Mold - The Bleach Myth 

Do NOT Use Bleach!

Chlorine Bleach DOES NOT kill mold, it merely BLEACHES it - meaning that it takes away the color of the mold.

Chlorine Bleach is NOT registered with the Environmental Protection Agency as a disinfectant to kill mold.

Chlorine Bleach is NOT effective in killing mold on pourous surfaced building materials (wood, drywall, insulation paper, ceiling tiles, etc.) for at least three reasons:

1. Bleach 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 with a dilute chlorine bleach solution appears to be the most effective and efficient way to rechlorine bleach) concluded: "The study results confirm that denaturing the mold spores duce mold allergen on hard surfaces (emphasis added)."
   
   
2. What little killing power chlorine bleach does have is diminished significantly as 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 escape through the plastic wall of its containers.
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3. Chlorine Bleach's ion structure also prevents chlorine from penetrating into porous materials such as dry wall and wood, and thus bleach 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.

More disadvantages of Chlorine Bleach:

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.

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

Bleach damages fibers, carpets, etc.

Bleach corrodes hards 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. 

Bleach is not effective to kill toxic black mold and household mold on porous surfaces and bulding 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:

D.W. on Nov. 17, 2004
"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."

R.K. on Nov. 21, 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."

K. in Tennessee on Nov. 22, 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."

D.M. on Nov. 23, 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."

J.O. on Nov. 24, 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."

L.D. on Nov. 29, 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."

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

A.M., on Dec. 5, 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."

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

G.S., on Dec. 10, 2004
"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."

H.M., 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."

D.M., on Dec. 11, 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)."

B.N., on Dec. 27, 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."

K.O., on Dec. 29, 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."

M.S., Los Angeles, California, 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."

R.C., on Jan. 3, 2005
"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."

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

S.P., on Jan. 5, 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."

C.B. 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."

R.L. on Jan. 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."

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

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

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

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

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

C.H. 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."

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

T.L. 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."

D.C. on Jan. 14, 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." 

L.O. 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." 

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

K.M. on Jan. 15, 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."

M.P. on Jan.16, 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."

A.C. in North Carolina 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."

J.C. on Jan. 17, 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."

S.H. in California on Jan. 18, 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."

T.L. in Canada 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." 

L.C. on Jan. 29, 2004
“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." 

K.O. on Feb. 4, 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."

J.K. 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." 

D.K. in Hawaii on Feb. 7, 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." 

A.S. on Feb. 8, 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."

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

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

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

B.W. on Feb. 17, 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."

E.H. on Feb. 22, 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."

L.F. on March 1, 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 thought that the bleach would get rid of the mold. About 3 weeks later it came back even blacker and fuller than before."

C.B. on March 2, 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."

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

N.B. on March 12, 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."

What Can You DO If You Have High Mold Levels In Your Home?

Do not panic if your mold test reveals a high concentration of mold in your home. No matter how high your mold levels are, you can be confident that the 
Sapper 6 mold mitigation specialists will be able to reduce mold levels effectively.

If your home has been tested and mold levels are elevated, Sapper 6 can offer you solutions to alleviate the levels that can ultimately harm your health. We just don't show you the levels, we fix them by installing state of the art solutions so you and your family will be safe and healthy in your own home.

Metals and other surfaces can not only be corroded, but discolored.  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.  is not effective to kill toxic black mold and household mold on porous surfaces and bulding 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.