Mold Remediation

[OnsiteDetailing]

Look at the pic below. The interior of this vehicle has severe mold. It is on the vinyl seats, as well as the steering wheel and control knobs. I am sure the spores are also in other areas that are not visible.

What product(s) is/are recommended to remediate this problem inside vehicles?

I usually use steam to clean interiors, but I am concerned that the pressure from the steamer would just blow the mold spores around.

Thanks in advance!

[expdetailing]

WOW!
What is this from, and what kind of vehicle is that? A Jeep?
The floor is blue; Does this mean if you were to clean with bleach water, getting the floor wet wouldn't matter?
I know bleach is not preferable, but I would use bleach.
If you don't own a resirator, buy a cheap set of painter's/drywaller's masks.
That looks like it very well could cause some temporary resiratory illness.
I wouln't use steam untill the mold is under control.
How about lighter fluid and a match?

[AeroCleanse]

I would call a mold remediation specialist that level of mold could be very dangerous.

[Don M]

Is this your car or someone else's? Mold can make you incredibly sick if not kill you depending on what type it is. This is a project I would have to run away from.

[OnsiteDetailing]

Yes, this mold is in a Jeep and and no it is not mine. Most of the interior is metal. The vehicle has a soft top.

[hogie]

You can buy a good respirator from Home deport that will protect your lungs from the mold. I just removed a bunch of mold from my basement and wore 3M bunny suits, closed goggles, and a respirator. You can protect yourself easily enough, but then the job ends up being hard to do.

Borax solutions can be used to kill mold (and spores), but I am not sure how safe it would be on the interior.

[expdetailing]

A professional advised I spray bleach and water mixed in a 3(water):1(bleach) ratio to kill mold. The mold changed from a dark color to a very light color in less than 2 minutes. If it's a jeep, I would go with bleach and water. Once you spray and wait, the level of danger drops almost to none, IMO.
3:1 is caustic enough that it can make your skin itch, which isn't a huge deal. I would wear gloves and a cheap mask, and possibly bring a change of clothes.

[solman]

I don't know if i would get involved with mold that bad.
Maybe if the owner took the seats out and brought it to you, you could do a proper job on it. You could use a bleach solution and then hose it down and dry in the sun.
I never thought mold would grow on vinyl.

[dad07]

I don't know if i would get involved with mold that bad.
Maybe if the owner took the seats out and brought it to you, you could do a proper job on it. You could use a bleach solution and then hose it down and dry in the sun.
I never thought mold would grow on vinyl.


Mold will grow on anything......

[Docpeanut]

That thing belongs in the crusher

[toycar18]

Rip it out. You are putting yourself with a huge liability risk by cleaning it.

[BayAreaTech]

I will give my Pro advise. I worked in mold remediation for 5 years with a Company called American Technologies Inc....

I will keep it simple and say that yes it can be cleaned but not preferred. We mostly removed all mold by removing what ever it was attached to and then cleaning surrounding areas with a mold cleaner that you can't get online so I won't even mention it's name. After all mold was removed we sanitized with a product called Sani-10, you can Google it and purchase online.

Bleach mixed with water in a spray bottle is also a very effective way of removing it if you must.

PPE is a must and includes gloves(yellow cleaning gloves), safety glasses, full tyvek suit and you can purchase a safety mask at HD or your hardware with carbon filters.

If I was doing this job for work I would tear everything off we could with only minimal surface cleaning of hard surfaces, for my full time detailing job now I would pass on the job.

[KillaCam]

I would say let someone else deal with it.

[Fat Mike]

Have done a lot of mold inspections and surveys at work over the last 12 years. Personally i see cleaning as a last resort, typically if the replacement is costly or not possible. Starts are cheap so just remove it. Anything that is organic and/or porous needs to come out, that means anything that isn't metal, plastic or glass . Even if you bleach the hell out of it with whatever product, you likely leave behind a lot of spores. Add a little moisture later on and it WILL come back. Best advice is to strip that seat down to the frame and redo it.

Also make sure you have good PPE, including a respirator (not just a dust mask)

[jarred767]

I've turned away a few cars that were in much better condition than that. I'll only deal with very slight mold issues. It's not fun stuff and can cause some major issues if you're not careful.

There are mold remediation companies for a reason.... IMO one needs to be hired here - or a tiw truck to haul it to its final testing place.