Treatment for surface mould in Larnaca

Small patches, caught early

Surface treatment is for growth that sits on top of a finish and has not got into the plaster: a speckled shower corner, black dots along a window seal, a grey bloom on the back of a cupboard door. In Larnaca most of these start with the ordinary moisture of daily life, made worse by the humid sea air that hangs over the town for much of the year. Treatment from €125 is usually one visit with no building work.

Larnaca cases that are usually surface-only

• Grout and silicone in shower enclosures that are used daily and rarely aired; our guide to grout and tile mould covers what you can do between treatments.
• Window frames and sills where condensation collects on winter mornings.
• The grilles and casings of wall-mounted air-conditioning units, and the wall just around them.
• Small patches on bedroom ceilings in flats where clothes are dried inside over the winter.

Habits that keep surface mould coming back

Washing that dries outside on the balcony in summer often moves indoors in winter. A single load of wet laundry releases a surprising amount of water into a closed room, as our piece on drying clothes inside explains. Cooking without the hood running, closing bathroom doors on a steamy room and running the air conditioner on cooling without cleaning its filters all add to it. Treatment clears what is there; the advice that comes with it is what stops the next patch. Typical fixes might be an upgraded extractor fan or an anti-mould coating on a wall that keeps catching condensation.

When treatment will not be enough

Some Larnaca patches look small but are not surface problems at all. Damp at the foot of a ground-floor wall in an older house is often moisture rising from below, and a stain that spreads across a top-floor ceiling after rain is water getting in. Treating either of those only buys time. The same goes for mould that has returned after earlier cleaning, or that you can push a finger into. In those cases removal is the better route, and if you are unsure which you have, an inspection from €75 takes readings and gives you a written report. For a quick view first, our article on mould around air-conditioning units shows how a unit's drip point can turn a surface spot into something deeper.