Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with mildew

Stinkfoot (Duhn duh-duh-duhhn)

Evstar — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 10:39:19 -0800

After working in the rain for 3 days straight and never having enough time to dry all the way out during those 3 days, one of my work boots smells punguntly of mildew. There's no footy smell, only mildew. Is there any way to get rid of it and save the boot? I imagine the mildew isn't doing any favours for the binding or the fabrics either.

How can I prove my workplace is making me sick?

Anonymous — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 17:40:03 -0800

I think my work place is causing respiratory problems for me. How do I go about proving it? I started a new job a few months ago. I've had declining health every since. I have a persistent cough and wheezing. Sometimes it's difficult for me to breathe. I have not been able to get rid of it. I've been to my doctor numerous times and am an inhaler, allergy med and prilosec (helps breathing function, go figure!). I would think nothing of this, that maybe I have developed asthma in my 30's but my husband and I have noticed that my cough disappears by Saturday morning and is back in full force after I return to work. The place where I work is in the basement of a medical facility. Our area is carpeted and the carpet is black with dirt (?). I've been told by a few that there are radon and carbon monoxide issues there. My current manager disconnected the carbon monoxide detectors because "they kept beeping after we turned them on". Given that, I think the ventilation is extremely poor. In addition, the place smells funky - there's a pungent odor that hits you when you walk in the door. It's a bitter smell, for lack of a better term.

My question is how do I prove they the area is making me sick? Or find out for sure? I never had any of these problems before working there. And I'm miserable and relying on an inhaler most of the day so I can breathe. Are there lawyers that deal with this? What do I do?

BugFilter: Unbeknownst to us, water got under our kitchen flooring. The bad section has been pulled up and cleaned but I'm seeing some small bugs in that general area. Help!

pghjezebel — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 12:24:58 -0800

BugFilter: Unbeknownst to us, water got under our kitchen flooring. The bad section has been pulled up and cleaned but I'm seeing some small bugs in that general area. Help! Water got under our kitchen flooring and the floor buckled up. (Very old kitchen that has a layer of peel and stick tile, then old laminate flooring and then the sub flooring.)

I pulled up that area this morning because I smelled faint mildew and was worried about mold. I cleaned the area with a diluted bleach solution and have a fan blowing on the area to help it dry out.

What I'm really worried about is the small bugs that keep popping up around that area. I've only seen/killed about 10-12 of them since this morning. They are small and flea like. One or two flew when I disturbed them but for the most part they just see to jump to try and get away from me.

What are these? Are they fleas? Springtails? Something else that was just attracted to the moisture under the floor? (I haven't seen them anywhere else in the house, just specific to that area.) What should I do before they get any worse?

Remind me to get a dog and teach it to sniff out mold.

GleepGlop — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 21:21:00 -0800

When I get in the shower I smell that earthy smell associated with mold. Help me figure out what the source may be! I first started noticing this smell around the time that I foolishly for some reason decided to dump some vacuum cleaner dust / dirt down my shower drain. Not a lot of it, but I quickly realized that maybe this sandy material may not so easily flush through the drain. This may be a red herring however.
I use warm water in my shower and there may be a possibility that something is originating from the hot water tank but I don't smell this from any hot water source outside my shower.
I popped the lid off my shower drain and used a bottle brush with some bleach toilet bowl cleaner to remove all of the buildup of gunk above the water trap. This took the edge off of my mold sensitivity but unfortunately the earthy smell is still there when I get into the shower.

And in that sleep of death what dreams may come

NekulturnY — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 07:09:42 -0800

Help me choose a bed. Currently my SO and I sleep in a bed with a wooded-slatted frame with a latex mattress on it. Some vendors warned us, back in the day, that latex is bad for perspiration during sleep (it's basically rubber, so it doesn't breathe). Turns out they were right. On top of this, I suspect that, due to the sometimes high humidity in the bedroom, the wooden frame of the bed is mildewed. I occasionally smell it at night and I don't like it much.

