Bleach Mold Myth Expose':
Also, please read "The Truth About Bleach"

Bleach is Ineffective to Kill Mold on Porous Surfaces and Building Materials such as wood, plywood, paneling, ceiling tiles, drywall, paper backing of insulation, and carpeting, all of which are good food for mold to eat.

Below are real-world reports from bleach users worldwide about the failure of bleach to kill mold growth:

         ---"The whole back of the house grows mold on the lower bottom of the walls. I bleach it and it comes right back."
---F.D. on Jan. 21, 2006.

           ---"How can i prevent mold around the windows from coming back after I clean it with clorox and water? After about three months ii can see it starting to come back? I see different colors of it. What can I do to stop it?"---D.B. on Jan. 12, 2006.

           ---"I live in a half double and I recently discovered mold in my home. In my downstairs living room and in my upstairs bedroom.  I cleaned the area with bleach and within a few days the white hairs were growing back."---D.W. on Nov. 17, 2004.
           ---"I can forward you pics of the walls, which by the way I scrubbed with a bleach mixture, then sealed & repainted, the black & fuzzy grey mold is growing back. I know it is the mold making me sick, I never suffered from any of this before in my life."---R.K. on Nov. 21, 2004.

---"Mold grows all over the baseboards of the downstairs. In the closets and on all the contents in the closets. It grows on the sofas and the pillows on the sofas. It actually grows on any and everything down stairs. I have cleaned everything with lysol and bleach and yet it returns."---K. in Tennessee on Nov. 22, 2004.

---"My air conditioner was leaking this summer and caused water to run down my apt. wall, I now have mold on the wall, carpet, and surrounding woodwork despite trying to treat it with bleach."---D.M. on Nov. 23, 2004.

---"My mother called the landlord and told him that there was brown stuff growing on the walls, and he said clean it with bleach and water.  My mother is constantly cleaning the walls with bleach because it keeps coming back."---J.O. on Nov. 24, 2004. 

---"The apartment manager sent a maintenance man up and he wiped off it off  with bleach.  Well, it keeps coming back, just noticed that in our bedroom where we all sleep mold started develop on the walls near the floor."---L.D. on Nov. 29, 2004

---"We tried bleach on the mold in our bathroom, but other than emit a nasty smell throughout the condo, it did nothing."---E.T, Florida on Dec. 1, 2004.

---"On every single window seal in my house, we have mold that appears every week.  I have been cleaning it off with bleach, but I want to know how to make it stop.  All the windows are only 2-3 years old."---A.M., on Dec. 5, 2004.

---"Bleach works for a while but the mold keeps coming back." D.W. on Dec. 8, 2004, from eastern North Carolina. 

---"There was also mold growing on the walls behind my mirrors. This has been noted to my land lord. The landlord's maintenance employees sprayed it with bleach, and now the mold is back . My family's health has not been the best from living with mold."--G.S., on Dec. 10, 2004.

---"We have used clorox and Kilz on the growing mold on wall and baseboards and windows, but it keeps coming back!
 Bleach and Kilz don't help stop mold."---H.M., on December 10, 2004

---"There is mold growing on my basement walls a little at a time. I always wipe it off with bleach but it eventually grows back (the walls are dry wall)."---D.M., on December 11, 2004.

---"I had a lot of mold on my walls. It probably was about 20 inches high from base board. I always cleaned it with bleach and it took it off for a while but always came back."---B.N., on Dec. 27, 2004.

---"A month ago the apartment maintenance men cleaned the mold on the wall by our daughters crib with bleach. Since then, we have found, 4 more spots of mold, on the same wall."---K.O., on Dec. 29, 2004.

---"I have a really gross looking mold (I think it’s a mold) growing in the corner of my shower, I believe originating from the tile grout.  It looks like two pale yellow macaroni noodles stuck together.  They are hollow and about 1 inch each.  They appeared literally overnight, for the second time, despite heavy cleaning and bleaching."---M.S., Los Angeles, California, on Dec. 29, 2004.

---"I am 7 months pregnant and also have a 2 year old son and all of us have seemed to be sick since we moved here. The manager has only wiped the mold away with bleach and told us to do so also if it comes back..... which I have been doing every 3-5 days, that’s how long it usually takes to reappear."---R.C., on Jan. 3, 2005

---"I have scrubbed several times with straight bleach and the mold just keeps returning."---D.D., on Jan. 4, 2005.

