Have you ever encountered silicone, and to what things is it commonly used? If so, are you thinking how to remove mold and mildew from silicone?
Silicone is one of the products of innovation made through science to create more robust, reliable, but affordable material in construction and other industries. They are typically resins, lubricants, water-repellent coating, sealants, surgical implants, and electrical insulators.
This flexible material has some reasonably practical uses, even as intermediates (substances used to produce other products), so it’s necessary to know how to compensate for its weaknesses. This includes protection from dirt, organism attack, and corrosion.
Steps For Removing Mold And Mildew From Silicone
Mold and mildew, technically, do not feed on synthetic materials like silicone. However, the case is usually having organics and oils stuck on their surfaces, where moisture can accumulate, thus the thriving fungi.
For removing such organisms and the masses they produce, here are the steps you need to follow.
Step #1. Clear the surrounding area
Mold and mildew spread primarily by sending their spores to hitch a ride with the air that blows on the area where they’re growing. This air moves towards regions of lower concentration, temperature, and wherever a particular force is pulling it.
As such, the first thing you need to do is limit their spread by clearing the area surrounding the applied silicone infested with mold. Put them somewhere clean and clear, away from the place you’re going to work on so they don’t get in your way a\s well.
If you have time after cleaning the mold and mildew, you should consider wiping each of the items you moved with a mold-killing solution later on, just in case they have spores. After all, those things cannot be seen, especially if they just landed and haven’t sprouted yet.
Step #2. Prepare your cleaning solutions
After clearing the area, you should now prepare the solutions and tools you’ll use later to kill and remove the mildew and mold and clean the silicone. This would be white vinegar, baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, and chlorine bleach.
For the white vinegar, any store-bought vinegar should do as long as it has acetic acid in it, and pick one that has as much of the said acid as possible. This will be your mold-killer solution which you must mix with water to make a 50-50 solution, with volume enough to cover the area of concern.
For the baking soda, again, any store-bought product will. You will need this product to remove any stickiness and stuck oil on the silicone by mixing it with just enough water to make a paste.
Finally, for the hydrogen peroxide, you’re going to need this for tough stains left by the mold population. As we previously mentioned, you can also use chlorine bleach for this purpose, noting that chlorine is more toxic than the other one.
After obtaining and mixing the said substances, set them aside. You will also need dishwashing or mild detergent soap, a brush, and some rags.
Step #3. Use the solution and tools, and clean
The next step is to kill and remove the molds and mildew. First, spray the white vinegar solution to the molds or mildew you see and let it sit there for about 10-15 minutes before wiping it down with a rag or tissue.
After you’ve wiped away all the visible molds, apply the baking soda paste mildly thick on the silicone surfaces, then brush it down. This will help with the grease, oil, and other messy things attached to the silicone.
Next, rinse and wipe off the soda, spray the hydrogen peroxide or chlorine bleach, then soak again for 10-15 minutes. Rinse it and brush through the surfaces with soap, rinse with tap water.
Dry all the surfaces with a clean rag and check for any dirt or stain left. Repeat the application of the complementary solution if any of the said problems remain.
To be more specific, here’s how to clean mildew from caulking in a shower.
What is silicone made of?
Silicone is any product containing alternating oxygen and silicon atoms, also known as polysiloxane. Any product produced through or with a mix of compounds that includes the said Si-O pairs is typically categorized as silicones.
They are made with various reactions with other molecules, but unlike other industrial polymers, they are inorganic, defining what solvents can dissolve them.
Silicones are popular, having properties such as stability at low and high temperatures, chemical inertness, and water and oxidation resistance. They are, however, endangered by strong acids, base, and hydrolysis.
How to remove stains from silicone
Typically, stain removal depends on both the staining material and the material that got stained. For the case of silicone, mild stains will fall with hydrogen peroxide application and chlorine bleach for tougher stains.
An important thing to note, in the case of silicone, is that it is sensitive to certain substances such as hydrocarbon oils and reactions like hydrolysis.
In case you’re wondering, here’s how to remove mold from dishes, other than silicones.
Conclusion
We’ve fully uncovered how to remove mold and mildew from silicone, as well as some pieces of information about silicone. They’re pretty resilient and dependable materials, so regular cleaning should be enough to keep them from becoming waste.