Same problem here: our downstairs bath (the one with the working shower...) has a serious mold problem. However, this seems to work wonders: cheap-but-nifty spray bottle filled with <wait for it> VINEGAR.

Regular, old pantry-worthy vinegar. Doesn't matter if it's cider or white (though I'd veer away from red wine vinegar for obvious reasons). Spray liberally on the mold areas and let it sit for five minutes or so. Wipe off and toss the rag/paper towel into the trash; take that trash out of your home.

Vinegar is inexpensive, plentiful, green and even though the smell is sharp, it dissipates relatively quickly and it won't eat your grout or tile material.

Good luck!

I've had the same problem. It's the grout filler where the walls meet the tub that get's moldy, even tho' it's supposed to have mold preventive stuff in it.

I've use Clorox brand, I think, bathroom cleaner with bleach with much success. The only other thing is to remove the old grout and replace with new. Then use a grout sealer after it's dry. You can't use the shower until it's dry, very inconvenient.

The secret it to dry your tub completely after use. Also very inconvenient. Spray with rubbing alcohol to evaporate the water.

Do you have a vent fan? That would help prevent the mold. I have a small window in my bathroom and put a 9-inch laundry fan in it. Not the best looking solution, but I have less issues with mold, steam and peeling paint.

Are you making sure to use a shower wall squeegee after every shower? That plus a post-shower daily spray (e.g., Clean Shower) = clutch. If that doesn't work, then I would consider re-grouting... :-/ So try the squeegee first!

I have great luck with a paste of Borax and water for eliminating mold and hard water stains from my grout. I also spray the grout with a 50/50 vinegar and water solution after showering and make sure to keep the curtain open and vent fan on to allow it to dry out.

I'd recommend removing the existing caulk and recaulking as well.

Have you tried removing and replacing the caulk itself? Get an opaque one, not a clear one, it's really not so bad to do. I'm not completely positive that the mold won't come back on the new caulk, but it's worth a shot since it's a pretty easy project.

try this
http://www.thisblessedlife.net/2012/02/getting-mold-out-of-showerbefore-after.html

I'm all for eco-friendly but give me a bleach pen and I'll knock that right out for you. :)

Yes, vinegar. Also try Magic Eraser. Then once you've gotten the mold off, buy a dehumidifier. Keeping the moisture down is the only way to keep the mold form coming back.

I asked my leasing manager to replace mine. I think they were happy to know that I like to keep their property clean.

Funny just did this last night - follow the link about for the Grout Chore above, then other than regular cleaning you won't have to mess with it again for a year or two, or maybe even more. It took about an hour to scrape out the old caulk and loose grout (Home Depot has softening agents to make the job easier.) Then I cleaned with bleach water, let it dry overnight, recaulked the next day and was able to use the shower that evening because I used the caulk recommended in the post. I used the painter's tape for the first time and it was easy. It's really not that much work to make it look infinitely better.

If you want eco-friendly, find a product with tea tree oil in it (like Sol-u-mel), or mix one yourself. Honestly, though, bleach will do the job best for persistent mold.

I too use vinegar/baking soda to clean but that mold is a nasty bugger. I have a friend who managed a cleaning company and as much I hate to use bleach, her solution worked: Make a PASTE of BLEACH and BAKING SODA - NOTHING -else or you'll get dangerous fumes that will send you to the hosptial.
Apply the paste generously to the moldy area. Wait 20 minutes and scrub not wipe, off. This has always worked for me. Works really well in the kitchen but I opt for the vinegar and baking soda paste in the kitchen. Good Luck.

I agree with Dallasstudent13. In our house, we tried everything to remove the mold on the grout, but nothing would work, because the true problem was a sloppy installation to begin with. Water would seep under the grout and stay trapped, causing mold growth. We were going to ask the landlord to replace the grout, but when we saw the elderly repair man that he used for everything, we just decided to tackle the project ourselves and to do it right. It turned out to be a really cheap fix and made our bathroom feel brand new again.

Hydrogen peroxide will both bleach out and (more important) kill mildew in the porous grout. The mildew extends deeper than you might think. Flood the peroxide on and let it sit -- spray it on or hold soaked cotton pads against the tiles.

