How to Renovate Your Bathroom to Reduce the Risk of Mold
Once mold begins to take over your bathroom, getting rid of it will be difficult. If the growth is alarming, paying for cleanup can cost hundreds of dollars, but it’s often worth it because getting rid of mold can be a difficult (and tedious) task. The best thing you can do is prevent mold from occurring in the first place, which usually involves reducing humidity and being vigilant when cleaning.
A better approach would be to design the bathroom mold-free from the beginning. If you’re thinking about renovating your bathroom, you can choose materials and make design decisions that will make it much harder for mold to develop.
Without grout
Mold loves grout because it is porous and absorbs moisture, and its porous nature means that mold can penetrate beneath its surface, making cleanup even more difficult. The more solution you have, the more potential growing medium you have, so consider eliminating it:
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Wall panels. Acrylic wall panels are continuous sheets, meaning there are no grout lines. You can purchase panels that mimic the look of tile, but they come in a wide range of colors and designs, giving you more design flexibility without grout or the possibility of mold.
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Vinyl or laminate flooring. Eliminate grout on your floors by ditching traditional tile and choosing vinyl planks or laminate. Similar to wall panels, you can find vinyl flooring that resembles tile or stone , so you can get the look you want.
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Shower tray. Instead of having a tile or stone floor in your shower, installing an acrylic shower tray will eliminate all the grout, making cleanup much easier and making it harder for mold to grow.
Work separately
Mold and mildew love to colonize caulk, which can eventually become so unsightly that you simply have to rip it out and re-caulk it . Anything that is flush with or attached to walls in a damp area should be caulked, so you can reduce the amount of caulk (and with it the amount of mold) by choosing free-standing items, such as a freestanding bathtub or vanity.
Go metal
If you need a place to store soaps, bottles and everything else in your shower, a traditional tiled alcove is an option to do some shaping, especially if the pitch is not quite right and there are ponds of water. Choosing a metal insert instead (like this stainless steel shower niche ) eliminates this problem.
Resist
Painted walls and ceilings in bathrooms are prime targets for mold and mildew as moisture condenses on these surfaces. Steam rising from the shower often causes telltale brown spots to form on the ceiling, and over time, even the walls outside the shower can become moldy.
Using an antimicrobial primer and paint is one of the keys to eliminating mold in your bathroom, and it’s something you can do even if you’re not ready to renovate. Thoroughly cleaning the walls and ceiling, sealing them with a mold-resistant primer, and painting them with mold-resistant paint can greatly reduce the likelihood that you’ll be removing mold from your bathroom in the near future.
Ventilation
Finally, as you transform your bathroom, don’t forget about a less exciting but important aspect of mold resistance: ventilation. Make sure you correctly size the exhaust fan needed for the space and consider installing a model with a humidity sensor . Also consider other ways to increase airflow, such as adding a window (or a larger window) or a dedicated dehumidifier.