How To Paint Interior Mildew Areas

An easy-to-follow 3-step guide for painting over interior mildew, showing you how to prepare and prime the surface for finishing with Zinsser’s decorative Perma-White anti-mildew paint to block fungal degradation.

See our blog post “Quick & Cost-Effective Ways To Paint Over Mould” for help with interior mould, and check out our further reading section for more solutions for painting problems.

 

Zinsser Paint Interior Mildew Products

• Zinsser Mould Killer & Remover
• Zinsser Universal Cleaner & Degreaser
• Zinsser B-I-N
• Zinsser Perma-White Interior

Clicking on each Zinsser item will take you to its product page where you can add to basket.

The Benefits

Mildew eats away at not only buildings but also your health. Whether it’s behind a bathtub in a rental property or in a shop stock room away from the public, mildew can cause serious respiratory problems such as flu symptoms. This means more sick days for staff and disruption to your business, and tenants wanting to move on to another property at the end of the tenancy agreement, leading to another expensive search for new occupants. Businesses such as hotels and services like swimming pools and gyms may suffer a hit to their reputation if mildew infests interior spaces and isn’t treated quickly.

Before painting over mildew and fungal degradation its important to stop the cause of the infestation. Mildew needs a moist and damp environment to thrive, which can include:

• Leaking roofs
• Overflowing washing machines
• Flooding
• Leaking air conditioning units and duct joints
• Poor ventilation in bathrooms, shower rooms and changing rooms
• Bare earth floors, such as in sheds and garages
• Leaking flashing and caulking around windows

Using Zinsser Perma-White to finish painting over mildew will block fungal degradation permanently as well as providing a decorative finish. Zinsser listens to contactors and develops new products – or adds features to existing products – to meet their changing needs, delivering world class products that meet “real world” challenges, providing tried and tested solutions to painting problems, such as painting over interior mildew.

Step 1. Surface Preparation

All surfaces to be decorated must be clean, dry and free from anything that will interfere with the adhesion of the materials to be applied. Remove loose and failing material by scraping or brushing with a stiff bristle brush to a sound edge, feathering these with a fine grade abrasive paper.

Remove all visible signs of organic growth, treating affected areas with Zinsser Mould Killer & Remover (in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions) and allow the surface to dry.

Where sound paint remains, wash clean the surface down with Zinsser Universal Cleaner & Degreaser to remove any contaminants, and rinse thoroughly with clean water to remove all residues.

Allow to dry and then fill any cracks and small surface defects with a suitable filler as appropriate in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions, letting the surface dry before rubbing down with a fine grade abrasive paper and then removing all dust.

Step 2. Priming

Prime all areas to be decorated with one full coat of B-I-N® Primer Sealer, allowing a minimum drying time of 45 minutes (in normal drying conditions).

Step 3. Decoration

Decorate the surface with two full coats of Zinsser Perma-White Interior, in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions, allowing a minimum drying time of two hours between coats.

This anti-mildew paint is available in Matt, Satin or Semi-Gloss finishes with 4,000+ colours from RAL, NCS, and British Standard available.

More Information

If you require more advice on painting brickwork, give our technical team a call on 0113 2455450 (option 2) or send a message to [email protected].