Where is it coming from

Within the last 2 months or less i have been noticing a more than usual amount of black mold type stuff in and around the inside my toilet bowl and under the rim only. I have checked around for leaks ,cracked bowl/tank and anything obvious or not leading to the problem. I have lived here for over 3 years now and have never noticed it before till now. I clean the bathroom on a regular basis.I know its hard to say perhaps in this case what it is,but i figured some plumbers or others on here might have run across this before.

Thanks all!

It is finding its way on to the toilet bowl surface from the air and with moisture so close is able to grow.
If the toilet is older the surface may be rough enough for it to have found its way into the porcelain enough that it will be very hard to stop now. You will have to clean the toilet more often now. Bleach will work well but how long between cleanings will be determined by how long it takes to reappear.

Try this. Turn off the shutoff under the toilet, pour a cup of bleach in the toilet tank and mix it in the water well then flush. Wait 1 hour and refill the tank with water and close the shutoff and do it again, wait 1 hour then fill and flush only with water 2 more times, no waiting, to rinse the bleach out. That will help kill any mold that may be in the water ways inside the toilet where you can't see or get at.
Get a small mirror and look under the rim of the bowl and clean out the little holes that the water comes out of also. Do this B4 you do the bleach.

also good to know

Hi DIY!

I know a fair bit about mold and how it grows indoors, in houses, and how it "moves around". In addition to the mold in the toilet's waterways, there is more in places invisible to your eyes. How much, and how serious it is, I cannot say. It could be growing inside your walls under the paint on both sides of the sheetrock in your walls, where paper facing is food for mold, you might have mold.

If there is any one place where a lot of water or moisture can get to the paper, you may be able to see it. Along the edge of the bathtub or floor near the shower. If you poke a pinpoint hole in the paint you can often smell it before you see it. The smell is a mycotoxin.

See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxic_mold
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mold
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycotoxin

My purpose is not to alarm you or give you nightmares. Background information, to understand risk and long term possible effects.

When mold is visible, it already constitutes a "colony". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_(biology)


David

where is it coming from/also good to know

Thanks Cass and Geniescience for the helpful replys and suggestions.

I will try the bleach method and cleaning the water inlets under the rim with mirror. I know mold of most any kind has mostly a spotty way of getting around. I am hopeing.... hopeing it is only isolated in the toilet bowl or where the water sits in a toilet bowl.. As the toilet bowl is the only place i have seen it. I looked in the usual places to it might that is visible to me: (all walls ,in/on paint,around fixtures,around tub,around bathroom window,tiles,tile grout lines,floor corners) so, perhaps not finding it in those places to might be a good thing...?.hmmm.

how is shower built?

neither good nor bad news.

Tell us about your shower.

David

Similar issue- I could use help

I have a similar issue as described in the original post with regard to mold in the toilet and I know where it's feeding from but... Here's my story:

I have a 1950's ranch that was built with cast iron waste pipes that attach to public sewers. About 5 years ago I gutted the majority of the home including the bathrooms and has a licensed plumber cut out all of the cast iron to the point where it exited the basement wall. A rubber coupler was installed and ABS pipe was used to replace the cast iron that was removed. In the past few years my bathroom sink has been growing a foul smelling black jelly textured mold in the overflow part of the sink bowl as well as in/on the drain and stopper. Several times I disassembled the drain and trap and did a thorough bleach cleaning with success that lasted only a few weeks. Thinking the mold might be imbedded in the plastic I replaced the trap and the sink drain; a few months later the mold came back. I assume the toilet mold is being fed by spores from the sink drain but where is the sink issue coming from, why are none of my other drains impacted and what should I do?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

Ihave come across this problem before.because the over flow is unglazed
mold and other stuff becomes traped in it.Try this take a turkey baster
filled with bleach and squirt into the over flow.
Dont use it cooking anymore.

cwhyu2 said:

Ihave come across this problem before.because the over flow is unglazed
mold and other stuff becomes traped in it.Try this take a turkey baster
filled with bleach and squirt into the over flow.
Dont use it cooking anymore.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply.

I’m able to get it mold free for short periods including inside the trap by applying bleach via a flexible funnel and using flexible brushes however, I’m really looking to nail down the root cause. If anyone could assist me in that direction I would appreciate it.

Last resort

Replace the sink,popup and trap.This has worked with 100% results.
No call backs ever.