---"We have a severe mold problem growing in the basement. We have washed the walls time and time again with bleach and water, but it never seems to do any good."---S.P., on Jan. 5, 2005.

---"I have tons of mold in my classroom.  During the summer, I scraped it off, bleached it, and painted it.  It grew back within 3 days."---C.B. on January 5, 2005. 

---"We soon noticed one of the climbing vine houseplants had a fluffy white mold growing atop it's "climbing pole." We've noticed that the surface of some of the bricks were covered with a white powder, and unfortunately doused the bricks with bleach after removing the plants. This caused a fluffy white overgrowth that was much worse than the first."---R.L. on January 5, 2005.

---"We have a window mold problem. We have cleaned the tracks with bleach and it comes back."---K.S. on Jan. 6, 2005.

---"Bleach seems to help control the mold only for a month or so."---P.R., on Jan. 7, 2005.

---"The landlord recommended bleach which didn't get rid of the mold---it's growing back."---A.M. on Jan. 11, 2005.

---"I have been bleaching the mold and scrubbing the effected areas (the entire attic!) on a daily basis.   But it keeps coming back."---R.B. on Jan. 12, 2005

---"The mold spread over time and my wife tried to clean it with bleach having no success."---J.A., on Jan. 12, 2005.

---"There is black mold in the shower at all times. I bleach it and it goes away for a day or so and then reappears."---C.H. on Jan. 12, 2005.

---"I occasionally spray the moldy basement cement walls with clorox bleach.  The clorox only seems to work for a month or two."--- A.B. on Jan. 13, 2005

 ---"I have mold in my bathroom (ceiling and upper wall) and have tried bleach water and repainted with Kilz.  The mold is returning."---T.L. on Jan. 13, 2005.

---"All four walls are covered pretty much floor to ceiling along with the ceiling. Like many others, I have cleaned with bleach only to have the mold return."---D.C. on Jan. 14, 2005.  

---"We've cleaned with bleach but there is still mold in the house. I have been very nauseus and throwing up every morning."---L.O. on Jan. 14, 2005

---"Bleach spray will take it away but the mold comes back."---T.T. on Jan. 14, 2005.

---"A black powdery mold, growing in circle clusters keeps growing and growing. bleach doesn't work. I want to be able to kill it for good."---K.M. on Jan. 15, 2005. 

---"My mother, who is a nurse and here on vacation, came over to our apartment and freaked out, saying that she smelled and detected mold in our window ledges, after I had just bleached it less than a month ago. So the mold has grown back since then."--M.P. on Jan.16, 2005.

---"On the front porch of my daughter's home, there was mold all over. She cleaned with bleach and it came back."---A.C. in North Carolina on Jan. 16, 2005.

---"Along the building there are now several areas as large as 2 to 3 feet in diameter of what appears to be a white mold substance coming up through the concrete. This substance cakes up 2 to 3 inches high. My rental manager has tried treating this with bleach and it has not stopped it from re-occurring."---J.C. on Jan. 17, 2005.

---"My cement garage floor (1st time ever) has white fuzzy mold all over it.  First I washed it with diluted bleach, the next day it came back.  I just poured straight bleach on it but it still is coming back."---S.H. in California on Jan. 18, 2005.

---"I have plaster walls throughout the home, and have been cleaning the mold with vinegar, bleach and water -- the mold seems to disappear, but within weeks it is back again." T.L. in Canada on Jan. 18, 2005. 

---"We tried the bleach method, and it didn't work."---H.B. on Jan. 25, 2005.

---The maintenance man comes and cleans the mold off with bleach water, but as of yet nothing is being done to fix this  'growing' problem." ---L.C. on Jan. 29, 2004.

---"I have tried bleach and the  mold killers from Home Depot. I sealed the moldy walls with a deep penetrating oil primer on the cinder blocks after using the mold killer...None of these things have stopped the mold."---S.H. on Feb. 3, 2005.

---"The maintenance men for my building were the ones who pointed it out to me as mold. They did this in December,. 2003. They said to treat the mold with bleach and I did but it keeps coming back."---J.L. in Massachusetts on Feb. 3, 2005.

---"We are able to completely remove the black spots when we clean the ceiling with Lysol Bathroom Cleaner (with bleach) but it’s only a matter of a week or two before it’s back again."---K.O. on Feb. 4, 2005.

