How to prevent mould: Cleaner’s top tip for preventing mould in the home is a very simple habit you can start right now

Mould seems to have become a year-round problem in Australia thanks to our high humidity levels, but winter is still considered the worst season for the fungi – and winter is coming.

There is one very simple way to prevent mould becoming a problem in your home once the cold weather hits, and it’s one you can get in the habit of right now.

Cleaning expert Michael Williams from End of Lease Cleaning Melbourne tells 9honey this tip is particularly fantastic in the bathroom.

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Basically all you need to do is open your windows.

“I think one of the major prevention [steps] I’d say is to open the door and window after taking a shower… you have a fresh air coming inside of the shower so the fungus doesn’t get populated in the wall,” he says.

While the shower is the most common place Williams sees mould in the homes he cleans, the window tip is important for every room.

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“When it’s sunny, over the weekend, you need to open your windows to get the fresh air coming in as well,” he says.

This helps prevent moisture from things like condensation, steam, drying washing inside and cooking from settling in things like the walls and furniture.

Opening the window even on cold days is important, so important in fact the Germans have a word for it, Stoßlüften, which means impact ventilation and is also known as ‘burping the house’.

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In Germany and the UK, house burping is typically done for five to 10 minutes at a time and it’s something we could replicate in Australia.

“Burping your home encourages the circulation of fresh air and prevents condensation, and no window is exempt from condensation, especially in the winter months when we experience a lot of cold weather,” Helen O’Connor, product manager at 247 Blinds told Home Building & Renovation.

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If you’ve been regularly opening windows and doors to increase airflow in the bathroom and notice mould on your walls, ceiling or in the shower, Williams recommends calling a plumber in case the fungi is coming from somewhere you can’t see.

“It is not 100 per cent that mould might be coming from your shower or you’re not ventilating enough, it could be maybe the pipe is broken inside the shower, so you need to contact a plumber and check it,” he says.

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Once that’s addressed you’ll likely have a big clean up job on your hands and if the mould is extensive, Williams recommends calling a professional cleaner to handle the job.

But for any mould that seems to be on the surface, the cleaner recommends tackling it with vinegar before trying harsher chemical cleaners and wearing old clothes, a mask and transparent safety goggles to protect yourself from any mould spores or drips of your chosen cleaning product.

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Once clean there is one more simple thing you can do to prevent mould returning and that’s painting the area with a mould blocking paint.

“There are a lot of [anti-mould] paints… they provide you mould free for five years, so you don’t get mould within that that area. We advise that you should be cleaning the entire area and then one coat of [anti-mould] paint on top,” he says.

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