How to Update Your Bathroom to Reduce the Risk of Mold

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Once mold starts taking over your bathroom, it’s not easy to get rid of. If the growth is alarming, paying to have it cleaned can cost hundreds of dollars, but it’s often worth it because getting rid of mold can be challenging (and exhausting). Your best move is to prevent mold from taking root in the first place, which usually involves reducing dampness and being vigilant with cleaning.

A better approach might be to design a mold-free bathroom from the get-go. If you’re considering renovating your bathroom, you can choose materials and make design decisions that will make it a lot harder for mold to take up residence.

Go groutless

Mold loves grout because it’s porous and absorbs moisture—and its porous nature means mold can penetrate under its surface, which makes it even harder to clean. The more grout you have, the more potential breeding ground you have, so consider eliminating it:

• Wall panels. Acrylic wall panels are continuous sheets, meaning there are no grout lines to deal with. You can purchase panels that mimic the look of tile, but they come in a wide range of colors and designs, giving you a lot of design flexibility without the grout—or the potential for mold.

• Vinyl or laminate flooring. Kkip the grout on your floor by avoiding traditional tile and opting for vinyl planks or laminate. Similar to the wall panels, you can find vinyl flooring that resembles tile or stone so you can get the look you want.

• Shower pan. Instead of a tiled or stone shower floor, installing an acrylic shower pan eliminates all that grout and makes it a lot easier to clean and a lot harder for mold to take root.

Go freestanding

Mold and mildew loves to colonize caulk, which can get so unsightly as a result that you wind up just tearing it out and re-caulking. Anything that sits flush with or attached to your walls in a damp area has to be caulked, so you can reduce the amount of caulk (and with it, the amount of mold) by choosing freestanding items, like a freestanding tub or vanity.

Go metal

If you want storage in your shower for soaps, bottles, and everything else, a traditional tiled niche is an invitation to mold, especially if the pitch isn’t quite right and water ponds in there. Opting for a metal insert instead (like this stainless steel shower niche) eliminates that problem.

Go resistant

Painted walls and ceilings in bathrooms are prime targets for mold and mildew because moisture condenses on those surfaces. Steam rising from the shower often results in those tell-tale brown dots on the ceiling above, and over time, even walls outside the shower area can become stained with mold.

Using antimicrobial primer and paint is one key to eliminating mold from your bathroom, and it’s one thing you can do even if you’re not ready to renovate. Cleaning the walls and ceiling thoroughly, sealing them with a mold-resistant primer and painting them with a mold-resistant paint can greatly reduce the chances you’ll be scrubbing mold out of your bathroom in the near future.

Ventilation

Finally, when transforming your bathroom, don’t forget the less exciting but crucial aspect of mold resistance: ventilation. Make sure you determine the correct size of exhaust fan necessary for the space, and consider installing a model that has a humidity sensor. Also think about other ways to boost airflow in there, like adding a window (or a larger window) or a dedicated dehumidifier.

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