---"I tried bleach and wire brush. It looked fairly well but after 24 hours the mold on the front wall is starting to grow back."---J.K. on Feb. 4, 2005

---"I spray the wood walls with bleach, but as I have learned via the web, bleach is a myth.  Please give me some advice as to how I can kill mold effectively. It is such a shame to live in Hawaii and have to spend my days cleaning mold off the inside walls."---D.K. in Hawaii on Feb. 7, 2005.

---"I began to notice mold growing on the window casings and the window sills. I would wipe it down with bleach water, but it soon would return."---A.S. on February 8, 2005

---" I  tried to kill the mold in my house with bleach but it didn't seem to help at all."---J.D. on Feb. 14, 2005.

---"My husband washed the walls and windows with bleach (which obviously doesn't work because the mold is of course growing back now)."---D.L. in Florida on Feb. 15, 2005.

---"I have cleaned the wall mold up with diluted bleach, but it has returned worse."--J.P. on Feb. 16, 2005

---"I have a tenant that has a problem with grey mold in one room,  They would bleach and then the next day its back."---B.W. on Feb. 17, 2005

---"I need to know how to remove mold from the outside of my house. I have used bleach and Kilz and it keeps returning every year."--E.H. on Feb. 22, 2005.

---"When i noticed the mold, I washed it off with bleach. I also used a product called 'stopz'--- its an oil based paint which stops stains from bleeding though the paint. I painted the wall about the first week of Nov and I though that the bleach would get rid of the mold. About 3 weeks later it came back even blacker and fuller than before."---L.F. on March 1, 2005.

---"We are finding mold all over our house. Is it safe to live here? We have just finally decided to check into it, because most of us are sick with many of the mold symptoms. I have cleaned it when it has popped up with bleach, but it seems to be getting worse."---C.B. on March 2, 2005.

---"It's black and repeatedly grows back after being sprayed every few months with bleach."---E.K. on March 5, 2005

---"I am very concerned about this mildew that I have in my apartment.  Almost every week I clean it off with bleach and hot water and it still returns."---N.B. on March 12, 2005.

---"We have have an ongoing problem with all of our outside walls getting black I don’t have a picture but I can describe it as being like black soot I clean the walls with bleach but it returns."---C.B.on March 12, 2005.

---"I live in an apartment and my bedroom wall consistently grows mildew the owner tells me to clean it off with bleach but it continues to grows. Of course I called and complained finally they sent out a painter to spray paint over the walls and guess what the mildew came back!"---C.A. on March 15, 2005
 

---"We have tried bleach water and it temporarily removes some of the mold but it grows back."---J.J. on March 21, 2005

---"I started seeing MOLD little black/Brown patches in my shower...looks like it was also underneath the tile caulking!! like the landlord was trying to cover it up!!!!  I scrubbed with bleach and sprayed Lysol ... it was back with in a week..."---S.S. on March 26, 2005.

---"In my room I have black mold that grows about six inches up some of the walls. We bleach it and we have painted over it but it always returns."---D.P. on March 30, 2005

---"I live in the Sacramento area of California and I have a problem with mold growing on the outside of my home. Last year I talked to the paint company (Sherwin Williams) that supplied the paint for our homes and they said use a bleach water solution to get rid of the mold. I washed by hand last year about 1/3 of my home with this bleach/water solution. This year it is back bigger than ever. I would have to wash 2/3's to 4/5’s on my home now."---S.H., Sacramento, California, on April 13, 2005.

---"I cleaned the mold with Clorox and a toothbrush. Within 3 days, the mold reappeared about 4 inches away, I did the same thing and it reappeared about 3 days later."--K.N. on April 17, 2005

---"Each year we have a black mold returning on the siding in all areas---North-South-East-and West sides.  We have washed it with bleach and then re stained.  But that didn't work."---A.K. on April 17, 2005.

---"We would spray bleach on the mold and every other day it would grow back."---L.M. on April 17, 2005.

