Bathroom ceiling mold

[studlyrs]

I am getting ready to sell my rental house.  I tenants were not aware that they needed to turn on the bathroom fan.  Therefore my ceiling has blistered and bubbled and needs fixed.  There are spots of pink and black mold.  Anyone have any good tricks to make this look sellable?

[bobechs]

Do the rest of the bath in purple and black.  Towels, curtains, potty rug, etc.

[big_owl]

Clean mold, sand, repaint?

[BudgetSlasher]

Your best off making it sellable not "look sellable". I'm just giving you a hard time, but honestly I wouldn't conceal an issue.

Your basic steps are going to look like this, specifics will vary based on your situation.

1) Clean and kill the mold. This will probably take some wiping down, plus a chemical treatment. I have had good luck using wet n forget outside and I believe they now make an inside formula. Honestly lysol would probably be enough.

2) You will have to prep the ceiling for paint. This is going to entail removing the paint blisters, filling the voids left by them and then sanding the filler flat.

3) You are going to need to repaint the ceiling. If the mold has stained the ceiling I would recommend a starting with a stain blocking primer so that is does not bleed through down the road and then at least 2 coats of ceiling paint.

This really should have been step one, but keep the security deposit.

[MsPeacock]

Just fixed the same problem in my own bathroom (fan was blocked by a bird's nest on the outside of the house...). Anyhow, killed mold w/ bleachy water. Sanded, primed with 2 coats of Kilz, one coat of ceiling paint. Seems to have worked very well. No more mold (plus fixed fan). The bathroom is tiny and tends towards being very damp (even w/ properly operating fan) and the mold has not recurred in 6  months or so.

[dess1313]

for future landlords, you can actually buy switches that sense humidity and will automatically turn on the fans.  this prevents the tennants 'forgetting' to do it and ending up with these problems

[dilinger]

When I installed a new bathroom fan, I looked for one with a humidity sensor but couldn't find one that fit.  I didn't realize that there were switches with humidity sensors!  Do you have any positive (or negative) experiences with certain ones?

[dess1313]

The one i knew about was in my relatives house.   you could turn the timer of the switch on, but the sensor would also kick it in automatically.  sorry but no specifics other than that.  they had 3 forgetful kids so it worked well for them. 

[Fishindude]

Clean good with water & bleach.
Paint with KILZ stain covering type paint.   Note - If you use oil base, keep the windows open because the fumes are powerful, but it works.

[studlyrs]

Thanks to all.  I think I got it taken care of.  The mold was mainly on the texture and drywall paper but some were large and held moisture.  I scraped everything clean trying my best to remove all the moisture.  Cleaned with some "green" mold cleaner, way easier on my senses than bleach.  Once dry I spackled the holes, sanded, spackled, sanded.  Primed twice with stain blocking primer and painted with mildew resistant paint.  House went on the market today!