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Got mold in your carpets? Here are six easy ways how you can clean it quickly. Read on!
If you see any sign of mold in your household, you must get rid of it as soon as possible. The presence of mold and its spores can result in serious health consequences.
Mold creates allergens that can cause allergic reactions or even irritants and can sometimes consist of harmful toxic substances such as mycotoxins. Touching or even inhaling mold or its spores could cause allergic reactions, especially in individuals with prior allergic or asthmatic symptoms. Such symptoms may include hayfever-based symptoms like runny nose, sneezing, skin rash, or red eyes.
Getting rid of mold on concrete or metal surfaces with a cleaning solution is relatively easier. On the other hand, molds on rugs or carpets are tougher to remove as, according to the University of Central Florida, the spores are as small as 3 microns. This means that the spores can get into the narrowest of spaces on soft surfaces such as carpeting or wood, and scrubbing will not be enough to get rid of the spores.
However, even though the stains are tougher on carpet fibers, removing them is not a total impossibility. As long as you practice the right cleaning methods, which is exactly what you’ll find here in this article, there’s no way you can go wrong.
Table of Contents
Baking Soda and Vinegar Mixture
If you’re looking for a natural cleaning solution, you don’t have to look much further than your kitchen. We’re talking about white vinegar and baking soda and how you can formulate a mixture of both of them to make for an effective mold killing solution. What’s more is that vinegar and baking soda mixture can also destroy cough, pungent odors from mold, and mildew.
For light mold stains, first, spritz a gentle amount of baking soda onto your carpet. Then pour some white vinegar inside a spray bottle and gently spray on the same place you applied the baking soda. Next, loosen up the mold spores from the fibers of your carpet using a stiff brush. Blow-dry the area after applying the cleaning mixture. Once the carpet is dry, use a vacuum cleaner to suck out any remaining debris and baking soda on your carpet fibers.
Expose Your Carpet Under Direct Sunlight
Use this method if you have a removable carpet. If so, then get it outside your house and hang it over a well-positioned and sturdy clothesline. Exposing your carpet for 24 or 48 hours under the Sun’s direct ultraviolet rays will effectively kill mold spores and get rid of moisture that promotes mold growth. If the carpet is soaked through the backing and not only the upper fibers, it’ll take longer to dry. Leaving it under direct sunlight with proper ventilation for several days is more effective.
Water and Dishwashing Detergent
This is by far the most basic solution on this list. Nevertheless, it is still effective for mold stains and contaminations that are less severe. You can use it along with either a rug or a shop-vac shampoo machine to get better results.
Just use a tablespoon of dish soap and some hot tap water, but remember to include the soap after adding water to prevent an excess of bubbles. Carefully follow the instructions on your rug shampoo machine, and in only a couple of minutes, the mold on your carpet will be no more.
Use a Steam Cleaner
Another effective tactic in killing mold and mildew on carpet fibers is heating them using a steam cleaner. For efficient results, be sure to place the steam cleaner in every affected area of your carpet for approximately 12 seconds. Be advised, however, that doing this will leave steam behind, encouraging newer mold to develop. Therefore, you have to dry your carpet immediately to prevent that from happening.
If there is no steam cleaner in your possession, and you don’t have the budget to buy a new one, you can just rent one for yourself from a local home improvement store, or look at other cheaper carpet cleaning alternatives.
Apply Chlorine Dioxide
Chlorine dioxide is a powerful chemical that is just what you need to remove mold from your carpets. It’s mainly used in mold cleaners. However, you need to be careful when using it as the cleaners’ chemicals can cause discoloration.
Another thing you need to be wary of is that this chemical causes Vapors that can irritate both our lungs and eyes. To keep yourself safe, perform this cleaning treatment in a well-ventilated area and if you start feeling out of breath or start coughing, stop right there and then.
To exercise caution, we suggest testing out the mold cleaner in a small area before using it on the carpet. Follow the instructions given with your mold cleaner and allow the certain area that you’ve treated to dry before going ahead. Sometimes, you need to make use of a dry/wet vacuum cleaner to remove the stain. If you’ve had a lot of trouble with moisture and mold in your home, it might be a good idea to have a home inspector take a look and get a professional opinion on what should be done to fix the issues.
Grapefruit Seed and Tea Tree Oil
These two highly powerful natural oils offer numerous effective cleaning benefits, especially in regards to bacteria and fungus. To clean out the carpet mold stains and contaminations, pour a cup of hot water into a spray bottle and mix either ten drops of grapefruit seed oil or a teaspoon of tea tree oil. Gently spritz the affected area and let it settle for approximately 10 minutes before getting rid of the mold and other contaminants from your carpet fibers with a shop vac or a regular vacuum cleaner.
