Everybody has encountered mold at some point in their life, whether the mold was household mold, moldy food, or mold in a car. Mold isn’t pleasant, there is no arguing with that, and it’s human nature to avoid mold at all costs.
Nobody wants to have mold anywhere in their life, and having mold in your car can be a massive inconvenience. In my opinion, cleaning car interior isn’t the easiest thing anyway, let alone if it’s mold-infested!
There are lots of products on the market to help get rid of mold from a vehicle, but it’s no good spending money and time getting rid of the mold for it just to come back a few weeks later.
Having mold in your car can be worrying for many reasons, how much will it cost to fix it? Is it bad for my health? Should I be driving my car while it has mold in? These are some of the thoughts I’ve had when my car has had mold in.
Health is the most essential thing, so it can be very worrying if you find mold in your car, especially if you have or have had children in the car.
It is vital to learn precisely why you are getting mold in your car; there can be many factors that contribute to mold growth. So it is paramount to figure out what is causing the mold to grow so that you can eliminate and fix the issue so that mold isn’t a problem for you anymore.
What causes mold in cars?
Mold can be caused by a variety of things, knowing which causes the mold is the tricky bit, it is imperative to find out what is causing the mold and get that fixed as soon as you can, ensuring your car doesn’t encounter mold again.
Let’s go through a few things that could potentially be causing mold to grow in your car:
- Water entering your car is one of the most common reasons for mold, it could be coming in through a crack in the underneath part of your vehicle, such as the footwell, or through a poorly sealed window or sunroof. Because the water has entered and not been dried or is continuously entering and not drying out at all, it will cause mold to grow.
- Spilled food or drink is the other most common cause of mold; if a drink has been spilled onto the fabric seat and hasn’t been washed or dried, it will most likely form mold. If food has been dropped onto the floor and stood on or just left, it can cause mold to grow, and potentially spread.
- Flooding of your car will cause mold, maybe the window was left open, and there was heavy rainfall while driving through deep puddle water managed to get in flooding the car. If the water isn’t drained pretty quickly and dried thoroughly, it will become a breeding ground for mold, and soon starting growing.
- If you are taking a trip to the dump and have some damp wood or other materials, or you are transporting moldy items (even if you can’t see the mold there can be mold spores, damp or rotten items carry mold spore), you may want to lay down a plastic sheet, and give your car a clean after to stop the mold spores getting into the carpets or seats, causing mold to grow. Pets can also carry mold spores, so it would be a good idea to get a doggy seat or lay down a sheet for your pooch to sit on when in the car next.
There are other factors which can cause mold, leaking air con units, not drying your car after cleaning it, or leaving it in the sun with no ventilation while the inside is wet, these are all ways that can cause mold to grow in your car.
What are the symptoms of having mold in your car?
You will be able to notice mold in the car pretty quickly; it only takes a few days to grow so you will soon be able to see it after it forms. It is a fast-growing and even faster spreading, it’s critical to get it sorted as soon as you notice it to prevent further and permanent damage to your vehicle.
Mold can appear in different forms depending on what type of mold it is; you will need to work out which kind of mold is growing in your car to know how to treat it. But usually, mold looks dusty, fuzzy, or slimy and can vary in color to white, grey, green, or black, and more.
You might guess that the smell of mold isn’t very pleasant, it’s got a musty and foul scent, think of a full trash can on a hot day, and times it by 100, you will probably smell it before you can see it. The stench will get worse and more coarse seeming the longer it is left for.
How to remove mold from your car?
It can be daunting to know where to start when it comes to removing mold from your car, also very unpleasant. Ensure that you wear PPE when removing mold, it can be dangerous and irritating on your skin and can damage clothing.
There are lots of DIY methods of removing mold, but these come with risks of their own. If the mold isn’t completely killed and wiped away, there is the risk of the mold reforming and regrowing, and because you think it’s gone, you may sit on that seat and then transfer the mold onto you and then onto anything that you sit on or come into contact with. So DIY tricks may save you some pennies, but it could cause other problems in the long run and put you and others around you at risk.
The most effective and safe way to remove mold is to take it to a professional. They have all the gear to rid the mold completely! Mold Busters are super experienced in removing car mold; they are professionals who come to you and offer mold inspection, testing, and removal of the mold.
Final words
When it comes to having mold in your car, it isn’t worth taking the risk of removing it yourself; it also can be unpleasant and dangerous doing it yourself without having the proper equipment.