Mold can grow in your ceiling tiles undetected for months, polluting your airspace. This can be a problem in both the home and office. Luckily, this is one of the easiest locations to deal with mold. Mold in ceiling tiles can probably be fixed on your own, unlike mold that grows in your drywall or behind your baseboards. We’ll break down how to tell identify a mold problem in your ceiling tiles and how to deal with it.
Signs You Have Mold Growth in Your Ceiling Tiles
It’s usually very straightforward to figure out whether or not you have mold on ceiling tiles.
Mold grows in response to moisture. It cannot grow without it. This means you have two potential causes of mold growth.
The first possibility is that the room has high humidity. This is the harder of the two to detect, because there won’t be a few ceiling tiles that looks different from the others. In this case however, it will usually be ceiling tiles along the edge of the room that show more signs of mold growth.
Ceiling mold is usually black. This does not mean it’s the notorious black mold, but it certainly doesn’t rule this out either.
Mold on the underside of the ceiling tile will either look like a smattering of black dots across the tile or it will be in a number of concentrated spots that get less dense as you move out from the center. However, much of the mold has grown into the tile and is not visible to the naked eye.
The second possibility is that the moisture source is external. Usually from a leak. This is very easy to spot.
Discoloration and Stains on Tiles
When there is a centralized moisture source that has made or is making the tile wet, there will be a water stain on the underside of the ceiling tiles.
This looks almost like a coffee stain usually. At least that is what it will look like from below.
However, we know nobody is spilling coffee onto their ceiling. The water is actually coming from above, where you won’t be able to see it.
In this scenario, the mold growth will be located on the top of the tile and will grow into the tile. But the only evidence you will be able to see is the stain on the underside.
If you are seeing stains on the underside of your ceiling tiles, you have a localized moisture source, and there is likely mold growth. Even if there isn’t mold, but the moisture source is not removed, there will be.
How to Get Rid of the Mold For Good
Find and Remove the Moisture Source
This is the most important step. It does not matter what we do to the ceiling tiles if we do not get this taken care of. You can clean the tiles. You can replace them. But if they are still getting wet the problem will reoccur.
Getting Rid of Humidity
If you believe humidity to be the issue, there are humidity readers available on amazon that can actually measure these levels and the air quality around you to help determine if the area is too humid.
If this is the case, a good start is purchasing a dehumidifier. You can also investigate your ventilation system to see if it is functioning properly. If a space is too humid, the air usually isn’t being properly circulated. Mold won’t grow in a building below 60% rh with proper air circulation.
Getting Rid of a Localized Source
The localized moisture source will cause mold due to water contacting the ceiling tiles on the top part of them.
Acoustic Tiles hold water unfortunately well. The material is porous. They aren’t meant to be resistant to water, that should be the job of your roofing.
Therefore, one possibility is that your roof has a leak. This could be due to any number of things. You could have damage accrued through age and wear and tear that has opened up a hole. There could be missing or damaged shingles. Additionally, your flashing could be poorly installed. If you have any item attached on the roof, the point of contact where it was mounted could have been improperly sealed. They would have had to put holes in your roof to attach anything and these need sealant around them.
The moisture could also be coming from your HVAC system. Tiles near the HVAC system will be exposed to much higher humidity as well as condensation that could be coming off of the HVAC from temperature differences between the metal and the air around it.
There is also typically mechanical system piping run above acoustic ceiling tiles. Leaks and condensation from this piping is likely to accumulate on ceiling tiles as well.
It could really be any number of things. It might be best to have someone come out and take a look who’s a professional. But if you want to give it a shot yourself you can. Next let’s go over how to take care of the tiles themselves.
How To Remove Mold on Ceiling Tiles
Prep Work
Obviously you’ll need something to be able to actually get up into your home or office ceiling. But beyond that you should first get some PPE, at the very least a mask or respirator and some gloves, because mold spores are bad for your respiratory system and cause reactions in a portion of people. Especially if there is black mold which can cause various respiratory and sinus infections as well as asthma.
From here you’re going to need to clear the space below the ceiling tiles, and put some kind of plastic sheeting down. There is also dirt and debris shook loose whenever taking these tiles out.
This can make a huge mess all over your floor. If there is in fact mold on the tiles this can also shake loose with the debris and dump spores onto the space below and the air around you, so you want to keep it contained.
Option 1: Replace the Tiles
If the moisture is taken care of, I think the best option is to get a completely fresh start. While ceiling tiles can be cleaned, depending on the state of them, it is probably better to just completely replace them.
The last thing you want is to have tiles that do not get 100% cleaned and hang around to potentially spread mold spores around to other areas in the future. Most ceiling tiles are fairly inexpensive. Acoustic ones are not difficult to install. Just make sure to wipe the area down with disinfectant or anti mold spray before putting them in place. They also make specific mold resistant ceiling tiles. No idea on pricing.
If you do go this route, be sure to carefully dispose of the damaged ceiling tiles in wrapped plastic bagging, otherwise there could be further contamination.
Option 2: Clean the Tiles
If weather permits, gathering the tiles and doing this outside is an awesome idea to keep this out of your house.
If it has to be inside, no worries just make sure to put a tarp or plastic sheeting down.
We’re going to mix detergent and water to start off. Put a brush with soft bristles into this solution, and scrub away at the mold growing in the tile. This will also remove other dirt and mildew.
Next allow the tiles to air dry. Even better if it’s out in the sun exposed to direct sunlight.
Next mix bleach and water into a spray bottle at about even amounts. Can probably get away with straight bleach if you want. Spray the tile with the bleach solution to kill remaining mold on the ceiling tiles.
Let the bleach dry.
There may still be stains on your ceiling tiles. It is also possible that the mold has grown deep into the porous material of the tile. It’s unlikely any solution would be able to penetrate deep into to get rid of this.
This is why I prefer just replacing the tiles.
You may be tempted to paint over any remaining stains, but this could be a potential fire hazard so make sure to look into your unique situation before doing anything else.
Wrap Up
Remember, all the work you’re doing on the ceiling tiles is going to be for nothing if you don’t first find the source of moisture. If you’re having any mold problems in other parts of your house, we probably have guides on those too. Good luck!