You might be midway through cleaning your bathroom tiles in your shower when you catch a dark, creeping shadow along the silicone sealant out of the corner of your eye – mould. Black mould is unsightly, but more than that, it’s stubborn to clean, and it’s not just bad for appearances; it can be a health hazard too.
Black mould thrives in damp, warm spaces, feeding on bacteria and organic particles like dust and dead skin in the air. Bathrooms, with their lingering steam and warm surfaces, make the perfect environment for mould to spread on your bath and shower sealant. While bleach is the most common way of getting rid of the issue, this toxic chemical only lightens mould stains; it won’t kill it at the root.
Having had no success with using bleach on their mould-infested silicone sealant, a cleaning enthusiast from the Mrs Hinch Cleaning Tips Facebook page asked for advice on what to use. Sammie West wrote: “Hello, what could I use to remove this mould from my silicone sealant around the shower tray? Tried bleach and HG Mould Spray today, but it never removed any mould. Ideas appreciated, thanks in advance.”
While many suggested a few common bleach-based cleaning products, others recommended the natural route of using clove oil.
Eimaj Traut said: “I mixed clove oil and water, sprayed it on and left it for an hour. It turned out amazing!”
Kim Yetton commented: “Neat clove oil. It also prevents the mould from returning for good.”
Sandra Sutton said, “Bleach doesn’t remove it. I like to use clove oil. It works better than anything else I’ve tried.”
Cleaning experts at Oil Garden also recommend using clove oil, as they pointed out that its “antifungal properties make it a game-changer in the fight against mould”.
They added: “When it comes to clove oil, mould doesn’t stand a chance. You can mix up your own clove oil mould remover solution at home with very few ingredients.
But before you go pouring this essential oil straight onto every patch of mould you can find, you’ll want to know how to use clove oil for mould properly, or you’ll waste a lot of time and money.
A “quick and easy mould-banishing solution” is to mix a small amount of clove oil – just a quarter of a teaspoon – with a litre of water in a spray bottle. Then spritz the solution onto the mould, leave it to “work its magic for a minimum of 10 minutes” (and up to a few hours), then use a wet cloth to wipe away the mould.