitutes a “green” product. Question any vague “green” claim. Does it define its ingredients? What about the packaging? Does “green” mean it’s safe for the environment? Or humans?
3. All-natural: The product may contain ingredients that originate from this green earth – but does that mean it’s safe to use? Arsenic and formaldehyde, for example, are “all-natural”, as are scores of other chemicals that you wouldn’t dare use in your bathroom – or keep in your garage, for that matter!
4. Bio-degradable: Given enough time, everything is bio-degradable! According to one source, it takes leather shoes 25 to 40 years to biodegrade, but a glass bottle won’t break down for a million years. Can a product really claim bio-degradability? Under what timeframes, and with what environmental impact?
5. Safe: For whom? For what? Some products might claim they’re safe on one side of the packaging but contain words like “corrosive” or a toxic symbol on the other side.

Make sure you select your product only after you’ve done some research. A little education can go a long way in the end – especially when you have so much access to information. Use all your resources, like Google or company websites. Talk to friends, family members and even the occasional home improvement center representative – for many retailers, in-depth product knowledge is a cornerstone of their service offering. That may be the only way of assuring yourself that your product choice is safe for you, your friends and family, and your pets and plants.

This article was provided by Siamons International. Brian Bacik is CEO at Siamons International Inc., makers of Concrobium Mold Control, an innovative, EPA-registered and Health Canada-approved product used for mold remediation and prevention by cleaning professionals, builders/renovators and homeowners. Contact Brian at bbacik@siamons.com, or visit www.concrobium.com .