So I want to buy a bed that
a) will not develop mildew in a relatively high humidity bedroom (can't do anything about this - caused by the house and the climate)
b) will not cause the sometimes considerable perspiration that latex beds do.

Should we look for a boxspring? A wooded-slatted bed with a so called pocket spring mattress? Should we shell out 12k for a Hastens bed with horse hair? Tell me your bedtime stories, AskMefi.

Mildew-smelling hip flask - can it be salvaged?

cadge — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 07:07:17 -0800

The hip flask I haven't used in a year smelled like mildew when I opened it. I last used it to hold a cream-based liqueur. Is it safe to use? How can I clean it properly? I have a small hip flask that I rarely use. I last used it about a year ago to hold a creamy liqueur (Bailey's).

I thought I'd cleaned it out fully and put it away properly, but apparently I didn't. I unscrewed the cap today and there's a mildew smell inside it.

Is this safe to use? I could try vinegar to get rid of just the smell, but I don't know if it's safe to even use it, period.

And how can I clean it properly next time? The only opening is this tiny centimeters-wide hole in the top - I can't see inside it to check if it's empty/not coated in mold. It's smaller than standard hip flasks - 4.5 or 5" tall. Maybe I should avoid putting in creamy liquids.

cleaning mildew off microsuede?

Lou Stuells — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 14:24:21 -0800

After 4 months in storage, my red microsuede couch is now a gray velvet couch. Can I clean mildew from microsuede? How? I'm not sure if it has penetrated into the foam and feather cushions - it's still in the garage, because I'm afraid to bring mildew into the living room (hey, I read that Stephen King story.)

The seat and back cushion covers zip off, so I can try laundering or even dry-cleaning those. But what about the body of the couch itself? If it's penetrated into the sofa and cushions, I think I'll abandon the effort. But if it's only a surface issue, I'd like to rescue my beloved sofa. So, what, besides bleach, removes mildew? The upholstery professionals I called were iffy about it, but said they were pretty inexperienced with microsuede, so I turn to you for help or suggestions. Can I clean it? How?

(Curiously, nothing else from storage is mildewy - there was a mattress, dog bed, cat tree, etc. out there too, and they're fine. No leaks in the garage - it was just a damp season I guess.)

Can I have my couch back, or is it too late?

Something is rotten in my state (not Denmark).

Unicorn on the cob — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:43:43 -0800

Last Wednesday I was assaulted by a foul smell in my front (guest) bathroom. I have been trying to pinpoint the cause for several days. I'm about to go out of town and need advice on what to do, especially since I'm extremely broke and have tried all the usual methods of attack. Details inside... Thursday I noticed there was a bit of a poo smell going on in the front bathroom. Often, it takes two flushes, and I assumed the toilet was clogged. I plunged, cleaned, plunged, etc. and then lit a candle. I never use those drop-in toilet cleaners.

Friday the smell was WORSE. It smelled like sewage. I did my due diligence; I read up as to what the various causes may be and bought every cleaner imaginable. I opened up the drains and did the vinegar/baking soda clean on all of them.

Saturday, the smell was better... I followed it along the ground until I realized it was emanating from the bathtub drain.

Once again, removed all fittings possible, dumped some special drain cleaner (a green product specifically for drains, no lye, no bleach) down the hole, several pots of boiling water, etc.

Went around and checked every other spot in the house; there is no smell except in the front bathroom. Ran water in every sink, tub, shower, etc. to ensure there were no dry traps.

The smell has now dwindled from a sewer-gas smell to simply a musty, sort of unpleasant dust-like odor. Stale, but not poo-ish or sewer-gassy. (To contrast, when I came home on Friday, when I opened the front door I SMELLED SEWER. FROM SEVERAL FEET AWAY, WITH THE DOOR TO THE BATHROOM CLOSED.)

