Dampness that occurs when certain rules are not followed in the bath is inevitable, no matter how you try to prevent it. Due to the high level of humidity in the air, the likelihood of mold and dampness is very high. And they are an excellent environment for the emergence and reproduction of various microorganisms.

Why and where does dampness come from?

Basically, due to problems with the ventilation system, if the ventilation is clogged or completely blocked, then moisture simply has nowhere to go and it begins to accumulate, and then penetrate into all cracks and crevices.

The second reason for the occurrence of dampness is poor heating, when hot moist air comes into contact with ice walls, a condensation process occurs - the transition of a substance from a gaseous to a liquid state.

Another reason may be pipes with cold water, condensate constantly settles on them. High humidity can also be due to long-term storage of water containers and large quantities of drying wet clothes indoors.

In advanced situations, bugs and other insects can appear in the bathroom from dampness, which feel at home in wet and damp places.

They are not numerous, you can meet such insects as: silverfish, butterflies, mosquitoes, cockroaches. As well as wood lice and centipedes - nods and flycatchers (which do not belong to insects at all).

How to understand that your bath is "infected"?

Stains, black and green plaque on the walls, damp and peeling wallpaper, an unpleasant smell, insects - all this serve as an alarming bell for the application of measures to treat dampness in the bathroom.

How to get rid of dampness in the bathroom?

First of all, to prevent the appearance of a new fungus and mold, you will need to remove all sources of moisture: if there are leaking plumbing (broken taps, toilet bowls, broken hoses, etc.), fix, clean and fix sewer pipes.

To remove the already formed plaque in the form of a fungus, you can use soapy water, bleach, copper sulfate, any detergent and bleach. When using chemicals, you need to clean the mold with rubber gloves, so as not to damage your hands.

To clean all “damp” places, you need to thoroughly rinse them with a sponge and detergent several times, then with water, then wipe with a dry cloth and treat with an antiseptic or waterproofing agent.

After that, and eliminating the causes of dampness from the inside of the room, the bathroom should be dried to the maximum using a portable electric heater, a building hair dryer or a heat gun.

If despite all the efforts made, the smell of dampness in the bathroom remains, you may not have found the true source of the "mycelium", which is hidden deep in the walls, floor, ceiling or sewer, and the problem is cardinal.

Then you will have to urgently completely destroy the bathroom, destroy and clean everything that was deeply hidden, completely process the entire room and redo the repair, already doing everything in advance so that this does not happen again.

Prevention of dampness

Ventilation

In the absence of any ventilation in a closed room, the appearance of dampness is predetermined. If it is, but the vent is clogged or closed, you need to clean it and install an additional fan inside the hood to draw moisture out.

In order for moist air to leave faster, you need to ventilate the bath as often as possible: do not close the door, at least leave it wide open at night, if there is a window or window, sometimes open it, letting in fresh air.

Waterproofing

To protect the surface from unwanted moisture, paint the ceiling and walls with waterproof paints, and coat them with a waterproofing coating before facing.

Temperature

If possible, install a wall and floor heating system, then you won’t have to do a bunch of different manipulations to eliminate excess moisture, but simply turn on the heating. Or you can use a converter battery and a panel radiator. Try to keep the temperature in the room at least twenty degrees, then the moisture will disappear even before it appears.

• Dry wet things on the balcony, outside, not in the room
• Check the ventilation systems regularly, if problems are found, it is better to contact a specialist and only in extreme cases do the cleaning yourself
• Get heated towel rails, they can not only serve to dry towels, but also warm up the bathroom with walls
• After taking a shower, do not close the doors until the room is ventilated
• Do not store large containers of water in an enclosed space for a long time.

Photo of a damp bathroom

Home injuries are the fifth leading cause of death in the US, according to a 2007 report by the US Chief Safety Council. Researchers point to the bathroom, along with the kitchen and stairs, as one of the most dangerous areas in the home.

1. Water, all around water

The most basic part of the bathroom is water: in the sink, tub and shower. And this is probably the number one danger. More people are injured and even fatal by falling in the bathroom than in any other room in the house. The problem is that water doesn't always stay where it needs to be. Poorly installed shower curtains and just plain wet feet are some of the main causes of water on the bathroom floor.

The ideal shower has glass doors, not curtains. Otherwise, you can minimize leakage by using two curtains: one falls into the tub and the other, a decorative curtain, hangs to the floor. To stop slipping, try installing tiles in showers with slightly uneven surfaces and soft rugs on the floor.

2. Slippery bath or shower products

Modern people use many products in the shower and bath. The problem is, all of this: shampoo, conditioner, body gel, exfoliant, shaving cream, give a lot of foam and make surfaces slippery. Soap can slip away enough to cause a fall.

Soap buildup should be cleaned regularly. Wipe surfaces quickly after showering or bathing.

