How to Kill Mold With Sunshine
Whenever some fabric gets wet in a dark place and stays that way, it inevitably attracts mold. One of the easiest ways of getting rid of mold is to dry the fabric out and leave it in the sun. Mold growths are not like plant life. They cannot photosynthesize sunshine, and the ultraviolet radiation usually kills them. Using sunshine as a natural mold killer is just a matter of getting the mold infestation out into the light. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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1
Choose a warm, sunny day to get the mold out of your clothes, blankets and/or mattresses. It is best if the humidity is low, but the important thing is to have plenty of sunshine.
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2
Prepare the fabrics by giving them a good cleaning. If you are killing mold in clothing or another fabric, you can put in the washer, run it through a wash cycle with warm or hot water. If you are cleaning a mattress, sprinkle the moldy areas with baking soda.
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3
Pin clothing and blankets onto the clothesline. The best time to do this is in the morning, so they can soak up sunshine all day. If you are cleaning a mattress, stand it up so that it is facing the sun.
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4
Return a couple of hours later and vacuum the mold from the mattress. If there are any remaining stains, scrub them out with clean water, detergent and a scrub brush. Then stand the mattress back in the sun until dry. To cleanse the other side of mold, flip the mattress and repeat Steps 1 through 3 if there is sufficient remaining daylight to do so.
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5
Take your clothes down. If there are any remaining stains, treat them with stain remover and wash them again. Dry them either in the clothes dryer or on the clothesline.
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Tips & Warnings
If you are attempting to kill molds indoors on objects that cannot be moved, use a UV lamp.
Outdoor molds going on concrete can also be killed using sunlight, but this requires elaborate precautions to keep the infected area dry. Chlorine will work, too.
