Home care how-to guides
Dealing with mold, condensation and damp — prevention is far easier than removal.
Nearly every home problem here comes down to humidity. Mould needs indoor humidity above 60% and a cold surface; condensation needs warm damp air meeting cold glass or wall.
There are only two levers: stop the surface being cold (insulation), or stop the air being damp (ventilation and dehumidifying). What you do in summer is the opposite of winter.
Wiping mould off the surface leaves the roots behind. Where it has grown into silicone sealant, replacement is usually the real fix.
In this category
- Bathroom Mold: Why Spraying and Wiping Never WorksMold remover breaks pigment down chemically, and that takes time. On a vertical surface it runs off within seconds, so the trick is holding it in place with tissue.
- Winter Condensation on Windows and Walls: Two Levers That Change ItCondensation is warm humid air touching a surface that is below its dew point. There are exactly two things you can change: make the surface less cold, or make the air less humid. Everything else is a version of one of those two.
- Indoor Humidity Through the Year: Summer and Winter Need Opposite MovesThe target is 40 to 60 percent relative humidity most of the year, trending toward the lower end in winter. The tactic reverses with the season: when outdoor air is more humid than indoor air, opening windows adds moisture, and when it is drier, opening windows removes it.
- Mold on Window Frames and Rubber Seals: How to Reach It and Keep It GoneMold on a window seal sits inside the rubber, not on top of it, and spray runs off a vertical surface in seconds. Hold the remover against the mold with a soaked paper towel for 30 minutes or longer. The removal is the easy half — condensation is what regrows it.
- Mold in a Laundry Room, Sunroom or Enclosed BalconyOne load of wet laundry puts roughly four to five pints of water into the air as it dries. In a small closed room used for that every few days, the walls and ceiling are absorbing it. Clean the growth, then change how the room dries out — otherwise it returns in weeks.