Why Is My Bathroom Ceiling Moldy?

Why this question keeps coming up

People scrub the spot monthly and never look at where the duct goes. The attic pays for that.

What it looks like in York County

Older baths in West York and Downtown often have a window that nobody opens in January and a fan that sounds busy and goes nowhere. Newer fans still get ducted into soffits wrong. Check the exterior hood for a stuck flap.

What to do

• Confirm the duct ends outside.
• Use a timer.
• Scrub small surface spots and dry.
• Open the attic if stains keep returning.

What makes it worse

• Paint the ceiling monthly.
• Ignore a soft spot.
• Vent the fan into insulation and call it close enough.

Baths and attics together: the pillar page.

Questions people also ask

These pages are homeowner education from Radon Mitigation of York, written by Dave Kessler. They are not a medical diagnosis, a species identification, or an insurance determination. Color does not tell you which mold you have. If someone in the house is sick, talk to a physician. EPA's homeowner guidance treats roughly 10 square feet as the line where many people stop DIY cleanup and call a remediation crew — sooner if sewage, HVAC, or anyone immunocompromised is involved. We are a radon and basement crew. When we are already under a York house we will tell you what we see and what we would do in our own place. We do not pretend a radon fan is a mold remedy.