Removing Mold from Painted Walls

A problem we came across in looking for an apartment, and in some apartments we have rented here in Israel, has been that of mold. Mold can be found on ceilings and walls, in the bathroom, kitchen and other places where rain and other weather conditions affect the walls. Part of the problem seems to come from the way in which the walls are sealed.

In trying to find out what can be done to prevent mold or even to clean it once mold begins to appear, many suggested cleaning the affected area with bleach. A friend sent me this important announcement. Although it comes from the USA, the information is relevant here too. The rest of this post is as sent to me by my friend and is left in the first person, the speaker being the one who sent the information to my friend.

RED ALERT! No bleach! I used the bleach trick for removing mold in my sun room several years ago and ended up getting extremely ill afterward. The doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with me but after a year I was ready to just lay down and die, it was that bad.

I found the Red Cross site online while searching for "headaches" and they had a box that asked if you wanted a nurse to contact you and I checked it. When the nurse called me she asked me to describe the symptoms and I didn't get far when she told me to stop, she knew the cause of the illness.

There is a certain type of mold that reacts with the chlorine in the bleach and creates an invisible gas that scars your lungs the first time it is created and you don't feel a thing. She advised me to use white vinegar and water in a 50/50 mix and do not rinse off. It will leave an acid base behind that helps stop the mold from regrowing for a long time.

My body is completely infiltrated with this mold now and I had to leave my house and continue to have some side effects from being so sick. It causes headaches along the trigeminal nerve pathway, I would actually have spasms in my eye balls that others could see, could not walk or stand up once the headache started, had about 6 headaches like this a day, lost almost 40 pounds in 2 months because I couldn't keep anything down.

The only thing that helped was IV's at the ER and serious pain meds and ice cold showers, wet towels frozen in the freezer and draped on me in front of fans and all the windows open, even during the coldest winter with snow on the ground.

This is a very serious problem and worth using the vinegar no matter what anyone else suggests. I live in Oregon and we lose babies every year to black mold because it infiltrates their lungs. Please pass this info to your friends, it might make the difference between life and death. (08/26/2009)