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Hi, before you do something drastic, just try using bleach to see if it works. Pour liquid bleach on the floor and leave it there overnight. Keep the bathroom door close and don't enter the bathroom to avoid inhalling the bleach. It works on my bathroom floor for minor stains that scrubbing with Jif does not remove.

Mr Muscle is just bleach (Sodium Hypochlorite). You can get the same effect by just wiping over the surface with normal NTUC bleach or Chlorox which is VERY much cheaper than Mr Muscle. But do take note, bleach is quite harmful when inhaled that is why wiping with cloth is probably safer than spraying which creates mist. Bleach may also damage some surfaces. Test it on a small spot first before using it on your shoe cabinet. Anyway, the effect of bleach is not as permanent as Borax (but of course better than not doing anything right?) The oxidizing effect of bleach actually gets consumed when in contact leaving behind just non active sodium hydroxide solution (the soapy sensation when we touch it). Bleach does not leave any protective residue so the surface will "invite" other new spores to land and grow on it again even if that surface is now clear of mold. (The non active sodium hydroxide solution in bleach does not make your clothes white or kills germs, but it is this Sodium hydroxide that damages the fibre of you clothes soaked in bleach. It makes it thin and easily torn )

Remember, it is Borax powder. Do not make the mistake and buy Boric Acid. Chemically, they are both very different. Boric Acid is toxic but Borax powder is not toxic if used correctly.

If you don't wish to try borax or any other liquids proposed here because you cannot find them in the shops or cost consideration, etc, you may try normal cooking vinegar from the supermarket. Apply some vinegar with a cloth to the moldy area. The effect of vinegar is only temporary as they evaporate away completely. But if you managed to destroy the mold and its "roots" in that furniture, there is a good chance the problem won't appear for a few weeks. But if your house has other mold spots, then the spores is all over the house and will eventually spread to the furniture that is presently free of mold....it is only a matter of time. That is why using a solution like borax is more effective as the residual salt crystals stays on the treated surface, unlike vinegar. If you use vinegar, make sure you don't spill it on your marble floor as it will create a permanent "chemical burn" stain. (acid + calcium carbonate produce salt and carbon dioxide gas....school days chemistry )

Are their field technicians able to communicate in English?

I had the same problem in my previous house, the lightings came with the house. The opaque plastic cover is too thick so I just removed the cover, no choice but to live with the sight. In my present home, I made sure the cover is made of glass and it is just opaque enough to hide the wiring and ballast without cutting off too much light. Even so, in one room, I still find it too dark for reading with just a standard 32W round tube. So I just hooked up a standard bulb socket directly to the lamp electrical wires. I then screwed in a 20Watt compact fluorescent tube (from Ikea). I used cable tie to hold it in place. The space in between the circular tube and cover is just about enough to squeeze one compact tube energy saving bulb inside it...don't bother trying to put in two bulbs. So, each time I switch on the ceiling light, both the circular 32W tube and the 20 watt compact tube will light up. (don't use normal incandescent bulb as the heat generated may damage the circular tube and the electronics) Just make sure you know how to do the wiring safely if you wish to attempt this.

Thinner is too harsh and may strip the varnish off your table (assuming the surface is varnished). Removing the physical appearance mold is easy, infact using wet cloth alone is sufficient to remove the mold but the problem is how much has the mold "roots" penetrated the wood. If it has penetrated and not removed, the mold will re-appear within a few days. The only solution that I have tried and works the best is Borax solution. It keeps the mold away the longest. If the wood is untreated, the borax solution penetrates the wood and actually destroys the unseen parts of the mold within the wood and keeps mold away almost for good. If the wood surface is coated/painted and the borax cannot penetrate the wood, you need to wet mop the surface with Borax once a week or until the mold problems goes away.

