Black mold loves growing on drywall and wood. These building materials are by far the most common areas of black mold growth. The wood or drywall gets wet, a black mold spore that’s floating in the air lands on it, and it starts to grow within 24 hours. Within a couple days you’ve got some visible growth, and within a week you’ve got colonies and an outbreak. It happens fast!
The good news is that the problem can easily be fixed by either a mold pro or a handy homeowner before any symptoms from black mold exposure appear.
Remove Black Mold From Sheetrock and Drywall
Drywall is a wonderful building material. It’s light, cheap, and easy. Throw up some drywall and you’ve got a quick wall in minutes. However, drywall is particularly susceptible to mold growth.
Black mold loves growing on drywall because it is basically a giant food source.
Made up of gypsum (a white, powdery mineral) encased in two layers of soft paper, black mold feeds on the paper as a food source.
Drywall also soaks up water like a sponge, stays wet for long periods of time, and is difficult to properly dry. When drywall gets wet, mold usually grows on both sides of the drywall – the side you can see, and the backside that’s behind the wall that you can’t see.
Simply cleaning the mold off of the side you can see is not enough. You’ve got to get to both sides of the drywall.
Outside of a surface mold from humidity scenario, the best strategy for removing black mold from drywall is simply to cut out the impacted drywall and replace it with new. Don’t waste your time trying to clean it. It’s best to (carefully) cut it out, bag it up, and throw it away.
If you’re thinking of removing mold from drywalls yourself, here are a few steps. A more in-depth guide can be found in our eBook!
Measure & mark straight cut lines.
Slowly cut along lines with your cutter tool.
Remove from the wall & bag up.
Remove any nails or screws from 2x4s.
Start cleaning the area
If you’ve got paneling instead of drywall, it’s best to take down the entire section of paneling rather than cutting it. Usually taking it down involves prying it off the wall.
Get Rid of Black Mold on The Wood Behind Your Drywall
Removing black mold on wood is a bit trickier. The wood behind drywall is part of the structural framing of the wall or ceiling, so it’s basically a permanent fixture.
Ways you can kill black mold on wood.
To remove black mold on wood:
Lightly spray the impacted wood with a mold stain remover
Wait a few minutes
Wipe it off with a scrub sponge
Repeat as needed
The dark black mold stains will lighten up little by little. You may not be able to get the wood looking “like new” but the look will be greatly improved.
Once you’ve got the wood looking pretty good, make sure the area dries out. You can put up new insulation & drywall once you’re sure the underlying water issue that caused the black mold growth in the first place has been fixed. If you have mold growing in your attic, for example, you may need to improve ventilation or the mold will continue to grow back.
DIY Mold Removal Options for Drywall and Wood
As you can see, removing black mold on drywall and wood is not very difficult. It basically requires some elbow grease and a mold stain remover cleaning agent.
Check out our DIY mold removal eBook for more detailed steps on how to be successful with this. This link also contains some important safety information and equipment you will want to use if you decide to remove it yourself!
If you’re not comfortable doing it yourself, and you live near one of our locations in Chicago or St. Louis, you can contact us to get it done. Either way, removing black mold on drywall and wood is nothing to be afraid of.
Killing Mold in the Bathroom Drywall and Other Humid Areas.
Using stain removers for killing mold from drywall and sheetrock
There are some cases where you could simply spray moldy drywall with a mold stain remover. Clorox Clean Up is cheap and works well, but there are many others. You can use mold stain remover when the black mold is a simple “surface mold” caused by humidity. If you aren’t sure if it’s surface mold, or something more serious, most honest mold removal professionals will offer a free quote.
The most common example of this scenario is in a shower, along the wall or ceiling drywall. When people take long, steamy showers, the shower walls & ceilings get wet with humidity and eventually black mold will start to grow. You can lightly spray the walls with your mold stain remover, wait a couple minutes, and wipe it off. Repeat as needed. But keep in mind that unless you start drying out your bathroom after showering, the mold will eventually return.
If you are looking for tips on removing humidity from your furniture and clothes to reduce the chances of having mold, here is an article that might help.