3. Bright and white surfaces

A pure white bathroom can look great, but the combination of light, white surfaces and reflective surfaces (like mirrors and chrome faucets) can be disorienting. Bright light can even be dazzling to someone with less than perfect vision, as is the case with many older people. What's more, all that brightness can mask standing water on the floor, increasing the risk of slipping.

Switch to frosted light bulbs to help reduce glare. A row of contrasting tiles (or wallpaper borders) breaking up a white wall space will help keep the balance.

People who are trying to keep the bathroom warm use an electric heater in this room. Like any electrical appliance (hairdryer, shaver) in a bathroom where there is so much water, a heater is a potential risk of electrical shock as well as accidental fire.

If getting warm is a problem, install a permanent wired heating system, make a warm floor only in the bathroom. Or you can start the shower a little earlier before taking a bath so that the steam warms up the room.

5. Shower doors

Glass shower doors have become popular as an alternative to vinyl shower curtains. But they are known to degrade over time. They can also break on impact. Since most doors are made of tempered glass, they tend to break into many small pieces instantly rather than large jagged ones. This is less likely to cause a severe cut, but may still seriously injure a child or frail older adults.

You don't have to give up glass. Just don't let family members use them as towel racks or lean on them. Check your shower doors regularly for cracks and chips.

Health

No one usually thinks about any danger when soaking in a hot bath.

In fact, your bathroom sometimes hides quite serious (and in some cases even fatal) health hazards.

In the United States in 2007, home injuries were the fifth leading cause of death, according to the Household Safety Council.

The most dangerous places in the house are bathrooms, kitchens and stairs. What is the danger?

1. Water everywhere

The biggest danger in the bathroom can be nothing more than water - it's everywhere: in the shower, tub, sink. Many are injured, sometimes fatal, due to falls. The problem is that sometimes water can be where it shouldn't be. It's easy to slip on a wet floor if, for example, you don't draw the curtains properly while showering and water seeps onto the floor.

Advice: Ideally, the shower room should be equipped with an unbreakable glass or plastic door, and not just be pulled over by a curtain. To reduce the risk, make sure that water does not seep onto the floor when you take a bath. For example, you can install the curtain so that it goes inside the bathroom instead of hanging outside. To prevent the floor from being too slippery, even if water gets on it, install tiles with an uneven surface.

There are also non-slip mats that can be placed near the shower or bath. Ordinary rugs can also be dangerous, so you should choose those that absorb moisture well and do not slip on the floor surface. If you decide to make repairs, it would still be better to take care of a special tile on the floor.

2. Slippery bath or shower

While taking a shower or bath, we usually use various products. The problem is that shampoos, conditioners, shower gels, scrubs, shaving creams and bubble baths settle on the surface and make it very slippery.

Advice: Baths and showers should be cleaned regularly after use. This will help get rid of detergent buildup on the walls and reduce the risk of slipping next time. The slippery surface is especially dangerous for the elderly or those with balance problems, so for such people it is especially recommended to use special mats inside the bath or shower.

3. Dazzling bathroom shine

Clean, sparkling bathrooms look great, but the combination of light, white surfaces, and reflective objects (mirrors and chrome) can be disorienting. For people with poor eyesight, glitter in the bathroom can cause serious harm, especially for older people. Also, with a blinding shine, you can easily miss the water on the floor and slip.

Advice: If you matt ordinary bright light bulbs, you can reduce the shine in the bathroom. When decorating a bathroom, you can combine tiles with wallpapers that do not reflect light so much. You can also paint the walls in contrasting colors if one of the tenants has poor vision and orientation problems.

4. Electric heaters in the bathroom

People who want to heat the bathroom for the elderly, children, or those who are sensitive to cold temperatures often use electric heaters. Like other electrical appliances (hair dryers or razors) that are used in a bathroom where there is a lot of water, heaters are very dangerous and can give you an electric shock.

Another danger is that someone could slip, fall on the appliance and get burned. Any towel, rug or piece of toilet paper near the appliance can start a fire.

Advice: If keeping the bathroom warm is a must, install heating systems specifically for bathrooms. Or you can turn on the hot water and heat it up with steam before the bath is used by an elderly person or a child.

5. Broken shower door

Glass shower doors gained popularity in the 1980s as an alternative to vinyl curtains. Basically, of course, they are useful. But sometimes they tend to break when installed incorrectly. They also break easily if you slip and hit them.

Most doors are made of tempered glass, so they break into very small pieces. Even small pieces are easy to cut, especially for children and the elderly.

Advice: You don't have to change the glass door if you have already installed it in your shower room. Some glass doors have towel racks, so to reduce pressure on it, ask your family not to hang towels on these racks. Instead, install a hanger on the wall in the shower room.

