r/YouShouldKnow • u/Watly • Mar 09 '23

Home & Garden YSK: Mold in the bathroom can be prevented entirely by keeping the bathroom door open during/after showering.

If you're renting a place with lacking ventilation, opening the bathroom door will generally prevent mold.

Why YSK: I am moving into a new appartment now, which again has a moldy bathroom. I have lived in my current appartment mold free despite the previous renters claiming that the mold always returns. Both renters seemed completely clueless on mold.

Sidenote: This advice only applies to the very common bathroom mold where the issue is generally high humidity. Other instances of mold can have a variety of causes that are potentially really difficult to fix.

Also, don't clean mold with soap. You will keep cleaning endlessly if you do that. Use a special mold cleaner or something similar (with a face mask and gloves as the stuff is nasty).

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u/HisCromulency Mar 09 '23 edited Mar 09 '23

I automate my exhaust fan with Home Assistant, a zigbee Temperature/Humidity sensor, and a zigbee socket switch.

When humidity raises over 1% compared to the last 3 minutes, exhaust fan turns on until humidity lowers back to where it was previously.

humidity level before/during/after shower this morning

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u/Sunsparc Mar 10 '23

I run Home Assistant and have been looking for a way to automate my bathroom but the main bathroom doesn't have an exhaust fan, only the second bathroom. No one uses the second bathroom for showers/baths, so it's kinda useless.

I've just been opening the window in the main one and have been searching for a window fan I can automate.

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u/MeetMyBackhand Mar 10 '23

Nicely done! Your exhaust fan appears to be quite efficient to bring it back down so quickly... At least compared to mine.

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u/Maximum-Mixture6158 Mar 09 '23

Or you could just install a timer type for the switch.

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u/HisCromulency Mar 09 '23

If the humidity is still high after the timer has turned off, then the timer is kinda useless. My humidity sensor tells me exactly what the humidity is and the smart switch won’t turn off until the humidity returns to normal. Could be 10 minutes, could be 45 minutes.

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u/Maximum-Mixture6158 Mar 10 '23

After you've had a couple showers and run the fan, you know how long it will take next time