Mold while in storage!

lendaddy · 02-14-2002, 08:44 AM

I hate to admit this but it is true. I store my 930 in my attached garage. I have a wall mounted heater I use when I am doing projects. I forgot to crack a window on the 930! You see where this is going dont you. Well, I went to charge the battery last night and when I opened the door there was fuzz on everything. It wiped off easily with a rag but it was everywhere. good thing I caught it before it stained the leather! Should I put a fan in there now, am I the only one this has happened to? Maybe I should have left it there and told people it was flocking? Oh well have a good laugh at my expense.

boyo · 02-14-2002, 08:54 AM

What you need is some sort of de-humidifier - you know those little "DO NOT EAT" packets that come in products from overseas? I've seen those in jumbo size for soaking up floor spills, they should work for de-humidifying in the car.

Or, get a "car capsule", on of those inflated plastic bubbles for yer car. That's my plan!

-Boyo

supertedusa · 02-14-2002, 08:58 AM

Silica Gel.

Doug Zielke · 02-14-2002, 09:37 AM

Something better than Silica Gel is Dri-Z-Air.
I use this stuff in my boat every winter. Buy it at any Marine Store. It really sucks the moisture out of the air. You'll be amazed!

R22tech · R22tech's Garage

Lendaddy- I hate to burst your bubble, but once the mold forms it is very hard to get rid of. You now have millions of mold spores circulating around in there just waiting to find a good place to grow. You also have a VERY UNHEALTHY ENVIRONMENT condition in your car that should be addressed. Here's what you need to do: 1st- daylight, get it out of the garage and into some filtered sun.
2nd-buy a small HEPA air purifier that you can fit in the floorboard or on the rear seats folded down. Put it in there and let it run for several days. This will pick up all the tiny spores.
3rd- use OZIUM odor spray in the air ducts-ALL OF THEM, not for odor, but the Ozium is like "ozone" in a can: it kills mold and inhibits re-growth. You won't know if it worked for a couple of months, and if it didn't you need to do it all over again-ONLY LONGER WITH THE HEPA UNIT ON.

I am a Certified Indoor Air Quality Specialist and deal with this problem all the time( just not in cars). I'd tell you to use a bleach solution on all visable mold, but that would mess up the interior.

Good luck!

Don Wohlfarth · 02-14-2002, 01:56 PM

Agree that mold is a big problem that will only get worse.
With the car closed up you were creating your own mold colony because of the closed environment. It's not only the mold you can see it's all the other stuff that is growing with it which can be extremely unhealthy. Don't try and clean it without a respirator.
Mold is not something you want to fool around with. You want to get it all out not just most of it.
Hard to say how long the HEPA filter will take to remove it, depends on how much mold, the size of filter and how much air the unit will move. Pretty much plug it in and leave it alone.

campbellcj · 02-14-2002, 08:30 PM

Yuck.

I live in a fairly high-humidity area myself, and I just recently started using the Dri-Z-Air canisters in the 911 while stored and also in some of the closets in the house.

I don't know what proportion of the moisture these things really suck up, but they definitely do something because every weekend there is water in the collector cup.

They are available at places like OSH, Home Depot and West Marine at about 1/2 or 1/3 the price of the spendy mail order catalogs.

ART C. · ART C.'s Garage

So- When the tan carpets are green and black with mold (I bought it that way!) in areas, what is the best cleaning solution?
I have considered replacement if the results are unacceptable

Oldporsche · 02-15-2002, 07:27 AM

Mold is real bad news!

I have stored the leather seats to one of my cars in the house. The environment there is a little better than the garage. (not much). Keep the insides of the car clean. You can use a little Lysol in your cleaning materials to help things. Keep the air dry. Any adsorbment type is better than none. Check it regularly. Replace or dry out the adsorbment type material in the oven. If you have leather surfaces, use good cleaners. Lexol is one but there are others. Neatsfoot oil is a good leather conditioner. It will keep things flexable. Above all keep the leather clean.

The rewards of this effort will pay you back for a long time.

Good luck,
David Duffield

911nut · 911nut's Garage

I bought some dessicant bags from Tweeks. I have 3 in the interior and one in the trunk. I also added ventilation to my garage so it tends to not get very damp. Don't know how it's going to turn out until spring.
Seems like it's tough to not get that old, moldy smell in our cars.
R22Tech, is there a good way to remove that faint, old moldy smell?

Leland Pate · 02-15-2002, 07:46 AM

Great.... just Great...
now i'm going to have nightmares about coming home, uncovering my car, and finding the interior totally covered with mold.

Great... thanks guys...

lendaddy · 02-15-2002, 08:11 AM

Yes, my heart sank when I saw it. It was one of those I can't breathe moments. Oh well such is life.

Planter91C2 · 02-15-2002, 08:17 AM

put a box of charcoal briquettes in car prior to storage

cegerer · cegerer's Garage

Hey Planter,

In the words of Kosmo Kramer, "Iiiiis that a Cuban?".

boyo · 02-15-2002, 01:27 PM

Hey Leland! Send me your garage keys, I'll make sure to pop by and air out your car for you...

-Boyo

wckrause · wckrause's Garage

What is that word "STORAGE"? Sounds horrible.

spinner · spinner's Garage

recommend driving the car vs. storing it
your car and you will be much happier

911nut · 911nut's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by spinner
recommend driving the car vs. storing it
your car and you will be much happier

Spinner, we don't drive our prized Porsches here in the Michigan winters for 2 reasons(1) Salt (need I say more?). (2) Some mom in a 10,000 Lb SUV might slide into us.

epbrown · 02-25-2002, 11:57 AM

Well, as cstreit mentioned, it was a beautiful day in Chicago yesterday and I used that to wash and wax my 83 as part of prepping it for it's return to service. But I didn't have time to do the interior and just got to it this morning - only to discover that my car has developed the same problem as Lendaddy's! The passenger-side rear carpet has developed mold, and a little along the carpet at the door sill as well. I'm wondering if I can get a progress report on the solutions recommended here.

As an aside - man, do I suck at car storage. I did the engine stuff okay - it turned right over and runs like a champ. But I'm amazed how dry the leather got in 3 months! Both the driver's and passenger's seats are a little cracked now, and this mold thing. I actually might have been better off driving it all winter, salt and all.

Emanuel

Don Wohlfarth · 02-25-2002, 01:52 PM

Trying to clean out mold is only a temporary solution. Biggest problem is you have to remove ALL of it. Pretty hard when it starts out it is microscopic with million of spores floating around.
For mold to form or start growing it needs moisture. Even if you were able to remove 99% of the mold it will almost instantly reappear if you do not remove the moisture.
For information on mold, go to:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/epi/epimold.html
This is probably the most up to date fact sheet. Even the CDC has no published data as to what levels are unhealthy. California is the first state to address the mold issue but the exposure limits will not be set until July 1, 2003 (Section 26105 (d)) Toxic Mold Protections Act of 2001.
Some of these molds are pretty nasty. There is no simple test to figure out what kind of mold you are dealing with.