---"I found some mold in a corner about 2 months ago and the maintenance man told me to clean it with bleach water so i did but it came back worse."---C.S. on May 1, 2005
 

---- "No matter how much bleach I use, it keeps coming back," --- S.B. on May 18, 2005

            ----"I have some black mold on the ceiling of my carport. It is a open one facing the west side. What's the best way to get rid of it? I have tried bleach that did not work. I bough a special paint, but the mold came back.''---J.V. on May 30, 2005

            ---"I have a little black mildew and a bit of white fuzzy mold in my basement. The white stuff has broken right through the Kilz paint that was applied after cleaning with bleach."---L.H. on June 14, 2005
 

Chlorine Bleach is ineffective in killing mold on porous-surfaced building materials [wood, drywall, insulation paper, ceiling tiles, etc.] for at least four reasons:

• It is too diluted and thus too weak to permanently kill mold unless the mold is simply sitting on top of a hard surface like a counter top or sink. Even a scientific study paid for by Clorox [biggest manufacturer of chlorine bleach] concluded: "The study results confirm that denaturing the mold spores with a dilute chlorine bleach solution appears to be the most effective and efficient way to reduce mold allergen on hard surfaces. [emphasis added]"
   

• What little killing power chlorine bleach does have is diminished significantly as the bleach sits in warehouses and on grocery store shelves or inside your home or business [50% loss in killing power in just the first 90 days inside a never opened jug or container] Chlorine ions constantly escapes through the plastic walls of its containers.
   

• Chlorine bleach's ion structure also prevents chlorine from penetrating into porous materials such as dry wall and wood--- It just stays on the outside surface, whereas mold has protected enzyme roots growing inside the porous construction materials. When you spray porous surface molds with bleach, ONLY the water in the water solution soaks into the wood while the bleach chemical sits atop the surface, gasses off, and thus only partially kills the surface layer of mold while the water penetration of the building materials fosters further mold growth.

  Chlorine Bleach is NOT registered with the EPA as a disinfectant to kill mold. You can verify that important fact yourself when you are unable to find an EPA registration number for killing mold on the label of any brand of chlorine bleach.
  
  "Bleach is actually a poor cleaning agent and can be inactivated by organic material..." reported the Indoor Air Unit, Environmental Health Division, MINNESOTA DEPT. OF HEALTH, in its report "Recommended Best Practices for Mold Investigation in Minnesota Schools," November, 2001.
  
  New University Study Discovers That Bleach
  is Ineffective In Killing Mold on Wood [a porous surface]

  "While bleach is often recommended for remediation of surface mold on wood, our [university research study] results illustrate that the treatment does not eliminate the surface microflora," is the conclusion of the Oregon State University study of the effects of chlorine bleach on mold growth on Douglas fir wood [an important timber crop in the state of Oregon]. The research study was conducted by Professor Jeffrey Morrell, Dept. of Wood Science, Oregon State University, as assisted by Adam Taylor [graduate research assistant] and Camille Freitag [Senior Research Associate], as published in Forest Products Journal, 54:4, 2004.
  
   Bleach as a mold disinfectant is best used on hard surfaces such as in the kitchen and bathroom for countertops, tubs and shower glass, and other hard surfaces. In addition, successful mold remediation is much more than simply killing mold. Learn the 25 steps for safe and effective mold remediation. 
  
  Comparison of Commercial Products
  versus Home-Made Alternatives such as using Bleach

  Often people choose to use home-made alternatives to commercial cleaning products because they believe that naturally occurring or naturally derived substances are less toxic and better for the environment than commercial products. However, scientists have not found a correlation between naturalness, toxicity, or environmental compatibility. In fact, some of the most toxic substances in existence are naturally occurring substances. Furthermore, commercial products are tested in terms of effectiveness, safety, and environmental compatibility. Nonetheless, if you choose to use a homemade cleaning solution, you MUST use precautions.

  In addition to the factors listed in the following table, there are safety factors that should be considered before making or using a homemade cleaning product. For instance, you should NEVER mix cleaning solutions. This is especially important because products that are safe when used separately can become hazardous if mixed with another product. An example of this type of product is chlorine bleach. NEVER mix chlorine bleach or a product containing chlorine bleach with ammonia or any product containing ammonia or with any acidic products such as toilet bowl cleaners. If these products are mixed, toxic gases can be released. Furthermore, mixing household chemicals can also result in heat or explosion or household chemicals can become less effective if mixed with another chemical. Still yet, some household solutions simply do not work well or at all. This is of particular concern when individuals are trying to disinfect a surface, or kill disease causing microorganisms.