Check these doors regularly to make sure they don't develop small cracks. Be careful not to scratch the door. Some masters claim that frosted glasses are more fragile than transparent ones, but there are no exact indicators of harmlessness yet. If the glass door or bathroom mirror does break, place a towel on the floor to avoid stepping on the pieces, then carefully clean and vacuum the bathroom when everything is dry.

Often one of the most important rooms in the house - the bathroom - becomes a source of danger. A tiled room can undermine health from three sides: here you can get physical injury, chemical poisoning, or even a chronic disease.

Alexey Foshkin / Health-info

Yes, often the bathroom is really unsafe. But this is not a reason to give up hygiene. Making a “thinking room” less “harmful” is not so difficult.

physical threat

As a rule, the floor of the bathroom is covered with tiles, which, when exposed to water, turns into a skating rink. By tradition, the bath itself is enameled. This coating looks very impressive, it does not wear off for 30 years, and all these years remains extremely slippery (even when it is dry). All this creates ideal conditions for falling and getting multiple injuries, fractures, bruises and concussions. Especially slippery surfaces are dangerous for:

• children under 5 years old. Firstly, babies still have very poor balance control, and secondly, they have not yet developed the instinct of self-preservation and, falling, they will not even try to grab onto something;
• women after 50-55 years. Age and hormonal changes in the female body, characteristic of this age, make the bones extremely brittle. After a half-century anniversary, it is easy to get a fracture even with a slight bruise, the femoral neck breaks especially often - by nature this is a very thin place. Such an injury is very painful: it does not grow together for a long time and there is a high risk that after recovery one leg will remain shorter than the other.

What to do

• To make the bath and the floor in it more stable, special rugs are needed. Be sure to have a rubberized base, otherwise various microorganisms will quickly settle in them. "Litters" can be laid not only on the floor, but also in the bath itself. For this, there are special mats equipped with suction cups that firmly fix its position. If you don’t like the carpet, attach an anti-slip applique to the bottom of the bathtub (the kit will cost 200-500 r).
• In addition, the surface of the bath itself (cast iron trough) can be covered with acrylic - this will increase its durability and eliminate any slipping.
• If you decide to change the floor in the bathroom, do not be tempted by the cold beauty of glossy tiles - this is the most "slippery" coating. Give preference to matte porcelain stoneware. It is very hard to lose balance on it, even when it gets wet. This material is considered one of the most environmentally friendly, surpasses natural stone in strength and, unlike some types of finishes, does not become radioactive over time.

chemical threat

A typical bathroom is small and usually poorly ventilated. In this regard, the use and storage of chemical cleaning agents in it leads to the fact that the atmosphere of the room is quickly filled with harmful toxic substances. And they not only provoke poisoning, but can also accumulate in our body, leading to oncological and chronic diseases.

What to do

• To minimize the harm from cleaning products - do not buy something that has a strong smell, contains aggressive solvents, chlorine and ammonia.
• Make sure that the cleaning agent bottle is labeled "non-toxic".
• When cleaning, be sure to wear a respiratory mask and ventilate the bathroom afterwards.

Health hazards are created not only by cleaning products, but also ... ordinary curtains, as well as air fresheners. PVC curtains are a danger. This compound releases volatile organic substances into the air, which adversely affect the nervous system and can cause cancer.

• It is better to replace such curtains with more environmentally friendly ones.
• Non-natural air fresheners and aerosols contain substances that irritate lung tissue, provoke headaches and dull the sense of smell. It is better to abandon them, replacing them with flowers or aromatic ones.

biological threat

US researchers have calculated that if all Americans use at least one roll of recycled toilet paper, 423,000 trees would be saved.

The bathroom creates ideal conditions for the growth and development of fungus and mold. The lack of proper ventilation, leaking pipes and high humidity (about 90%) lead to the fact that you have unexpected neighbors. There are over 100,000 types of fungus that can live in a bathroom. More often than others, "Aspergillus black" - Aspergillus niger - settles there. If there is a black coating in your bathroom, then you are familiar with this type firsthand.

Fungi are scary not only from an aesthetic point of view. The danger to our health is not the mold itself, but the millions of spores that it releases into the surrounding space. We breathe them in with the air, so they end up in the respiratory and circulatory system. Having climbed deep into our body, they can provoke a number of serious diseases: bronchial asthma, rheumatism, joints, migraines, runny nose, cancer ... this list is endless.

What to do

• The fungus must be removed. To eliminate the enemy completely, repairs are needed, during which professionals will process the bathroom with a special compound.
• If “alteration” is not yet part of your plans, you need to treat the affected surfaces with a hot strong solution of soda and washing powder (a spoonful of powder, a pack of soda in a bucket of water). This composition creates an alkaline environment, from which the fungus dies. Unfortunately, which he manages to isolate before his death, they can hide deep under the tile, and after a while the mold will be reborn. To prevent this from happening processing is carried out once every 1-2 months (or at the first appearance of fungi).