The tiny wingless insects feed on the mold growing on the wall. I have written quite a bit about my experience with mold and insects in previous replies to others. I suggest the use of Borax solution (mix 2 tablespoon in one liter of warm water). Wet mop the entire wall to clean off any mold first. Change the solution often during the cleaning phase as the water will get very dirty. Once the wall is clean, you may wipe over one last time with clean borax solution and leave it to air dry. The borax residue will prevent mold from growing and thus wipe out the food source for the insect. Repeat the wet wipe once a month at least or until the problem goes away. As the ceiling is very hard to reach, I would use a paint roller moisten with borax solution to roll over the ceiling to maintain a layer of borax crystals on the ceiling surface. You can do this to the upper part of the wall also. You cannot buy borax powder in Singapore as they are controlled to prevent food manufacturers adding it to the food like noddles and dumpling illegally. I buy them from US websites instead. Don't cost much. Don't vacuum the mold unless you have a true HEPA vacuum cleaner as they will just blow spores out of the exhaust to other parts of your house. The mold can cause a bad allergic reaction if they are inhaled, such as itch or asthma. Control the mold early as once they become widespread in the house, it is very very hard to control. The spores find its way into your clothes, curtains, books, furniture, false ceiling, leather, wall paper or anything that the mold can feed on. If your neighbour beside you or above you is in the habit of switching on their air con full blast for the whole day, it will make your side of your wall/ceiling cool. The coolness will cause moisture to condense on it and promote mold growth. Of course if you also switch on air con on your side of the wall, the condensation problem goes away. If you cannot keep up with your neighbour's air con hours, there is only one solution...go talk to them about your condensation problem on your wall/ceiling.

One possibility could be seepage of soil moisture through your walls. A foundation is suppose to have a thin layer of non water permeable sheet (e.g. aluminium sheet) to stop water seeping up (capilary effect). I don't know what is the mitigation. Perhaps doing a google on this may give you some idea.

It is most probably mold growth. Mold loves to "eat" paint for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Is your room rather humid? Do you open the windows often during the afternoon to introduce dryer air from the outside? Another alternative is to keep the aircon on as long as possible. Mold cannot survive if the air humidity is below 50% which you can achieve with air conditioning. If you read some of my other posting, you will notice I have been battling mold for a long time in my house. Once a mold starts in the house, it will spread to other parts of the house, especially the wooden surfaces and it is very very difficult to completely remove them. We can control them but hard to remove it completely. In my other posting, I strongly recommend the use of Borax to harmlessly control mold in painted walls/ceilings. If you ignore your mold problem (assuming your health was not affected yet), very soon tiny little crawling insects (about 1 mm long) will start to infest your wall as they feed on the mold. A visitor who steps into a mold infested house will remark about the moldy smell the moment they step into the house. If you have mold on your wall, you will probably have even more mold on your ceilings. Does your upstrairs neighbour switch on the air con full blast continuously? If yes, the cold on your ceiling will cause moisture condensation. Water condensation is ideal for mold as they feed on the paint. Do this test, swipe a whitish patch with your fingers and then take a whiff of it. Mold will have a very distinctive musty and disgusting smell. I stopped believing in the claims by paint manufacturer that the paint is fungus resistance for X years. The effect is usually temporary only.

Where is the mold growing on that you want to get rid off? Wooden furniture? If it is wooden furniture, there is really only ONE safe way of doing it...Borax solution. Using harsher solutions such as bleach and vinegar will damage your wooden furniture and the effect is NOT lasting. Furthermore the fumes from bleach is very harmful to your health. You cannot buy Borax from any shop in Singapore (I repeat, you cannot buy it so don't waste your time finding it) Borax is also called Peng Seah in Hokkien and it was once commonly used on Chendol, Bak Chang, noodles, etc but it is now not allowed to use as food additive anymore. But I think some hawkers are still using it and they call it their secret ingredients. I buy my Borax from the Internet. A 1 kg box cost about S$8 before transport charges (e.g. 20 Mule Borax brand). The 20 Mule borax are sold as laundry aid so DON'T ever use then as food additive. They may contain other non edible contaminants. I would dissolve about 2 tablespoon of Borax in 1 liter of warm water. I prepare the solution inside a squeeze bottle and use it anytime to wet mop with a cloth rag my wooden surfaces reqularly or when signs of mold growth is happening. I don't wipe away the solution on the surface but let it dry itself and therefore leaving a thin residue of borax salt. I use to mop my wall and ceiling as well because mold likes to grow on painted surfaces. The effect of the Borax could last for weeks. If all the furniture in a room is cleaned in one go using borax, the affect is even longer as there are no more mold spores to contaminate the furniture again. For a bare wood surface, once the borax solution is absorbed deep inside the wood, the anti mold effect could last for months. The other best way to control mold on wooden furniture is to switch on the aircon 24 hours a day to control air humidity but it is NOT an option for many of us who don't like dry air con at home....not to mention the electric bill.