My house was built in 2003. The drain is at floor level and the tub/shower are completely surrounded by stone and concrete. I have crawled, literally, with my nose shoved along the edge of the toilet, sink, wall, everywhere in that bathroom and it is coming up out of the drain. As of right now it smells musty and vinegar-y just a bit from all the treatments I've done. The smell is now confined to just the bathroom and is severely diminished.

I have no idea where the pipe is that goes to the roof. There is nothing under my house, it's on a concrete slab foundation. There are no signs of dampness or leaks anywhere in the walls, around the tub, around the toilet, around the sink, etc.

The shower liner is immaculate. I opened the closet door that shares the wall with the tub/shower. The inside of the closet is dry, smells pleasant, no dampness. I took a knife and pried up a bit of the carpet that runs along the wall that is shared with the drain... no dampness, nothing. Even shoved my fingers up under the wall right now where I'd pried the carpet; I feel/smell nothing. Flashlight showed everything is white and normal-looking just opposite the smell.

What I'm asking is... did an animal possibly get trapped somewhere and die? If so, can I just leave and come back assured that the smell will probably be gone? I'm in Texas and the temps are expected between 40-77F over the next week.

I really don't think it's mold. I am extremely sensitive to such things and take daily medication for allergies, and have yet to sneeze or itch at all, even with my nose shoved into the drain.

At this point were I not about to leave for 3-4 days and severely broke, I'd probably just call a plumber. My trip is non-refundable and was paid for in advance, so I can't change plans and use the money for a plumber. Also, I'm concerned that I'll call somebody and they will either tell me 1. I have something terrible going on and they have to tear the wall apart and the bill will be several thousand dollars, which I cannot pay or be here to supervise, or 2. it's nothing, a mouse died somewhere, I'll have to wait it out (plus pay $150 for a house call at a weird hour that resulted in nothing).

What say you, MeFi homeowners? What would you do?

smelly cap, smelly cap

roger ackroyd — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 20:06:54 -0800

The baseball cap I wear at the gym gets soaked in sweat. And now it smells like mildew. Help. It wasn't too expensive, so worst case scenario I'll throw it in the wash with some white vinegar. But are there other, gentler options?

Mold and Mildew Prevention

jedicus — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:31:48 -0800

What is the better mold & mildew prophylaxis: a steam cleaner, a dehumidifier, or something else? My wife and I live in a ~900 square foot apartment. A few weeks after moving in we noticed an unpleasant musty smell. We quickly narrowed it down to the living room window unit, which had obvious mold growing on it. We cleaned the parts we could get to with bleach and installed new filters on it and the other window unit. The smell was better for a few days.

The problem is, the smell has returned, and lately it's been getting worse, but we haven't seen any visible mold. The apartment has always been fairly humid, and we think that may be an issue. Given limited funds, would we be better off investing in a steam cleaner for the carpet, a dehumidifier, or something else?

What happened to my tub?

messylissa — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 23:16:53 -0800

What did the mildew remover leave in my tub? I recently sprayed Lysol Mildew Remover on the bottom perimeter of my shower curtain and left it over night. When I woke up in the morning, the remover appeared to have ran off the curtain to the middle of the tub where it left this giant rust-colored stain. Bleach spray isn't cleaning it, nor is more of the Mildew Remover. What in the world is it and (more importantly) how do I do to clean this up? I'm a renter and would like to retain my damage deposit when I move in a month.

How do hotels keep their shower curtains mildew-free?

smackfu — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 08:21:26 -0800

How do hotels keep their shower curtains mildew-free? Is it part of the daily cleaning regimen? Do they replace them often? Do they buy better ones?

I ask because I have an awful time with mildew on my shower curtain, and I assumed it was mainly because I don't have a bathroom window for light and ventilation. But hotel rooms don't either, and yet the hotels seem to have the problem solved (presumably because a mildewed shower curtain would be a deal-killer for most hotel guests.)

