Preventing mildew in shower?

[Pilot]

It's a fiberglass shower with sheetrock above the 72" height. Fiberglass is Ok, but we get mildew on the sheetrocked area in the upper wall and ceiling. Any way we can prevent this? Can we put something over the sheetrock? Used to be able to get an additive you could put in the paint that would stop or slow the mildew formation, but the regulators outlawed that (probably because it worked). We don't want tile.

Any suggestions?

 

[retiredmgn]

Only way to get rid of mildew is to kill it with bleach. If it's
regular white sheetrock the mildew is most likely in the sheetrock.
If it were me I'd replace it. Midlew is about impossible
to get rid of on a porus surface.
If you cover it with a laminate of some sort the mildew will
continue to grow and you'll be able to smell it festering underneath the
covering.

 

[dmccarty]

Mildew needs moisture and food. Taken one or both away and no more mildew.

Sounds like the mold on the ceiling and upper wall would be from high humidity not splashing water.

Does the bathroom have a vent?

Later,
Dan

 

[dave1949]

You might try cleaning with bleach, then use Kilz Primer before re-painting. It's a pretty good mildew resister. Smells strong for a while, or at least it used to.

 

[joshuabardwell]

You can also get dedicated mold-killing stuff in the "cleaning" section of your local big-box hardware store. Bleach does work well, but if you run into something tough, or if you don't want to damage something colored, this stuff is a good choice.

 

[mvwicker]

The old-timer method is to wash the mildewed surface with muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid), diluted to 5% or 1 part acid in 19 parts water, which is supposed to work better than bleach. Be sure to pour acid into water, not water into acid. It would also be smart to wear goggles and gloves.

 

[deepNdirt]

To be honest with you once its started its a pain to get rid of and not have it keep coming back, I do bathroom and kitchen remodels and I remember one time a home owner had this same problem on and on , would kill it out for a few month but it would come back, I looked outside the bathroom window and notice a large oak tree within 8 ft of the house with Moss growing on the side facing the window, I asked her does she ever open the window? her reply was yes all the time in the spring of the year, I said to her there's you're problem, The spores from that moss is getting into the bathroom, she said Wow! never thought of that before and that they been thinking of having the tree removed anyway, I was back there a year later after they had removed the tree, she said the mildew never has returned,

I think you should tear out the sheetrock that surrounds the tub inclosure mix spray of bleach/clorox and sray everthing down let it dry , and install either durarock or green board, then tile the above part of the shower/tub and use tile grout sealer you'll be good to go, I can see everyone now looking out their bathroom window,,

 

[Artisan]

I call these installs the DIY generation. Did the box stores start it?
No, the track housing contractors were the first to embrace the fiberglass tub/shower
combinations and install them in bathrooms w/ regular drywall. Then it
was the "Combo" inspectors whom allowed it to continue.
Tisk Tisk, pay me now or PAY ME LATER Tripple...

I would suggest Green Board at a minimum but if you have already
started a herd of mildew, it will be almost impossible to destroy.

You HAVE to make sure EVERYTHING is 110% DRY all the time and
that is a VERY hard thing to do. I might pull all wallboard around it and
install your favorite flavor of tile (or) in it's place. Pull the whole fiberglass
surround and go back w/ all tile and a hot mopped, TESTED by a pro, pan,
and call it good for 30 years or more.

 

[Cliff_Johns]

First thing is to figure out why that part of your room is staying moist. Most likely you need better ventilation. Then greenboard replacement if possible, or use the washing techniques described above and Kilz or equivalent.


Just my opinion.
Cliff

 

[Pilot]

Well I called it sheetrock because I didn't remember the right term. We do have green board. Kinda like fancy sheetrock to me.

Yes, the bathroom doesn't have much ventilation. It does have a vent fan that doesn't seem to do much. When we take showers I turn on the furnace fan to push some air thru the room, but that only helps a little.

It's not a tract home--custom home, but the plans we bought were new and never used before. We found some other problems related to the house never being tested, but those have been solved.

My wife has used bleach many times; it just comes back. Someone told us to use hydrogen peroxide and that seemed to kill it for longer, but not permanently.

When we repaint, I'll try the Kilz. Never used it before, but it's worth a try.