In my case, the musty and offensive smell in my wardrobe is usually caused by mold. To control it, I use a drying agent such as calcium chloride (e.g. thirsty hippo, etc). Mold cannot thrive in dry air. Agree, they are costly to use in the long run so I will just recycle the spent calcium chloride. It is easy to do. In fact I don't even need to buy them in those fancy packaging such as Thristy Hippo. I buy the dehydrated calcium chloride salt in 1 kg bags from hardware shops for about $10. While the calcium chloride is inside the wardrobe, I try to keep the door closed as much as possible to avoid moist air entering the wardrobe. I pour the salt into a shallow plastic container. After a few days/weeks, the container will be full of water. The salt absorbs water vapour from the air and remove moisture in clothes, books, wood, etc. I would pour the water into an unused pot (I find enamel pot the best, avoid porous earthen pots as the salt will leach thru the pot. I have used a cheap stainless steel pot once but the salt caused the pot to rust badly). Heat the solution in a low flame. After two or three hours or when the volume reduces by 50%, the solution will become thick. When cooled it becomes crystallised and solidify therefore, pour the thick solution back into your plastic container while warm. After it is cool enough, place them back into your wardrobe. Then repeat the process when it is full of water again. (Warning: the boiling point of the thick salt solution is about 150 degC, so be careful handling it. It is very much hotter than boiling water. It is as hot as boiling oil. Don't use the thin baking aluminum tray as a container for the salt solution. The salt will attack the aluminum within a few days and cause a leak)

I bought mine about 3 weeks ago. There is a island wide promotion by Karcher themselves for many products. Very very good buy in my opinion. I got mine from Courts (or was it Best Denki, never mind). Please check with them if the promotion is still on. The promotion should apply to Tangs as well.

My in law had one tower fan but realised that there is no way I can open the cover to clean the blades. There is a screw to open it but it needs a special tool. Normal screw driver won't do. Not sure if this issue applies to all tower fan brand. Please check with shopkeeper before you buy it.

Just an update for the benefit of those who are in the same boat as me, i.e. having mold problems in walls and furniture. I eventually found out first hand that my step 3 above, using bleach to control mold is NOT long lasting. Once the bleach evaporates, new mold may regrow on the same spot in a few days time. I have modified my steps recently and found it as of todate EXTREMELY effective. I have substituted bleach with Borax solution. Absolutely no new mold for many weeks now. Second modification, instead of vacuuming the affected surface which will cause the mold spores to be exhausted out of the vacuum cleaner, I use steam cleaner (Karcher) to clean/disenfect the surface . Borax does not damage wooden surface, unlike bleach. It has almost zero odour. Don't try to find Borax in Singapore. You cannot find it, and if you do, the stockist won't sell it to you unless you have a permit. It is now a controlled substance due to some irresponsible food manufacturers using it illegally as a food additive. I got mine from a person who bought it from Australia. One small jar will last a long time.

So you used Medifresh. Must try out this type when my current white paint runs out. Using a branded paint but not the Medifresh range.

Wanted to give my condo interior a different colour before I moved in. Paid the renovation contractor to paint my walls. Happily selected the wall paint of a well known brand but forgot all about the ceiling paint. Since ceiling is always white, who would go to the trouble of selecting a white paint and brand? That's when my nightmare begin. The painter painted my ceiling white as specified but they used what appears to be a generic white paint. Within days of painting, patches of mold started growing. Now it has been 2 years since I moved in and there are still mold on it. The mold in the ceiling releases spores that spread to furniture and clothings. The ceiling smells musty and awful. Guest enters the house and ask about the smell. So embarassing. Bit by bit, I have cleaned away the ceiling mold and repainted using a good paint with anti fungus properties. I have spent many hours of my free time to do the re-painting of my ceilings. My advice...don't ever buy any cheap paint without anti mold properties. It is not worth the little bit of $ savings.