How to dry moldy clothing on humid days

mizrachi — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:52:01 -0800

Will line-drying damp clothing on humid days make our clothing smell mildewy? We live in Tallahassee and usually hang the clothing we'd like not to shrink on a line in our garage. Unfortunately, Tallahassee is almost always quite humid, the garage particularly so, and as a result of this humid, still environment and the mildew that may have been present in our washer, our line dried clothing now smells like mildew. I've cleaned the washer with a Purewasher solution that is supposed to remove the mold from inside the washing machine and I'm soaking the mildewy clothing in the same stuff as well as running a final rinse with white vinegar to completely remove the odor. However, where do I dry the items we normally air dry? Since we have the option of line-drying outside in the sun I'm wondering if this would be our best option. Or will the humidity in the air just reintroduce this problem?

help me not kill my new lemon tree!

beandip — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 19:22:06 -0800

Help! I was just given a potted lemon tree! What do I do? I don't know anything about growing potted citrus plants (or any kind of potted tree). My mom gave me this plant, which a friend gave to her a couple of years ago. She said it was too hard to take care of, and that it was leaving sticky residue over everything nearby indoors. I think she's been watering every day. And when there were blossoms, she pollinated with a Q-tip. She moved it outside when the weather warmed up. I don't think she's done much else with it, other than trimming the top branches last year. And she repotted it recently but did not fertilize. Last year it produced some lemons.

Right now it's on my west-facing balcony, which gets a lot of sun in the afternoon and evening. That is the sunniest spot in this apartment so hopefully it will be enough. We live in Minnesota so I know that's going to make things harder.

My questions are:
1. How much water is enough? It seems like daily watering is probably overkill, especially if it's outside for the summer. Some of the leaves are yellow...
2. How do I know when to fertilize?
3. Should I be worried about bugs. When I picked the tree up, it was covered in ants (we're in a second floor apartment and have never had ants here, so I think that will be less of an issue than it was in my mom's backyard.) Some of the leaves look chewed. And there are a lot of brown bumps on the leaves (both top and bottom surfaces). Here are some pictures. Are these things anything to worry about? If so, what should I do? I'd really like to be able to eat any lemons that survive, so I suppose that most insecticides are ruled out.

Also, what are your favorite gardening sites where I could learn more about how to care for this thing?

Please help me! I am terrified of killing this tree through ignorance.

Why is there a mildew smell in car during rain?

supertouchme — Mon, 19 May 2008 14:03:00 -0800

Can someone tell me where a mildew smell in my car might be coming from on rainy days if there are no apparent leaks? For the last year i have noticed that whenever i step into my car and it's raining there is a strong mildew smell. it happens relatively soon after it starts raining.

the smell lasts for a couple days and it even seems more humid inside the cabin until the smell goes away.

i've checked everywhere inside the car and nothing is ever damp. i've brought it to the dealership and they couldn't find any problems.

has anyone else experienced this?

Foodsafe after mildew damage?

Ambrosia Voyeur — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:26:12 -0800

Can I adequately clean a mildewed bookshelf for food storage? So, I'm moving house, and my current house has a moisture problem, such that over five years, there's been slowly encroaching mildew on the inside of the shadiest wall of the house, which is cinderblock and partially underground (the house is built into a hillside). I've had a large oak bookcase against this wall all this time, but have cleaned it periodically of thin greenish dusty film I've taken to be mildew. The back of the shelf was the worst hit; most of the books in have no noticeable damage whatsoever.

Now, measurements indicate that the small alcove off our new kitchen which we'd like to use as a pantry would be the best home for this shelf. The shelf actually also has some ironic sentimental value, such that I'd like to either keep it or burn it, because it was the big-deal fancy pants bookshelf with the leather bound books my stepdad bought for all his phony prestige before he wound up in jail for embezzlement and blah blah blah. My heirlooms are hollow and crappy, in other words. Also, I'm a cookies-off-the-floor eater and cheap, to boot. I'd rather not waste furniture if it's useful.

Is a thorough bleach cleaner treatment and a move to a drier climate enough to make a mildewy oak shelf safe for food storage? Is this likely to be mildew, or some other more dangerous substance?

