Crisis at the Ranch

[freshtiva]

Been working a lot lately but went out to the machine shed the other day and noticed the five festivas that were parked inside had a mold problem. Its been real rainly lately but Ive never seen anything like this before. Note the mold on the sport seat. Thats the worst of it. I parked them in the sunlight all day and let them air out. The mold comes off real easy so Im wiping them down and sweeping them out as I put them back up. Suppose to rain again tonight. Anyone know how to prevent this from happening? Or have you ever even seen anything like this ? The building is enclosed. Ive got a big dehumidifier maybe Ill try running that out there.

[MONSOON]

Youre really already doing what you can, which is remove the moisture. Theres a couple products out there for removal and prevention. Cant tell you if theyre any good or not but heres the links.

http://www.moldadvance.com/?gclid=CNrGgpCrmp0CFSm8sgodvXNx2w

http://www.concrobium.com/index.php

[stefan]

I'd second the de-humidifier

[JPT]

You need to clean everything.

Just removing moisture won't prevent the mold from coming back. The mold spores can survive years without moisture. Wipe everything down with a solution of water and just enough bleach to give the water a smell. DON'T use those bathroom mold killers on the inside of your car (ask me how I know this).

When I got my Festiva, mold was growing everywhere. I took the interior apart (all but the dash) and wiped down everything with weak bleach water. Didn't discolor a thing. I put my car into storage last winter and when I brought it out in the spring, I didn't see any mold anywhere.

[batstiva]

^^ Okay, how do you know this?:p

I second the notion of lightly bleached water. Drying mold out will only work until the next time it gets damp. You gotta kill it. I know what you're going through tho, around here, May-Mid July were pretty much waterlogged. Even driving my car everyday, mold was trying to get started.

[JPT]

^^ Okay, how do you know this?:p

Used some cleaning the interior of a pick up that had a bad mold problem. The stuff worked great, except you couldn't stand to be in the truck. Smelled like bleach for months and left light colored streaks on everything.

[freshtiva]

Im worried about using bleach because its...well bleach. What ratio do you think would be save ? Tsp/gallon ???

Good info Monsoon might have to check into this. Thanks

http://www.moldadvance.com/?gclid=CNrGgpCrmp0CFSm8sgodv

[JPT]

Im worried about using bleach because its...well bleach. What ratio do you think would be save ? Tsp/gallon ???

Good info Monsoon might have to check into this. Thanks

http://www.moldadvance.com/?gclid=CNrGgpCrmp0CFSm8sgodv

No more than a cap (not a CUP) full to a gallon.

You don't need much.

[shortystowing]

They almost make up the Olympic rings...

[Pu241]

Notice the mold is primarily on the vinyl.
Mold is eating the plastiser(Phalate ester) in flexible vinyl.
Lysol should also kill it off!

[qroger]

I think you can burn a 60 watt bulb in the car, which will raise the temp. inside slightly over what is outside. This lowers the relative humidity inside vs outside, so in theory, no condensation. I don't know if it works, but it was a tip I saw to keep the rust out of your tool chest. With toolboxes, mothballs are supposed to work. Or.....duct tape and Nitrogen! Great big plastic bags and Nitrogen! The barn would look like a larva depot for the Pod People!

[Festiva_tunner]

You could look into commercial desicant bags - when our electrical components are shipped they are sent with a 8"x6" bag of desicant to remove the moisture

[Burnrate]

Damp rid in each car may help. Close off the fresh air intake.

Burn

[Biglay5150]

The best way to get rid of the mold by giving the cars to me and let me worrie about it. Than you wont have any more mold!!! OK so when can I pic them up? ;-)

[scitzz]

Damp rid in each car may help. Close off the fresh air intake.

Burn

x2

seems easiest!