The wet season has been unsettling for so many reasons, so wouldn’t it be nice to know some noteworthy ways on how to prevent mold in closet? While they are more prolific in the rainy parts of the year, they can grow all year round.
Molds are incredibly pesky, especially when you find them in the most unlikely of places. These molds are dangerous and toxic regardless of whether you’re allergic or not. Not to mention, the conditions that these entities require to be given birth to are pretty easy to fulfill.
Molds mostly grow on enclosed or covered surfaces. They grow in colonies and are mainly decomposers of nature. More often, the conditions required for them to live are fulfilled on hidden spots, covered by some things you don’t check often.
Tips To Prevent Mold Growth In Your Closet
One of the spots you may not consider checking for molds is your closet. Closets are capable of fulfilling the environment enjoyed by these molds, which we’ll later take a peek on. For now, here are some things you might want to put your hands on to keep these molds from even coming into existence.
1. Lessen the water around
Water and its vaporized form carried in the air is a best friend to molds. The first hint you’d even get that there’s a mold infestation in your closet is that some water or moisture has found its way inside. Regardless of where this fluid comes from, it is sure to invite some nasty friends to your closet and clothes.
To keep molds outside of your closet and house as a whole, you need to keep watch of where water and moisture should and should not be. Look and fix any leaks or any water source regularly, and keep the humidity low. It’s also imperative to check surfaces and objects not in your plain sight, like the back of your closet.
You should avoid putting wet and incompletely dried clothes inside your closet. Rained-on jackets, coats and even footwear is a no-no!
2. Employ silica packs
The main thought in preventing the existence of organic pests is to maintain an environment where they cannot thrive. It will lessen your worries if you can create a condition inside your closet to your advantage. This is in the same category as our first tip: reduce the humidity.
It’s not possible and quite wasteful of energy to reserve an air conditioning unit just to keep the inside of your closet low in water content. Silica gel packs will be enough for that purpose, though. It absorbs moisture from the air to some extent, and if you maximize on the first tip, then the water in your closet should be taken care of.
3. Keep every closet content clean
Molds are a type of fungus, like mildew on wood, so you also need to clean your closet on schedule, say at least once a month. Here’s an article about how to stop mildew on water damaged wood so you’ll know what to do.
Infestation of mold colonies can be initiated by a spore carried by air. Dusting off and bleaching at this point is definitely helpful.
You should also clean the clothing that you don’t often use. In this way, you’ll be able to check if there is anything harmful hiding in there.
This is extremely important, especially if your closet has been infested by molds before and you’d hate for them to return. Allow some frequent fresh air to flow inside your closet, as well.
4. Less plastic
Guess what? Plastics inside your closet are also advantageous for molds.
They inhibit heat transfer and therefore promote moisture formation and build-up. As we mentioned earlier, you don’t want moisture inside your closet!
While molds don’t feed on plastic, they definitely promote their growth. Not to mention, filling your closet with plastic hinders airflow and covers any infestation already in there.
There are other ways to prevent mold growth, and it’s best you take action against them as early as now. If you’re dealing with mold-infested plastic, follow this guide on getting mold out of water bottles.
What causes mold growth in closed spaces?
As one of the agents of nature, molds are evolved to get anywhere there’s something they can eat away. Molds need enough moisture, temperature and biomass to start and continue populating a particular space. Your closet, unfortunately, is more than capable of providing these conditions.
Other than the presence of moisture and organic substances to feed on, these molds like cold and dark places because they can’t survive in the opposite. That’s right — molds can’t grow if they’re exposed to sunlight, that’s why there are suggestions for installing UV lights inside closets.
How to keep mold from growing back
Once mold has had the chance to start growing inside your closet, you’re in for some extra work. Before you could work with preventing it from coming back, you need to make sure they completely vacate your closet first. Complete cleaning and removal of mold infestation, using substances that will eradicate them like bleach and vinegar.
If you have some black molds or any other color of mold in your closet, you might want to learn how to clean them. Make sure you don’t inhale any of their spores, and after you’ve removed them, apply some water-repellent coating on the infested surface. After that, apply the tips above to keep them from returning.
Conclusion
Now that you’ve browsed through tips on how to prevent mold in closet, you should immediately protect your belongings from their grasp. After all, they’ll reach and harm you if you don’t deal with them now.