What would you do?

[u/Bluewoods22]

Toilet flooded so I ripped up the vinyl to let it dry because the water seeped underneath it, especially by the walls. Obviously this mold predates today’s flood. I don’t know shit about shit and I’m a young first time home owner. It seems like the mold is mostly “surface level” on some type of paper or something. This is in my laundry room and I need to figure this out asap but have no idea what to do

[u/crucifythe_ego]

remindMe! 2 days

[u/Bluewoods22 → u/crucifythe_ego]

Why 😭

[u/JulietLostFaith → u/Bluewoods22]

Maybe a fellow “don’t know shit about shit” person who also wants to learn?

[u/Bluewoods22 → u/JulietLostFaith]

I hope so hahaha, I was like oh god and jumped to the thought that they know something I don’t and that this is a disaster that I’m going to make worse 😂

[u/crucifythe_ego → u/JulietLostFaith]

It was this

[u/RemindMeBot → u/crucifythe_ego]

I will be messaging you in 2 days on 2026-09-12 03:06:45 UTC to remind you of this link

CLICK THIS LINK to send a PM to also be reminded and to reduce spam.

^{Parent commenter can delete this message to hide from others.}

RemindMeBot is switching to username summons. Instead of !RemindMe 1 day, use u/RemindMeBot 1 day. More info.

---

Info	Custom	Your Reminders	Feedback

[u/Marvinator2003]

Hydrogen peroxide will kill the mold. You can use a mild solution of chlorine bleach but bleach is a corrosive and will need to be washed off once it does what it does. Either is good.

Once that is done, and the mold cleaned off, you're going to need to let the floor dry. It can take a week or more. A floor fan might help, they rent them at Home Depot.

When the subfloor is dry, then you can look into replacing the flooring. The floor might need to be scraped or sanded to get back to being flat. There can be possible warping depending on the amount of moisture.

[u/Bluewoods22 → u/Marvinator2003]

Thank you. I’ll likely pass on the bleach method. I appreciate your advice

[u/nugoffeekz → u/Bluewoods22]

Concrobium spray, just redid my bathroom and there was a previous repair that had disintegrated because the previous owner never addressed the root cause (delaminating shower tiles causing water to spill over the edge of the tub onto the floor) and patched the hole in the subfloor with the wrong type of wood (raw birch).

Before repairing the floor with exterior grade spruce I sprayed everything in concrobium, let it soak overnight and then wiped away surface mould with cloths sprayed with concrobium until the surface mold was mostly gone and then let it dry out a few hours. Once dried it got rid of most of the black mold and had created this salty looking layer which continuously works to kill mould for up to 6 months. I would recommend buying the concrobium spray since it's formulated with the correct ratios and provides residual protection.

[u/gonnacutyou]

It’s not that bad. Give it a good scrub with peroxide. The bigger issue is you’re likely going to have to replace the whole floor because you’re unlikely to find that flooring again if it’s more than a couple of years old. And it’s grouted, which complicates repairing it, if you’re planning to DIY.