Sometimes if you have a car that sits around outside, you’ll end up with a lot of moisture inside the car. This moisture, if left, will turn into mold and can damage a car’s interior quite badly, damage your health, and also turn off anyone else from taking a ride in your… ride.
There are a few solutions to the problem of mold inside your car however that are pretty easy, and can clean up the mold pretty quickly.
The first thing to remember, is that bleach is a bad idea. Bleach doesn’t work well on porous surfaces, and thus will not work on your car upholstery. Also, you run the risk of damaging the colour in your car’s interior.
One of my favorite home remedies for mold on the inside of your car is white vinegar. Specifically distilled white vinegar because it’s stronger and you will need less of it.
How to remove mold in your car seats with white vinegar:
- Take your distilled white vinegar and put it in a clean spray bottle… make sure your spray bottle is VERY clean.
- Open up your car to let it ventilate for at least 5 minutes. You don’t want to work inside a car that is filled with mold spores.
- You’re probably going to want to find a paper mask (like a 3M mask) to protect your lungs during the removal of the mold. This of course depends on how much mold is in the car, but it’s always better to be safe.
- Spray the white distilled vinegar on the mold, and about 1 foot around the mold (the spores can be growing before they’re visible).
- Make sure the area is completely saturated. This will obviously make your car smell of vinegar, but it will go away once we remove the mold and let the car air out.
- Let the vinegar sit on the mold – DON’T WIPE IT OFF – for at least 10 minutes. This will kill the mold.
- After the vinegar has sat on the mold for some time, you can wipe off the residue left by the mold.
- Use a mold testing kit to make sure there are no more airborne spores in your car. If there are, it may be damaging to your health to continue to use the car.