Mildew in and behind caulk can be removed only by recaulking, which your landlord should take care of (claim you are allergic to molds and your asthma is flailing up). To recaulk a tub-shower combo, here is an important trick. After you remove ALL the old caulk and scrub away the mildew and make sure there is no moisture luking under the edges of the tile (hit it with a blowdryer), wipe the caulk line down with rubbing alcohol and then fill the tub about two-thirds full with cold water. This weights the tub so the new caulk won't pull away from the wall later on. Now dry the caulk line again and tape it off with painter's tape. Apply caulk, smooth with finger and remove tape carefully. Let cure a good 24 hours at least. Apply a sealer to your cleaned grout. If you clean regularly, you shouldn't see mildew for a long time. (products like Tilex and bleach and even acidic vinegar break down your grout and make it more prone to molds. Seal it and use mild cleaners and you will have an easier time.)

Bleach to get them white-ish. Then seal. Or, regrout.

Wiping down/squeegieing really helps on the cleanup. I do this after my morning shower and i have had to do very little cleaning. I am paranoid of excess moisture, because the new tile i installed supposedly gets rusty spots if left moist consistently.

...a good steamer will also clean and kill molds, and will help remover caulk as well.

Hi there - there is an environmentally responsible solution, and it is actually also the most effective one! For the record, bleach doesn't kill the mould spores, it just bleaches out the appearance for a little while. What kills mould spores is CLOVE OIL. Dry out your shower, and then spray the walls with a solution of a tablespoon of clove oil in water and leave for at least 24 hours. Clove is a very potent natural antiseptic and has been used for thousands of years to treat infection and disease in people. Cloves also have anaesthetic properties - chew one if you have toothache! Because of this,the neat clove oil is quite potent - don't apply directly to skin or you might get nerve damage.

I replaced my caulk a few months ago and am much happier. I do clean with vinegar --just take 5 seconds to spritz the areas that invite mold after each shower.

Spray with hydrogen peroxide. Let set for a few minutes and then run a stiff brush over it. If mildew stains, make a paste of Baking soda and Hydrogen Peroxide.

I had/have the same problem. Like you, I went for every eco-friendly option first...but no dice. (And Magic Eraser does NOTHING,) Make a bleach solution (1:10) and spray it on, leave it there for at least 30 min with good ventilation, then rinse. Repeat as necessary. Your tub will look like new.

BLEACH kills mold. You might want to replace all the existing caulk with new. For what it's worth, mold will not grow if there is air moving across the surface.

Bleach does not actually kill mold. It simply dries it up. Ask a bio-chemist. The only things that will actually kill mold are hydrogen peroxide and tea tree oil. As another poster already said, the mold and mildew extends much deeper than you might think. Additionally, mold can be very toxic to the body, so you want to 86 that stuff pronto. Talk to the landlord, and if s/he can't replace the caulk, etc., then ventilate, ventilate, and ventilate (with a fan if you have no other option) while simultaneously killing the mold with a 1-2 punch of hydrogen peroxide and tea tree oil. Hope you can get rid of it quickly!

I've dealt with this too and NOTHING helped. Bleach, ammonia, tea tree, toothpaste, vinegar, baking soda, peroxide. Probably everything anyone has suggested. You know what I did.... I regrouted. Its easier than you think. And honestly, even if you rent - your landlord would thank you. As long as you dont have expensive tile you're worried about somehow ruining. I did my shower/tub surround which has 2 inch tiles - it took maybe 2 hours total to scrape out the old grout - you're really just scraping out a top layer. And less than an hour to regrout, and a few extra minutes to polish and clean up. I did it over 2 weeknights after work. I wouldnt try it if you had mosaic tiles or something like that - like a 1 inch tile, but anything bigger, is doable. After you regrout you can SEAL your grout and it will look like new for a long while.

I rented an apartment for a few months last winter with a tub surround with grout that was black with mould and crud. Baking soda paste didn't cut it. Tilex was useless. But when I left that apartment, the grout ranged from white to dingy. What did I use? Vim cream bleach (the green bottle). I applied it thickly at the top of the shower, allowed it to run down the grout, then rubbed in as much as I could with a toothbrush. I let it sit for a whole day, wet the walls, then scrubbed. I did this twice. I'll admit the fumes were a little scary (I ran the fan), but the result was worth it. I went with a bleach product here for the whitening effect, but I kept up the fight against mould with vinegar from then on.