  The following table outlines some of the advantages and disadvantages of commercial products and homemade alternatives.

  Commercial Products	Home-Made Alternatives
  Meet Federal Safety Regulations	Not Subject to Federal Regulations
  Proper Precautionary Labeling	No Precautionary Labeling
  Ingredients Known to Poison Control Centers	Ingredients May Not be Known to Poison Control Centers
  Child-Resistant Closures Where Needed	Usually No Child-Resistant Closures
  Packaging Compatible with Formulation	Packaging May Not Be Compatible
  Formulation Stable	Product May Degrade in Package
  Won't Grow Harmful Bacteria	May Grow Harmful Bacteria
  Won't Harm Goods When Used as Directed	May Harm Valuable Possessions
  Careful Quality Control	Varies By Consumer Skill
  Evaluated for Safety and Environmental Compatibility	Not Evaluated for Safety or Environmental Compatibility

  Source: The Consumer Products Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Today's Household Chemical Products. (1992)
  Chemical Specialties Manufacturers Association, Inc
  
  Disadvantages of Using Chlorine Bleach
  
  The following disadvantages of using chlorine bleach were published "Bleach Usage" on Facility-maintenance.com---
  
  1. Chlorine bleach lacks the ability to cut through dirt. A surface or object being cleaned and disinfected must first be cleaned if bleach is going to be used as disinfectant, adding time and labor costs to any project. “Organic material readily inactivates these disinfectants, so the surface must be cleaned first,” said one industry consultant. “You have to essentially double the time that it should take to clean and disinfect a soiled surface.” [In a 2004 study of five different household products to try to clean a moldy shower curtain, The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the least effective product was chlorine bleach.]

  2. More disadvantages of chlorine bleach are as follow---

   

• Bleach loses strength rapidly: Carol Bush, area manager for contract cleaner Central Property Services, Pittsburgh, said a bleach/water solution left on a shelf for any period of time will lose its effectiveness. At the same time, said cleaning industry educator William Griffin, Cleaning Consultant Services Inc, Seattle, bleach loses its effectiveness quickly when being used, “gassing off” before most disinfecting can be accomplished.
   

• Bleach can hide dirt: The bleach can make some soil transparent, leading a cleaner to think he/she has actually cleaned a surface when in fact the soil remains there, said Michael Smith, academic custodial supervisor, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA.
   

• Bleach damages floor finishes: Bleach attacks floor coatings, eating away at their effectiveness.
   

• Bleach damages fibers, carpets etc.
   

• Bleach corrodes hard surfaces: Metals and other surfaces can not only be corroded, but discolored.
   

• Bleach causes health concerns: Improper use of bleach – either using too much or mixing it with certain products – such as those that contain ammonia hydrochloric acid, acetic acid and phosphoric acid – can create hazardous health conditions. [Another bleach health hazard: bleach can contaminate groundwater.]
  
  What should you use to kill and remove mold effectively?
         You can use a low cost Mold Home Remedy Recipes---available at Mold Mart.
  The report is only $15 and it will save you hundreds of dollars compared to buying expensive commercial fungicides. Also, you should learn the 25 steps recommended for safe and
  effective mold remediation.
  
  For more info on bleach and mold, please read---
  
  [Truth-About-Bleach] [Bleach-Based-Products] [Bleach-Mold-Questions] [Real-Estate-Mold-Questions] [Bleach-On-Hard-Surfaces] [Mold-Remediation-Procedure] [Mold-Monsters-Book] [Health-Links]
  
   

  Mold Library Combination
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  Read the 5 mold advice ebooks in the Mold Library Combination for only $49.00
  [$75.00 total if bought separately]. The Combo package includes: (a) Do-It-Best-Yourself Mold Prevention, Inspection, Testing, and Remediation, $15; (b) Mold Health Guide, $15; (c) Mold Legal Guide, $15; (d) Mold Home Remedy Recipes, $15; and (e) Mold Monsters, $15.  All helpful ebooks are delivered to your designated email address by email attachments only within 12-24 hours of your
                                                           order. Order Now!
   

[Truth-About-Bleach] [Bleach-Based-Products] [Bleach-Mold-Questions] [Real-Estate-Mold-Questions] [Bleach-On-Hard-Surfaces] [Mold-Remediation-Procedure] [Mold-Monsters-Book] [Health-Links]