How to Get Mold Out of Your Clothes

There are many reasons why your clothes may have mold growth or mildew, resulting in smelly, unwearable attire. Maybe you’ve had some flooding, or you let them sit in the washer for too long. Mold can be a health hazard as well, so you don’t want to power through the smell and wear your moldy clothes anyway. Rather than throw your clothes away, there are things you can do to try to remove the mold and salvage the articles so that they’re wearable again. If you have an issue with mold in your home, you may want to attack it at the source and contact mold removal services in Portland, OR.

Unfortunately, left to its own devices, mold spreads rather quickly, and can infest your walls, floors and other belongings, so if you have a mold issue in your home that has caused your clothes’ problems, you’ll want to contact mold remediation services in Portland, OR. To remove mold from clothes, try these steps:

• Vinegar: Vinegar can be used to remove mold stains and smells from clothing. Try adding ¾ cup of white vinegar to a load of laundry before beginning the wash cycle. The vinegar should remove the moldy smell and stains from the articles of clothing. You can try repeating this process for more stubborn stains and smells. You’ll want to run the clothes through the wash again with regular detergent to remove the vinegar and clean your clothes.
• Scrape, heat and rinse: If you find mold growth on your clothes, you’ll want to remove the clothes from the house to prevent spreading. Before washing, brush off loose mold growth from the clothes, and wear protective gloves and a mask as you do so. After brushing off loose mold, leave the clothes in the sun to dry. The heat from the sun will kill the rest of the mold in your clothes. Then, try presoaking the clothes in cold water before washing them in hot water with regular detergent. After washing, dry again in the sun.
• Bleach: If you’ve tried washing multiple ways and the mold is stubbornly still present, try sponging the contaminated areas with diluted chlorine bleach. Try mixing two tablespoons of bleach with one quart of water. Then, dip a sponge in the mixture and dab it on the stain. Lemon juice and salt can be used for colored clothing as an alternative. Let sit for 10 minutes, then rinse. After rinsing, wash your clothes like normal, then dry in the sun.
• Mildewcide: You can try using products specifically made for killing mold and mildew, but make sure to read the labels thoroughly to be sure they’re safe for clothing. Protect your hands and face when handling these strong chemicals as well as when working directly with mold, and keep treated clothes separate from your other laundry.
• Toss hopeless cases: If you can’t get the mold out or if it’s spread over a significant area, just throw your clothes away. It’s not worth contaminating more of your home and belongings by saving hopeless cases.

If you have an issue with mold in your home, contact a provider of mold removal services in Portland, OR. Active Mold Control LLC is the premier mold remediation service in Portland, OR, and we offer a comprehensive range of mold and mildew remediation, inspection and prevention services. Give us a call today for a consultation!

Categorised in: Mold Remediation, Mold Removal

This post was written by Writer