When you discover mold in your home or business, the search immediately begins for the best and quickest way to get rid of it! In your search for the perfect method for how to get rid of mold easily, you may have thought, “I have peroxide in my cupboard, and that smells strong — can hydrogen peroxide kill mold?”
Instead of rooting through Google trying to figure out which answers are from legitimate, trustworthy sources, we’re here to cut through the noise and give you the real answers! We’re Cleaner Guys: real professional mold experts with decades of experience cleaning mold. We can give you real professional advice about how useful hydrogen peroxide is on mold, including when it works, when it doesn’t, and what might work better! Keep reading.
Table of Contents
- Can Hydrogen Peroxide Kill Mold?
- What Is the Best at Cleaning Mold?
- Substances We Do NOT Recommend for Cleaning Mold
- How to Clean Mold with Hydrogen Peroxide
- How to Prevent Mold
Can Hydrogen Peroxide Kill Mold?
Yes, in some circumstances, hydrogen peroxide can be an effective cleaning agent against mold. However, it is not effective in all situations, nor against all mold.
Hydrogen peroxide is well known to have strong antimicrobial properties, which is why it is commonly used to help disinfect wounds. These antimicrobial properties make it useful for killing mold, which is a form of microbe. It also has a pH of 2-4, which is a strong enough acidity to break down and dissolve surface-level funguses and molds. A common 3% concentration can work on small amounts of mildew, but a stronger concentration may work faster.
However, peroxide is not strong enough to penetrate deeply into porous surfaces, like drywall, carpet, and wood. For this reason, we at Cleaner Guys only recommend hydrogen peroxide for surface-level mildew found on hard, non-porous surfaces.
Hard, non-porous surfaces include:
- Tile
- Showers
- Bathtubs
- Stone
- Countertops
- Ceramic
- Glass
So, if hydrogen peroxide is only strong enough to work on surface-level mildew… what works on other mold, like on drywall?
What is the Best Way to Get Rid of Mold?
The only 100% foolproof method for removing most mold is replacing all the infested materials. Mold usually spreads too deep and too fast in drywall to be able to just clean the surface.
If you have a large patch of mold on your drywall, and you just clean it off the surface and move on, it will almost certainly regrow later.
However, if you have a very small patch of mold, you may be able to successfully clean it yourself, because it may not have spread too far yet. Our professional recommendation is to not attempt to clean any mold yourself that spreads more than 1 square foot. At that point, it’s simply too likely that it is deeply rooted and spreading inside the wall.
If you’re dealing with a very small amount of mold on a porous surface, the cleaning agents we recommend trying are fungicide, vinegar, or Pine-Sol. These are the only cleaning agents that are astringent and harsh enough to be effective, without harming your health.
Substances We Do NOT Recommend for Cleaning Mold
There is, unfortunately, a lot of misinformed “advice” on the internet that bleach and rubbing alcohol should be used to clean mold, because they are very strong cleaning agents. As professional mold remediators with several decades of experience, we strongly advise against using bleach or rubbing alcohol on mold.
These harsh cleaning agents emit toxic gases that are unhealthy to inhale. Furthermore, bleach tends to be so strong, it stains and damages almost any surface it comes in contact with. Diluted versions of bleach, such as the small amount in Clorox wipes, is unfortunately also ineffective because then it is too diluted to do any good. Vinegar and fungicide simply work better, without the negative and unhealthy side effects.
See our full articles on “is bleach good for killing mold” and “can you use rubbing alcohol to kill mold” for more details.
People ask about the efficacy of many other cleaning agents as well, including dish soap, witch hazel, and more. Unfortunately, we must inform you that none of these standard household cleaning agents are strong enough to be effective against mold. We would only recommend trying vinegar, fungicide, Pine-Sol, or hydrogen peroxide, and then only on mildew or very small patches of mold.
Beyond that, the only foolproof way to completely remove mold is to have a professional mold remediation company remove and replace the infested materials.
How to Clean Mold With Hydrogen Peroxide
The method for cleaning mold with hydrogen peroxide is much the same as for vinegar, fungicide, or Pine-Sol. Simply spray a heavy amount of the cleaner of your choice on the mildew or mold, let it soak in and dissolve the mold for about 10 minutes, and then scrub and wipe it away and rinse with water. Repeat as needed until the mildew or mold patch is gone.
Be sure to use proper PPE when attempting to clean any mold! Gloves, eye protection, and an N-95 mask are strongly recommended. Scrubbing the mold will agitate mold spores into the air, and breathing them in can cause mold sickness and allergic reactions.
How to Prevent Mold
A far more important question than “does hydrogen peroxide kill mold” is “how did the mold get there, and where did it come from?” Mold only grows where there is excess moisture, so your most important task after finding mold is figuring out where the excess moisture is.
One of the most common causes of mold is excess moisture, such as from a leaking pipe, a leaking roof, or a high amount of humidity and condensation (such as in a steamy bathroom). We highly recommend hiring a water damage restoration company to inspect your home for water intrusion. They have equipment that can detect the exact location of a water intrusion problem, even inside walls!
Other important ways of preventing mold in your home in the future include the following:
- Create some sort of ventilation or air movement in each room, such as air conditioning, opening windows, or turning on fans. Stagnant, warm air facilitates the settling and spreading of mold spores.
- Keep the humidity of your home or business below 50%. High humidity can create excess moisture and condensation, which breeds mold.
- If the mold was on your shower walls, consider squeegeeing them after every shower to reduce the amount of water that sits there for hours, inviting mold to grow in it.
- Clean regularly. Mold feeds on organic materials, and that can include large amounts of dust and crumbs.
Conclusion
Hydrogen peroxide can be used successfully to clean surface-level mold and mildew, but we would not professionally recommend trying to use it to clean larger amounts of mold, especially not on drywall. It is a much better cleaning solution than bleach or rubbing alcohol, which we do not recommend. However, it is not as good of a mold cleaner as fungicide or vinegar, which we would recommend most highly.
If you are dealing with mold on drywall, wood, or any other porous surface, and it covers more than about 1 square foot, it is our strong professional recommendation that you leave the mold removal up to a professional mold remediation company. Large mold infestations are unsafe to deal with on your own.
If you are unsure how to pick a good and trustworthy mold remediation company in your area, we recommend you check out our guide on how to choose the a good service company.
If you need a mold removal or mold inspection company in Western Washington State, consider Cleaner Guys as a high-quality, well-trusted option. We’re proud to boast award-winning customer service, lower prices than others, and top-notch workmanship! Contact us today through the menu at the top of your screen, or call us right now at (360)757-4300. We’re ready to help you!
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. No part of this article is medical or legal advice, and may not be used as such. For all serious medical matters, consult your doctor. For all serious legal matters, consult your legal advisor. This article contains Cleaner Guys’ experience and opinions only.