I have been battling this insect for the last 1 year and I think I am about to win the battle...hehehe. Just to be sure we are talking about the same insect, the insect is about 1-2 mm long only, so small that even using my macro lens I could not take a good picture of it. The insect has no wings. Dunno what is the name. I have observed that they feed on the mold on the wall and ceiling. If we remove the mold, they disappear also. The mold could be very transparent and hard to see with the eyes but it appears as a shinny surface when viewed at certain angle against the light. Alternatively on more more dense mold growth, rub your finger hard on the surface and then smell your finger tips. You should be able to smell the distinctive stale mold smell. This is what I did to remove the mold/insects (I implemented them all without any particular order) (1) switch on the aircon at dehumidifying mode more often but electricity bill will soar!! (2) physically vacuum the insect from the wall/ceiling (3) Wipe the white ceiling with bleach solution - extremely effective to remove mold and mold stains. Make sure the windows are fully opened. Dare not do the same on wall as I may bleach the colour of my wall paint away (4) Bought an ozone generator machine and switch it on for about 8 hours a day at least once a week when nobody is in the room. Ozone gas is heavy, and therefore more effective for the bottom half of the room wall but less effective on the ceiling. Ozone also kills mold on wooden/fabric surface where I cannot use bleach or other chemicals. (5) After cleansed of mold on ceiling, I painted the ceiling with a paint with good anti-mold properties to ensure new mold do not grow on it again. To those who have not started renovating, I offer you this one advice to avoid the problems of mold and tiny insects...never never never use an inferior wall/ceiling paint that does not have good anti mold additive, I repeat...NEVER! Tell this to your contractor and pay the extra $10 per can for that quality paint please!... including for that often overlooked white ceiling paint.

Try using dish washing detergent and hot boiling water (but careful don't burn your hand) It was able to remove the huge black oil patch from the car on my porch when I tried it many years back.

After two repeated reminders by phone, to date I still have not received any quotation and product specs you promised to give. I have therefore proceeded to buy an Ozone generator from another vendor who personally delivered the product to my house. I hope in future before you advertise your product in any forum, you should be prepared to follow through with your potential clients....see, this has now instead become a negative advertisement for your brand and company.

I have looked at the ingredients of the orange coloured Mr Muscle, it is Hypochlorite and surfactants only. The more usual common name of this two ingredients are plain bleach and plain detergent. For those who need a budget alternative to Mr Muscle can use bleach mixed with water then spray onto affected spots.

I normally use normal bleach (Chlorox, etc) applied directly on the stain. Dissapears within minutes unless the mold is already growing inside the sealant. If already growing inside the sealant, only remedy is to remove the sealant and reapply a fresh one.

Thanks. Actually I have sent an email to the address indicated on the website some 3 weeks back but got no reply. The phone number given always get directed to a fax machine. I am actually keen on the Minute model, which I presume is a Ozone generator. I have sent you a message indicating my HP number and email.

If it swings slower than normal, it means that the fan spinning speed is also reduced. Half the time it can be restored by oiling the bearing inside the casing. Of course you need to know how to open the fan to get to the motor inside. The other half the time, the motor is going to fail. No point repairing in such case and oiling it won't help. This normally happens to those cheap fans which is so abundant recently. I bought one two years back for $19. It lasted about 2 years only but since it is not expensive, it is ok to just get a replacement when oiling it could not restore its speed.

Has anyone bought a Ozone generator for home sanitizing purpose? If yes, what brand is it, how much it cost, who supplies it and what's your experience using it? I am seriously thinking of getting one to control the frustrating mold problem in my house. The mold is driving me up the wall! I read that hotels usually use Ozone generators in the hotel rooms to keep the room free of germs, mold and to remove odor. I have got one local quotation so far for the home use model. The other suppliers supply for industrial use only.