If you have just a small area of mold (less than 10 square feet) and it's not the toxic type, you can get rid of it yourself, as long as you wear protective equipment and read all warnings, instructions and information from the EPA and from any mold removal or cleaning products you're going to use. If you have a large area, an area that has spread to walls or floors, or anything that may be toxic, hire a professional.

The first step in dealing with a bathroom mold problem is to determine what type of fungus you're dealing with so that you take all the appropriate protective steps and precautions. A mold testing kit can provide reliable results. Use protective gear even for the testing phase.

If you are going to handle the project yourself, make sure you read The Five Basic Steps For Removing Mold From Your Bathroom.

Once you've handled the problem, it's important to remove the source of the moisture so that bathroom mold does not reoccur, so:

Make sure the bathroom is ventilated properly (bathrooms should have an exhaust capacity of at least 50 cfm).

• Keep the area as dry as possible, -- immediately cleaning up any leaks or other moisture problems.
• It's a good idea to run the bathroom fan for 10-15 minutes after a shower to help dry out the room -- and/or open a window to let steam and moisture escape.
• Keep the shower curtain fully extended so that mold cannot grow in moist folds.

Mold can grow in wet conditions or in conditions of elevated relative humidity, both of which develop in bathrooms. Most molds found in bathrooms are commonly called mildew and are plant-like organisms that grow along surfaces and digest biodegradable substances like surface dust and soap scum. It’s impossible to remove all foods for mold from an environment, but you can reduce moisture, even in a bathroom, which will minimize mold growth.

Breathing in living or dead mold spores can cause health symptoms, so you don’t want mold to remain in spaces where you spend time. With very few exceptions, however, mold does not degrade wood, but wood-decaying fungi may be present if the toilet seal is broken and water has been leaking out at the base of the toilet, or if there has been a long-term leak from a shower pipe inside a wall or from a drain pipe in a ceiling cavity. If you see rotten or soft wood or even mushrooms, or there’s a water stain on a bathroom wall or ceiling and the stain appears to be spreading, a contractor should evaluate the bathroom, as structural repairs may be needed.

Mold can grow in the dust on the walls and ceiling, especially near and above the tub/shower enclosure, on wallpaper or glue, and on drywall paper. Mold can also grow inside a vanity due to moisture from leaks, on caulk or the grout between wall or floor tiles, and inside the track of a shower door or the overflows of a sink. If the toilet seal has been leaking, there may be mold growth on or within the flooring around the base of the toilet. If the toilet is located above a finished room, there may even be mold growth in the ceiling cavity of the room below the bathroom and staining on the ceiling surface in that room.

Visible mold growth in a bathroom is unsightly and should be removed.

Bathrooms get moldy because there’s too much moisture present in either the liquid form (water) or vapor form (humidity). Due to showering, condensation can form on cooler surfaces like ceilings, walls, mirrors, and windows. Careless bathing can lead to decay of flooring and wood trim, due to overflow from a tub or shower enclosure. And water from showering can leak through even the smallest grout cracks or openings around shower or tub fixtures to cause concealed wall mold growth.