The bathroom is one of the most important rooms in the house and often becomes a source of danger. A tiled room can undermine health from three sides: here you can get a physical injury, chemical poisoning, or even a chronic disease.

But this is not a reason to give up hygiene. Making a room less "harmful" is not so difficult.

physical threat

As a rule, the floor of the bathroom is covered tiles. When water hits, it turns into a skating rink. By tradition, the bath itself is enamelled. This coating looks very impressive, it does not wear off for 30 years and remains extremely slippery all these years (even if it is dry). All this creates ideal conditions for falling and getting numerous injuries, fractures and concussions. Especially slippery surfaces are dangerous for:

• children under 5 years old. Firstly, babies still have very poor balance control, and secondly, they have not yet developed the instinct of self-preservation, and, falling, they will not even try to grab onto something;
• women after 50-55 years. Age and hormonal changes in the female body, characteristic of this period, make the bones extremely fragile. After a half-century anniversary, it is easy to get a fracture even with a slight impact, it breaks especially often femoral neck- by nature this is an extremely tender place. Such an injury is very unpleasant: the bone does not grow together for a long time and there is a risk that after recovery one leg will remain shorter than the other.

What to do?

To make the bath and the floor in it more stable, you need special mats, which can be laid not only on the floor, but also in the bath itself. For this, there are mats equipped with suckers, which firmly fix their position. Do not like the rug - attach to the bottom of the bath anti-slip application. Just remember that such rugs must be on rubberized base otherwise, various microorganisms will quickly settle in them.

In addition, the surface of the bath itself can be coated acrylic- this will increase its durability and eliminate any slipping.

If you decide to change the floor in the bathroom, do not be fooled by the cold beauty of glossy tiles - this is the most “slippery type” of coverage. Give preference matt porcelain stoneware. It is very difficult to lose balance on it, even if it gets wet. This material is considered one of the most environmentally friendly, surpasses natural stone in strength and, unlike some types of finishes, does not become radioactive over time.

chemical threat

Usually the bathroom is small in size and, as a rule, poorly ventilated. In this regard, the use and storage of chemical cleaning agents in it leads to the fact that the atmosphere of the room is quickly filled. harmful toxic substances. And they not only provoke poisoning, but can also accumulate in our body, leading to oncological and chronic diseases.

Read also:

• Dishwashing liquid - time bomb
• Cosmetic horror stories: alcohol, parabens, silicone and ammonia

What to do?

• To minimize the damage of cleaning products - do not buy something that has a strong smell, contains aggressive solvents, chlorine and ammonia.
• Make sure that the packaging of the product has the inscription "non-toxic".
• During cleaning, you can wear a respiratory mask, and then ventilate the room.

By the way, not only cleaning products pose a threat to health, but also ... ordinary curtains, as well as air fresheners. The danger is pvc curtains. This compound releases volatile organic substances into the air, which adversely affect the nervous system and can cause cancer. It is better to replace such curtains with more environmentally friendly ones.

As part of unnatural air fresheners and aerosols, there are substances that irritate lung tissue, provoke headaches and dull the sense of smell. It is better to abandon them, replacing them with flowers or scented candles.

biological threat

In the bathroom there are ideal conditions for the growth and development of fungus and mold- heat and humidity. Lack of proper ventilation, old pipes and high humidity lead to the fact that you have unexpected neighbors. There are over 100,000 types of fungus that can exist in a bathroom. Aspergillus black settles there more often than others ( Aspergillus niger). If there is a black coating in your bathroom, then you are familiar with this type firsthand.

Fungi are scary not only from an aesthetic point of view. The danger to our health is not the mold itself, but millions of disputes, which she allocates to the surrounding space. We breathe them in with the air - so they are in the respiratory and circulatory system. A healthy immune system successfully resists them. If the immune system is weakened, then black mold can cause bronchial asthma, allergic sinusitis, bronchopulmonary aspergillosis(often fatal) and other diseases. Allergy sufferers, children and the elderly are most prone to the influence of mold waste products.

What to do?

The fungus must be removed. To eliminate the enemy completely, you need repair, during which professionals will treat the room with a special preparation.

If repair is not yet in your plans, you need to treat the damaged surfaces with hot strong solution of baking soda and washing powder(a spoonful of powder, a pack of soda in a bucket of water). This composition creates an alkaline environment, from which the fungus dies. Unfortunately, the spores that he manages to isolate before his death can hide deep under the tile, and after a while the mold will be reborn. To prevent this from happening, the treatment is carried out once every 1-2 months (or at the first appearance of fungi).

Prepared by Olga Kulinkovich, September 7, 2011.
Newspaper "Zvyazda", original in Belarusian: http://zvyazda.minsk.by/ru/pril/article.php?id=85499