Mold And Your Clothes

By: Jim Corkern

If you are planning on moving out of a house or apartment that is been infected with mold, decontaminating your clothes before you do is a must. No one should stay in a place where mold exists for very long and cross-contaminating your new living space with the mold that can exist on your personal belongings is likely.

Most items made from cotton and polyester can be freed of the mold, however the older the mold stains are on the clothing, the harder they will be to remove. These stains can be bleached out if it is white clothing you are dealing with.

If it is colored fabric, you can use a brush to remove the mold from it and this will help to loosen up the mold growing in the threads. Rub a pre-wash spray into the stain and soak it in water and laundry detergent up to 45 minutes and wash.

Do not use the clothes dryer in your laundry room to dry these items; let them dry naturally outside in the sun.

The artificial heat can seat the stain even further into the clothing and as some people may know, the sun is very good at bleaching things, so this could actually help your white clothing. Unless you leave colored clothes in the sun for days, it should not do any damage.

Sometimes dry cleaning can be effective in killing and removing the mold from your clothes, but it does not always work.

Cleaning mold from upholstery starts almost the same way cleaning clothing does and that is with a brush. Remove the mold from the upholstery with a brush and if you have a vacuum cleaner that has a brush attachment on it, use that to keep mold spores from taking flight.

Washing the item where the mold was present with laundry detergent (test in a small inconspicuous area first to make sure it will not damage the fabric) and a brush comes next and then take it out into the sun to dry.

Unfortunately, if mold contaminates something made of leather, you are pretty much out of luck. Leather is discolored easily, especially by mold and since leather is skin that is been cured and dried over time, it is very porous and mold loves porous surfaces. Even if you do clean the mold off of it, it will still be spotty and discolored in areas.

To keep mold from growing on clothes that you hang in your closet, do not pack them into the closet so close together.

Air circulation is the enemy of mold and your clothes need to be able to breathe. If air can not get in and out of the closet, mold will grow. If you do not pack them tightly and they still become moldy, try installing a vent.

Article Source: http://articleblender.com

Jim Corkern is a writer and promoter of quality Connecticut water damage restoration and other states such as New Jersey Water Damage Restoration companies across the united states.

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