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Found mould in the cupboard next to my bed. How to safely remove it?

veganmua

Senior Member
Messages
145
Location
London, UK
Cupboard is made of untreated/paint-free wood with carpet flooring. There is no visible mould on the wood, but we just cleared out the contents, everything smelt strongly of mould, and there were a few patches of beige coloured mould specks on things. The cupboard still smells.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
 

veganmua

Senior Member
Messages
145
Location
London, UK
I would wash everything down with bleach. Is this an unheated room that the cupboard is in, or do you have a water leak somewhere?
Thanks for your reply.
It's an unheated attic room, cladded in wood. The bleach will discolour the wood, won't it? Will bleach damage the wood? The wood is unfinished.
 

SOC

Senior Member
Messages
7,849
Unfortunately I've no funds for that! Thanks anyway!
I don't think you have much choice other than to ditch it. You are not going to get ride of mold in unfinished wood, especially without bleach. Mold can be a major health problem.

Talk to @Gingergrrl about the risks of mold exposure. She has hard personal experience.
 

lansbergen

Senior Member
Messages
2,512
Mold does not like heat and dryness.

If you can move it put it in the sun on dry hot days. If you can not move it you might put a heater in and ventilate.
 

Helen

Senior Member
Messages
2,243
@veganmua
I would scrub the cupboard with a concentrated, liquid detergent which is alkaline, or rather get help from a healthy person. Mold doesn´t grow in an alkaline environment. Avoid inhaling the mold. The next question is how comes there is mold in the cupboard? Waterdamaged, too humid ..?? It is only glas and metal that are totally safe, so you should get rid of the carpet on the floor of the cupboard. Maybe you already did. . Best of luck!
 

eafw

Senior Member
Messages
936
Location
UK
Cupboard is made of untreated/paint-free wood with carpet flooring ... The cupboard still smells.

You say this is an unheated attic bedroom, but what's your ventilation like ? Getting good airflow is important to control mould. What size is the cupboard, what sort of wood, how old is it, is it built in and/or attached to an outside wall ?

Suggestions: improve ventilation both in the room and cupboard. Don't store too much stuff in there. Can you drill holes in the sides or doors ?

For cleaning, if you don't want to use bleach (a weak solution will cause some damage, and could be difficult to dry) then try a water based beeswax/essential oil mix. This is naturally disinfectant and will help with the smell. You can buy it or make something up yourself. Lemon, tea tree, rosemary, lavender anything like that.

Ongoing, look at getting some of those moisture absorbing crystals. They do work.

And again, ventilation and airflow.
 

Soundthealarm21

Senior Member
Messages
420
Location
Dallas, TX
Unfortunately I've no funds for that! Thanks anyway!

I don't think you've got a choice, personally. Mold is under study as a cause of people's CFS (mine being one of them) and trying to save things that have been contaminated is a battle you've lost before you've already begun. Bleach will not kill the mold. Hydrogen Peroxide will, but you won't get it out of wood.

If it helps to convince you to get rid of it, I have improved dramatically since getting to a mold-free environment. Can do a lot of things I couldn't do 2 years ago. Play and record music, swim and exercise, go to ballgames, etc. I say it as friendly but assertively as possible, for your health, get rid of that thing.
 

student

Senior Member
Messages
166
Yes. This seems to be a very long – but shurely rewarding process- you start. My point is: Please with CFS symptoms: try to keep your room verry safe. When finding first traces of mold. (Make this a 3 days – rather than a 30 min aproach … )

First- close this finding very soon! „Do not hast with inspecting anything further now.“- Yes – first protect yourself.

2. I would remove my bed now (this has become an unsafe place) – for – lets say 3 days.

3. I trie to think, how the professionalls would dress: Face mask. Good Breath protection. If possible a Full Overall… 2- 3x disposable gloves. I want – a good Lamp with bright light. And I planed my step 4 and 5

4. Now everything – has to be done slowly and thoughtfully. Your aim is – after a thorough look (Inspection).. to only verry superficially clean and kill mold. So that you have taken some – easy to reach mold material out of the way. Play it safe in this – do not be brave!
I have used Wash-Benzin, plus (fluid) orange-soap - with 6 layer toilet paper. Throw every used material directly into a plastic sack. Just the one way material. (My preferenc is to avoid any traces of water – in this step.)

5. To seal any traces of mold in this location. - That would be the major aim! / I tried to keep some air, maybe on top of the place were the mold was, I laied some material (under the plastic). I have bought 7 (or 10) cm Selotape band and builders Silicon. I would use Plastic to seal this traces of mold off. I tried to glue every thing tight. I avoid any air flow in this sealing off.

6. I have changed gloves for some – cleaner work. And taken plastic bags to collect all that was sitting very near to the mold. I would take all this out now while I am still dressed. – (and later) clean every item – more than 3 times – that you still want to use. Do not wast much of your time…

7. The location / and your safety clothes have to be cared for. Looking back into the stories of cris cross contaminations. This could be the one (and so often forgotten) single step: A 3 times (after) cleaning. I trie to think eaven (60cm – 1.30 m) for the other places near to were you have moved around with any mold particals.
After having (carefully and superficially scrabed+) sealing it, you can now make plans. Writing more in this forum. Asking help to remove the cubert. / But you have to do all the after care.


regards :thumbsup: student
8. It is much safer to later – do anything with this cupboard – outside of your house. Yes – writing of this peace- of your furniture is probably your most important health decision now.

9. The room is not safe – to sleep untill you have finished (no 7).
 
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