Oooh that smell.

cowboy_sally — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 13:55:27 -0800

What is the strange smell emanating from certain areas of our apartment? It's very strong and sour, like boiled cabbage...and it's confined to the front hallway and the bathroom. Initially I thought it might be cooking smells from other people's apartments--there's a lot of that in the stairwells--but no one's cooking smells like this. And if that were the case, why would it smell that way in the bathroom? The smell is strongest when the heat has been on or it's hot outside, and it seems to be concentrated by the bathroom sink and (oddly) inside the hall closet.

We've lived in the same apartment for 4 years now, and the smell's aways been here. Pre-war multifamily (30+ apartments) rental building that's not well maintained. Yeah.

After reading through the other stinky-apartment askme posts, I suspect the source is something not so benign. So what nasty substance is the culprit? Is it mildew? A cockroach colony? Cracked pipes? (I doubt it's a dead animal, unless there's a special rat burial ground in our walls.) Even if it's something we can't fix on our own, I'd still like to have an idea of what it could be before I approach the landlord about it. Thanks folks.

Help for killing a mildew odor that I can't smell myself

The Giant Squid — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 21:14:14 -0800

How do I kill a mildew smell -behind- a sink? My wife can apparently smell mildew coming from the vicinity of our kitchen sink. I can't, so I chock this up to the her pregnancy-induced super-sense-of-smell. We have this sort of bizarre set up, where I ask her if she can smell it, and where she can smell it.

Anyways, the kitchen sink apparently -did- have a leak underneath it, some time ago, although that has been fixed (months and months ago).

There remains a small possibility of some leakage within the wall behind it, but there are no telltale signs, aside from my wife smelling the mildew.

So, assuming there is no further leakage (which would mean ripping the cabinets out of the wall), what can I do to kill the mildew smell?

Can I seal furniture in plastic to prevent mold?

intermod — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 11:44:58 -0800

Is it possible to "seal" furniture in a plastic bag to protect it from mold while stored in a basement? Please help me protect my inheritance until I have a bigger house! I have inherited some nice furniture but have no space in my current house. Climate controlled storage is too expensive for the 2-3 years that I'll need it until we get a bigger house. And I've got a basement, so if only I could store it down there ...

The basement is what they call "an improved crawlspace", under a 1930's bungalow. It's not open to outside air, but there is bare dirt crawlspace in half of the plan and standing room with rough concrete in the other half. I do have drainage properly worked out so that rainwater doesn't come in. There's no climate control in the basement, in the system that handles the living spaces of the house is not big enough to handle the basement too. I do have a dehumidifier to remove the worst of the humidity but it's not enough.

Other furniture I've stored in the basement has quickly been consumed by mold. I've already taken all other reasonable steps to keep the dampness down, but it's still damp enough that the furniture will quickly be ruined if I put it down there unprotected.

I'm thinking that there must be some solution to this, something like a plastic barrier that you can seal the furniture in, or even have a professional come out with their fancy Seal-O-Matic and do it onsite. Alas, googling on that leads nowhere so perhaps it doesn't exist.

Does such a product or service exist, or can anyone suggest any other solutions?

Stinky Genitals

Drohan — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 23:52:38 -0800

What would cause a woman's vaginal discharge to smell strongly of mildew? The smell is unmistakable: it's mildew, like a wet carpet or old shower curtain liner. Not fishy, not musky, not at all good. No considerable increase in discharge, no itching. It happens every few months without warning and seems impervious to showers and careful drying. Underwear: Always cotton crotch. No correlation with sex. Usually lasts under a week. Help?

Why does our kitchen sponge smell like mildew after less than a week?

ezrainch — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 21:10:38 -0800

Our kitchen sponge starts to smell like mildew after less than a week of normal use. We use a standard "scrubby" sponge that has an abrasive side and an absorbent sponge side. Has anybody else experienced this problem, and if so, what did you do about it, or do you have any general advice about keeping sponges from mildewing quickly? Both my wife and I make a point of always wringing the extra water out after each use, and store the sponge on the edge of our stainless steel sink. We never had this problem before we moved to our current home; sponges would generally take a month or more to get nasty in all our previous residences. We can't figure out what could be causing this premature bacteria growth! Our water (chlorinated municipal water supply!)? Mold spores floating through our house? (We do live in the Pacific Northwest, but keep our house well heated and don't otherwise have a mold problem.)

