What Kills Mold On Wood Deck
External mold is just as serious as mold inside the home.
What kills mold on wood deck. You ll want to remove mold from the outside of your house on siding or on your deck as soon as possible. Mold cleaning materials while chlorine bleach kills surface mold there are reasons to avoid it in most cases not the least of which is that it s bad for the environment and is toxic to plants. Finally the us epa recommends a mild detergent as a good way to remove mold and mildew from wood. A hot sun does a great job of quickly drying the wood and makes killing the mold spores and removing mildew that much easier.
When removing mildew from your wooden deck select a hot and sunny day to do the job. Apply bleach solution to kill surface mold and mildew. The wood will eventually gray over time but repeated cleaning can keep it bright and mold free for a long time. For the remaining mold species that vinegar alone can t kill many people have found great success in pairing white vinegar with baking soda.
Wood is highly porous allowing mold to not only grow on the surface but also grow roots deep within making it more difficult to treat. A good ratio is ten parts water to one part bleach. While bleach is very effective for killing mold on non porous surfaces it doesn t work well when it comes to wood. This is important to understand because using the wrong treatment product for mold on wood such as bleach can clean the surface but leave the root system intact allowing the mold to grow back.
Step 2 wash the deck. Letting it dry up in the hot sun is definitely an easy technique to kill mold and mildew. External mold can do significant damage to exterior surfaces over time eating away at wood stucco and other materials. 1 power wash the deck to remove standing dirt debris and surface mold.
This is because the chlorine in bleach can t penetrate wood so only the water portion of the bleach gets absorbed. The key element to preventing most mold and mildew is to control dampness. To remove mold mildew and grime from wood decking you only need a few ingredients the right tools and some elbow grease. Moreover black mold is usually accompanied by wood eating fungi which cause rot that deteriorates your deck.
Vinegar is capable of killing 82 of the various mold species out there and is an excellent diy wood deck cleaner. Before you consider replacing your hardwood deck with a composite deck that is resistant to mold try a few of our simple methods for removing green mold off your deck. Dryness doesn t encourage spore growth and intense heat will aid in killing existing spores. Get rid of green mold from a wood deck.
Dry wood is always unattractive to mold and the heat will get rid of those spores. Bleach may lighten the deck s surface so another option is to use a pre made deck cleaning solution. Note that bleach should not be used to kill mold found on wood. Wash the deck.