Hey ,

Fortunately, there is a lot you can do with mold. Here are some tips but also some warnings! When you are dealing with black toxic mold (or Stachybotrys Chartarum – which is the scientific name for it), it’s best to let it be cleaned by professionals. It isn’t worth the risk to remove it yourself. Especially if the mold is growing on a porous material like wood, wallpaper or drywall. The mold can grow deep roots which makes it harder to remove. Even when you remove it, the mold will continue to grow below the surface and simply return.
Tips to prevent mold from growing:Mold is related to lifestyle. Before you start removing mold, it is best to learn about what makes mold grow. Mold needs basically 3 things to grow:
1. Water
2. Humidity
3. A food source

If you take one of those three things away, mold can’t grow. 

Taking a look at what you can improve in your home and habits is actually the first step since you can remove mold, but if you don’t address the environment mold might grow back. 

Here are some tips for that:
• Ventilating rooms every day can reduce humidity. People breathe, sweat and cook making rooms more humid. In addition when you are dealing with mold, cleaning the air is especially important since spores, mold and its toxins can spread through the air.
• Some people dry clothes on heat sources like a heater or tumble dryers. This can create perfect conditions for growing mold on walls behind these heat sources.
• The same goes for drying shoes under heaters
• Use some form of ventilation in humid rooms like bathrooms, cellars, crawl spaces or attics.
• Remove or replace carpets and upholstery that have been soaked and cannot be dried right away. Think about not using carpet in places like bathrooms or basements that may have a lot of moisture.
• Fix leaks in your home’s walls, roof or plumbing.

Should you kill mold yourself?If you found the root cause of your mold growth and made some changes, here are some things experts do to remove mold. They make sure they use gloves, long clothes and face protection like a mask! So better not to kill & remove mold yourself.

The information below you will find often recommended on the internet. I am talking about some natural remedies here. But the truth is: no natural remedies works 100 percent.

Distilled White Vinegar
Vinegar can kill many types of mold according to research. But In this research, researchers found that a solution of 4.0-4.2% was enough to kill Penicillium Chrysogenum but it didn’t kill Aspergillus fumigatus. These by the way are the 2 most representative species from two common fungal genera so vinegar doesn’t kill all mold species.

Tea Tree Oil
Tea tree oil demonstrated the greatest inhibitory effect on the growth of both fungi, applied in either a liquid or vapour form. This review of tea tree oil concludes that concentrations of 2% will help against most tested mold except Aspergillus niger. This species did react to concentrations of 8% pure tea tree oil. But I would like to add, although they tested against a lot of mold species, there amount of mold species in nature are around the 100.000 or even higher. No study tested natural remedies against these many mold species.

70% Alcohol solution
Alcohol has not the best success rate in reducing mold. This research concluded that a 70% ethanol solution was found to have no inhibitory effect on the growth of Penicillium Chrysogenum and Aspergillus fumigatus.

Baking Soda
Baking soda can absorb water from surrounding objects and is helpful in the early stages of mold development. By spraying baking soda on moldy surfaces you can slow down the growth of mold significantly. It also kills mold. Most molds love a slightly acidic environment (pH 4-7) while baking soda can raise the pH to 8-9 making it more alkaline. 

How effective is baking soda?
This study showed that 80% of the were killed at a concentration of 10 grams/L. You might find this study used as an argument on the internet. Just be aware that they tested baking soda on 70 mold species. Again: be aware that there are around 100.000 species of mold and while most species prefer a lower pH, some mold like a higher pH.

Bleach
There is much advice on using bleach to eradicate mold. I am not a big fan of it for 2 reasons: in a gaseous state, chlorine bleach can produce dioxins which are linked to an increased risk of cancers. We don’t want to inhale bleach. It can also have a negative effect on people with lung problems such as asthma. It can kill molds on the surface, but it can also color them white making them less visible. Besides that, bleach will evaporate quickly and doesn’t work on porous materials.  The mold can grow under the surface and return.

As you might conclude, there is written a lot about killing & removing mold. But with the risks involved it is better to let it be done by professionals.

I hope these tips will help

 do not attempt to clean the mold in your apartment. Either consider paying out of pocket to have it professionally cleaned or consider moving. I know the latter sounds extreme, but it’s not worth the high risk.

There are preventative lifestyle steps you can take while still living in mold:
• get outdoors as often as possible (limit your time and exposure inside the apartment)
• reduce exposure if you know where the mold is by sealing it off by covering vents with plastic and a thick tape, such as duct or frog tape. I’ve seen this work for under sink cabinets, closets, and even entire basement rooms. 
• open windows as often as possible weather permitting, but monitor humidity levels. Humidity in your home should always be less than 60%. If not, consider getting a dehumidifier for those areas of high humidity.
• invest in a hyper/ultra HEPA air filter. IQ Air has a distributor in Abu Dhabi. These units are expensive but effective. Checkout other air filter options here in the “Air & Skin” pillar.

In terms of washing your belongings, look into these 2 products:
• EC3 or Citrisafe

Both of these sites have a good amount of information about how to properly clean your belongings depending on the types of surface you’re looking to clean. Take some time to read through them.

Hope this helps.