We've considered keeping the sponge in a dish of dilute bleach water between uses, but would prefer to not have a ubiquitous bleach presence in the kitchen. We've also tried several different brands of sponge, and only use the sponge for washing dishes and wiping the counters down.

sump pump concerns

GrumpyMonkey — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 06:26:14 -0800

I have 2 related questions about sump pumps. 1) Will bleach damage the pump? 2) Is there a way to monitor the pump for failure (or the water level which would tell me the same thing) easily? Basically, we have a sump pump in our basement* that we recently replaced after our old one failed. I now live in constant fear that this new one will fail as well and since our A/C unit and water heater are both on the floor of the basement, there is a lot of damage that might be caused. My first thought on monitoring was to put a simple float in and somehow rig a mechanical contraption to a guage at the top of the basement stairs but would prefer a more tried solution.

I also plan to build a cover for the hole that the pump is in since the smell from the mildew that has built up permeats the guest room directly above but am thinking I should pour bleach in regularly as well to kill any nastiness down there but don't know what that will do to the pump.

*12'x12' concrete hole dug in the middle of our crawl space containing a/c and water heater. Our dehumidifier and A/C both drain into the pump hole as well as minor leaks during heavy rain.

Clean and mean here on the Green

oflinkey — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 19:53:35 -0800

What are your favorite heavy-duty cleaning products and super-cleaning secrets? I know about FlyLady. This question is about products and large-scale techniques.

I am moving out of my apartment very soon. I do not relish the apartment-clean that will take place, as we have lived here for 6 years. While I have kept a good house, there are some trouble spots involving recurrent mold/mildew in the bathroom (that will not stay away!), rust stains, and a terrible kitchen floor that I have to make look at least passably good.

I am looking for product recommendations mostly for bath and kitchen, but I welcome all advice. I do not have a ton of money to try out CLR and all that other fancy stuff, so recommendations for excellent products are what I am after. However, if a product really is THAT good, I will spend lots of money on it. I know that sometimes the price is worth the performance (see Anti-Icky Poo versus Nature's Miracle-- only the price is a miracle).

Also, if any of you have clean hacks or other tips/tricks you have learned when it comes to massive, move-out cleaning, please share. While I have plenty of elbow grease myself, I am tackling this alone as DH will be away (lucky bastard).

How do I keep things from growing in my couch?

jjbb — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 15:37:15 -0800

How do I prevent or treat mold, or any other kind of growth, on a couch in a screened in porch? I'm a college student and I have a couple couches on my front porch. The porch is screened in, but when it's rainy and windy, they can get a little wet. Is there anything I can spray them with to keep them from getting nasty?

Need professional (in Brooklyn) to make car smell better.

blapst — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 13:20:54 -0800

Know of any car care specialists in or around Brooklyn that can make my car stop smelling so bad? About a year ago my girlfriend left my back window down overnight and it rained. Ever since, the entire car -- front seat, back seat, floor mats, and trunk -- has reeked (I can't tell if the air blowing from the vents also smells or not). The smell is not acrid, just very musty and pervasive. I assume it is some sort of mold or mildew, but can't say for sure.

I've tried most of the tricks suggested in related Ask MeFi threads -- fabric softener, Febreze, Borax, activated charcoal -- all to no avail.

I've also gone to two professionals so far (one in Boston, one in Brooklyn) both who claimed they could do it, but they just did a standard shampoo and sprayed the car down with some nasty perfume, which did not dampen the smell, just made it temporarily more complex.

Because of this, I feel I can't trust anyone I call. I need hard core anecdotal evidence from a group of strangers on the internet. Any suggestions?