Addressing Motorcoach Musty
Odors and Mildew or Mold
by Debbie Hollembaek Owner of DLH Design
Musty Odor:
We’ve
all smelled it in our own RV’s after storing them over a period of time or in a
used RV, “that musty odor”. What is that….well, it’s many things
combined and I will be discussing the overall interior air quality. Musty odors
come from several things such as storing your RV, or clothes left in the RV, or
cooking, drain pipes, sewer tanks, engine fumes, pets, mildew….
Getting the picture? Some of us experience
the problem worse than others if you live in a damp muggy climate.
The first preventative measure is to make sure you remove all items from your coach that can collect odor before you store
it. This means pet toys, clothes, dish towels etc. Store all porous
materials separately and wash them before you bring them back to your coach. For
those porous items you cannot remove such as your sofa and window treatments,
clean them with upholstery cleaner before you put your RV in storage. Before and after you take a trip clean all
non-porous materials such as refrigerators, sinks, tile, glass, etc with a
good all purpose cleanser. I have included a couple of my favorite recipes
below.
All
Purpose Cleaner
In a clean, empty
gallon milk jug put:
2 Tablespoons
ammonia
1 teaspoon dish
detergent
1 pint (2 cups)
rubbing alcohol
A few drops of your
favorite essential oil.
Fill the rest of the gallon jug with
hot water. Pour into spray container to use.
Homemade “soft scrub” Type Cleaner: There
are no measurements necessary for this one. Simply put a small amount of baking
soda in a bowl and add liquid dish detergent until you have smooth paste or
frosting like substance. This works very well on sinks and counters and won’t
scratch the surface.
Make sure you install vent covers over roof vents that enable you to
leave the roof vents open slightly so the stale air can escape during
storage. Also use your fan while cooking, food odors smell good right before
you eat but can linger to create a “smell”. And during storage open your cabinets
and drawers for extra ventilation.
Removing
deeply ingrained odors may require using an Ozone generator or cleaning
products made to attack stubborn odors. An ozone generator generates the gas
ozone which is safe and extremely useful for purifying the air and removing odors.
You can buy a machine for $200 to $400 or rent them for a week for about the
same price. Make sure you do not confuse ozone with an ion generator. Ion generators
only use a negative charge to control floating duct particles.
Less expensive ways to evict stubborn
odors is to use an odor eliminating product such as FreshWave neutralizing
crystals, Smelleze deodorant pouches, or odor eating sponges. All of these
products are available on the internet.
Mildew or mold appears
as black or bluish spots around wet areas like your shower, toilet and tile
grout to name a few places it loves to start growing. If you see or suspect
mold, treat it immediately using the following method(s). Absorbent or porous
materials, such as fuzzy ceiling liner, and carpet, may have to be thrown away
if they become moldy.
Do not paint or caulk
moldy surfaces. Paint
applied over moldy surfaces is likely to peel and the mold will grow back.
If you have to remove a porous material that is bigger than 3x3 feet I
recommend calling a professional. If you are removing a smaller area first make
sure you are suited up for the job. An N-95 respirator found at local hardware
stores will keep you from breathing in mold spores. Wear long rubber gloves and
goggles for extra protection. First wet the area so when you begin to remove it
mold spores won’t fly into the air. Create negative pressure in the room by
placing a fan in front of an open window to ventilate any mold that may get air
born. And one last thing, make sure your furnace and air conditioner are off.
To clean moldy
non-porous materials I prefer bleach or borax mixes.
However you can investigate using vinegar, ammonia, hydrogen peroxide and tea
tree oil on the web. For killing mold with bleach use a ratio of one cup of bleach
per gallon of water. No rinse is required except for food prep areas. There are
many advantages to using borax to kill mold. For starters, borax is a natural cleaning
product and although it is toxic if you swallow it, borax does not emit
chemicals. To kill mold using borax, create a borax-water solution using a
ratio of 1 cup of borax per gallon of water.
DLH DESIGN
Debbie Hollembaek
541-579-0910
Debbie is a longtime friend of the motorcoach owners club,
and a special business sponsor of Country Coach Friends
Incorporated.
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