As for the moudly caulking, I used a knife to loosen it, pulled it up, scrubbed away all the mould using again Vim then a good rinse then vinegar. Once the area was dry, I applied a wide bead of fresh white bathroom caulking.

Another moisture killing trick I've learned from living in an RV is to squeegee the walls of the tub when you're done and then dry them with a towel. Doesn't take long and really cuts down on the moisture.

I have never personally had this problem, but I have seen it a million times when visiting friends or family. It seems to be most prevalent in rental properties.

Have some confidence! Replacing caulking around a tub is one of the easiest (and most immediately rewarding) DIY tasks you can do. It's simple...and cheap! You can get a caulk gun and enough caulk for your shower surround for under $10. There's a million tutorials online. Sure it's kind of gross and you'll need a little elbow grease, but you'll feel better when it's done, I promise.

Grout is a separate issue. It is much harder to remove. Ideally, you want to get rid of the gross fungus, but if you just want it to look better...consider darkening your grout. There are many ready-made dyes on the market. This is an option for the out of sight out of mind thinking.

@Rural and Rueful "...asthma is flailing up..." I got a really funny picture in my head. Thanks for the laugh!

bleach. It is not really as environmentally unfriendly as you might think. Just don't mix it with anything basic, like drano, toilet cleaner, lye, etc.

I had mold in the caulk where the tub met the tile wall. I took a long strip of toilet paper and stuffed it in that corner, then doused the paper with clorox. Let it sit for a few hours and the mold disappeared.

Marine Caulk. 3M makes a good brand in clear and opaque white. Remove the current caulk, read about how to apply it correctly (clean surfaces; push, don't pull; smooth with your finger). Very water-tight and mildew resistant. Ask your landlord to apply it if you're unsure whether you should by yourself or not.

I've had a lot of luck in the past with a Bleach Pen. Using the pen helps you concentrate it directly on the caulk.

Clorox Bleach Pen!

For the grout what about trying a cleaning mixture using Tea Tree Oil? I used it on my mildew covered shower curtain and it did wonders! Poof! Gone!

For the caulking, I'd probably just re-caulk after dealing with the grout mold.

Replace the caulk, definitely.

Once the mold gets underneath it's almost impossible to 'kill' it completely, plus the caulk is always going to be stained.

It's an afternoon job... lots of scraping. But it's pretty inexpensive... can probably be done for less than $10... probably less than $5 at a push. I paid £2 for some caulk and £1 for a combination scraping/shaping tool to scrape the old stuff off and shape the new stuff once it's on. We rent, so it really isn't our responsibility, but it's such an easy job.

Once you replace it it's a lot easier to keep clean. Mold gets under the caulk where it's pulled away from the tub or wall... that means water will always get in there. So unless you're disinfecting with bleach or vinegar every day it'll be an uphill battle.

The caulk can be used around sinks as well, to give everything a fresh and clean look.

The only thing that worked for me was removing the caulk, cleaning with Sulfamic Acid, and recaulking with opaque white waterproof silicone grout.

I had a shower with cracking and stained, awful, moldy grout. I tried cleaning. The bleach-soaked cotton balls worked OK in the corners but were no help on the walls. I gave up and hired a company called Grout Works to come fully repair, clean and seal my shower grout and it looks amazing. They have locations in cities around the US, so see whether there is one near you.

Seriously, their before & after photos are legit. And their prices are totally reasonable for the amount of work it took to remove the awful old broken grout, regrout it, and seal it (2-3 guys for the better part of 1 day).

Before & after shower photos:
http://www.grout-works.com/GroutWorks-Photos-Showers-Shower-Cleaning-Recaulking-Caulking-mildew-soapscum.html

Main page:
http://www.grout-works.com/index.html

And, as others have said, to keep mold from coming back you do need to vent your bathroom after showers with a vent fan or open window; squeegee the walls or dry them & the corners/crevices with a small towel after each use.

kaboom should take care of the rust. go to the hardware store and get tilex mold & mildew for the other - leave it on overnight if you have to. option 3: regrout/ recaulk.