Hi everyone! I'm a newbie here and have stumbled upon your forums by searching online. I have a moldy problem that I am desperate to fix so I hope to get some good advice here. My son is getting ready to go camping next week, so this morning he pulled out our air-mattress to test the pump and make sure that it works okay. It's the type of rubbery mattress which has a simili suede finish on one side (it can be purchased at Cdn Tire for approx. $100.00). Well! As he unfolded it, we immediately noticed that the simili suede side was nearly entirely covered with greenish mold dust! Obviously it was folded while humid - my son is the one who used it last a month ago and said that it was dry when he folded it at the time (hum!...). Anyway, we immediately folded it back and took it outside. Now I would like to know if there is a safe way to clean this mess, or is our mattress ruined? I don't want to breath in the moldy spores that get so easily released into the air, so I haven't unfolded it to dry in the sunshine and honestly, I don't know how to proceed at all. Can anyone out here give me some advice on this? Grateful thanks!
I did a quick search, and I came up with mixed answers. Some websites gave cleaning tips, others said that there was no way to completely remove mold from porous materials, so it should be thrown away. So...it's really your call. If you want to give cleaning it a shot, here's what I found. Step One Take the mildewy clothing outside and brush off any loose mold growth. (You don't want those spores floating around your house.) Step Two Leave fabric in the sun to dry out - heat and sun kill mildew. Step Three Presoak remaining stains in cold water, then wash in hot water with detergent. Allow to dry in the sun. Step Four If stains still persist, sponge the area with diluted chlorine bleach (use 2 tbsp. bleach to 1 qt. water). After about 10 minutes, rinse. Step Five Launder as usual, rinse and allow to dry in the sun. Hope this helps!!! Good luck!
Thanks so much, SugarStash! I appreciate your input! I too have done some research online and it would seem that discarding the mattress is the best solution but I want to try salvaging it if I can. After reading your reply, I went back outside and have unfolded the mattress to dry in the sun. I hate to get the mold all over our lawn in fear of getting it all over the bottom of our shoes, but I guess there's not much I can do about that, is there... I will try cleaning it the way that you suggest above and we'll see what happens.
I would spray it down with the hose after brushing off the mold and let it sun dry again, myself. It seems like that would help to keep the stuff out of your house. I think :&
I would have recommended getting a tight fitting mask to wear when moving it around as inhaling the spores is the biggest danger.
Thank you all for your input, it's greatly appreciated! yarrow sun -> I thought of the mask but unfortunately I had none around the house. Let me assure you that we were very careful folding the mattress back immediately so that the entire mildewing surface was contained "within" before moving the folded mattress outside. When hubby got home, his instant reaction was "Throw it away" to which I agreed, so we sealed it tight inside a plastic bag and disposed of it. I hate having that sitting in a landfill somewhere but I couldn't see anyone using this mattress to sleep on anymore. No matter how much we would have cleaned it, I would not have felt it safe to use again.
yuck. i say throw it out. its pretty hard to clean that kind of thing, but if you really want to put your time and energy into that then you can but... ick.
can it be bleached?? Bleach will kill mold completely, just spray it on, rub it in & wash it off, then dry it in the sun.
