I'm living in university halls with 2 girls that wouldn't know the right end of a mop if I rubbed it in their faces. I came back after easter break to find what looked like dust all over a cupboard, the counter and the floor. I looked inside the cupboard and it was filled with the stuff, it looks as if the food inside (the bread maybe) has grown friends and these friends have released little, black spores.
I want to clean it up but I don't want to be doing it if it is just one of my flatmates spilling something and expecting someone else to deal with it.
I also don't know how I should go about cleaning it in case it is something bad. I'm worried that it's aspergillus niger, maybe a bit ott but I'm asthmatic and apparantly it's much easier for it to affect us.
How should I go about cleaning this stuff up without allowing these things to get me?
I would suggest that if you're asthma is at all severe, you should stay away. If you think you can handle it though, maybe try wearing a surgical mask (not sure what they're called in the UK). I've seen them at hardware stores, for use by people when woodworking.
I would bring the other girls in there first and show them how disgusting it is and ask for their help to clean it up. Reiterate that it is a HEALTH HAZARD to have mold growing all over.
Definitely wear a mask as IamJen suggested. I would clean it with a diluted bleach solution, or if that's too much, then diluted white vinegar.
i would point it out, engage their help, get a mask (b&q or boots should have them), don rubber gloves, remove stuff from the cupboard, wipe the packets all down with a vingary cloth (chucking anything open-like cereal bags not closed shut- or unwashable).
then i'd put the packages in a clean spot to dry (like on a towel in another room), and scrub the cupboard with with soapy water/washing up liquid, then wipe down with vinegar, and dunk my scrubbing device in the vinegar too. then i'd let it dry and put stuff back, then wipe the bit of mouldy packet touched surface (where you put the cupboard stuff when you took it out, before it went on the towel).
i'd not use bleach cos while its probably a bit more effective, i can't breathe from the smell of it.
i would also take a shower afterwards incase and wash my clothes incase i got contaminated with spores and ended up breathing them in off my clothes all day.
I would follow hoodedclawjen's advice Fona. I would also point out to your flatmates how disgusting and selfish it is to leave a mess for other people to clean up, not to mention so annoying. However, having lived with ignorant, filthy pigs whilst in my undergrad days at Uni, I fear anything you say will fall on deaf ears.
HCJ's advice sounds great, but, question: Does vinegar kill mold spores by just wiping the area down? I thought you had to let it sit on the affected area until dry.
I know tea tree oil works, diluted 1 teaspoon per cup of water and sprayed on. It smells pretty strong but the smell goes away pretty fast. I like tea tree oil for pretty much everything though...
bleach smells disgusting and bothers some people a lot (I have asthma too) but it is cheap, and you only need a very small amount diluted in water to kill bacteria and molds, a small enough amount that you really can hardly smell it. If the bleach smell is STRONG then you are using too much bleach.
Whatever you do, wet it down by spraying before wiping it up. Dry wiping will just scatter clouds of mold spores into the air and they will float there for a VERY long time.
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