Mould is a nasty substance and can cause a flurry of health issues to yourself or family members. This is particularly true when it gets into your carpet or upholstery since those materials are found mostly where you live.
What’s more, most mould cleaners contain bleach which will almost certainly dye your carpets and therefore cannot be used on carpet.
For these reasons, we have created the perfect solution for you to use within the home. It’s relatively cheap to make, and safe to use on all kinds of fibres.
Here is the best homemade mould cleaner for your carpets, upholstery and car seats.
Making Your Carpet & Upholstery friendly mould cleaner
Safety Precautions:
Before making your mould cleaning solution, make sure you are wearing these items:
Rubber gloves
Eye protection
Long sleeved shirt
Ingredients For The Cheaper solution:
Based on making a spray bottles amount of mould cleaner. If you need more, carry on reading.
All purpose cleaner – 2 tablespoons
Vinegar – 3 tablespoons
Lemon juice – 2 tablespoons
Warm water – It needs to be hot or warm to activate the cleaning properties
Ingredients For More expensive solution:
This one is a more expensive option but cheaper overall if you have to make enough for a large area. Again this is a spray bottles worth of product.
Oxygen based bleach – 2 tbsp
Mild laundry detergent – 1 tbsp
Baking soda – 1 tbsp
Warm water
How To Use Your Cleaner To Remove Mould On Carpets, Upholstery & Car Seats
There is a certain way you will need to use this product on each kind of material. Let’s take a look at them one by one:
Mould Removal On Carpet
To get rid of mould on carpet, first assess just how much you are going to need.
Is the carpet currently wet? If so, you need to dry it out first. Here’s a few tips on how to do this:
Ventilate the area: Open windows, use fans and do everything possible to allow fresh air to pass through the room with mould. This will not only help dry the carpet, but it will help to dissipate those nasty airborne spores too.
Crank up the heating: Carpets dry better with heat so turn the heating up to help your carpets dry faster
Blot or use a wet & dry Vacuum: If a certain part of your carpet is soaking wet, blot it with some dry towels to absorb the moisture. If you have a wet and dry vacuum, now’s the time to use it.
Now that the carpet is dry, you can treat the carpet. We highly recommend treating a larger area than just where the mould is.
For example, if you have just a corner of your carpet that has mould, treat 2 times the area on each side. Mould can be unseen and it’s important to make sure you get all of it.
How to treat the mould:
Spray your mould cleaner on the affected area and a large area surrounding that mould too
Leave to sit for 20 minutes, gently dab the cleaner into your carpet during this time
Sprinkle baking soda onto the area to help it dry
Once fully dried, use a vacuum cleaner to remove the baking soda
Mould Removal On Your Couch & Other Upholstery
A slightly trickier mould removal process is when dealing with it on your couch and other upholstery furniture. This is because there are crevices to attend to but also foam cushions where the mould may be able to make it’s way into.
Fear not, though. We’ve got all bases covered:
Dry out your couch before starting
Remove couch pillows and place them into a large basin: Soak your pillows in the cleaning solution (You will need to use more product, the oxygen bleach based cleaner is best here)
Spray the entire couch with the mould cleaner, allow to sit for 30 minutes. Gently scrub the cleaner into the couch fibres
Please note: if your couch is suede or velvet, do not scrub but blot.
Sprinkle baking soda on the couch if you have it to help safely dry the cleaner
Take the couch pillows out of the basin after the 30 minutes has elapsed, squeeze gently without twisting and allow to air dry
Vacuum the couch, removing all of the baking soda which has dried the cleaner inside
What if Mould went into the foam cushion of my couch?
If that’s the case then simply do what you did with the pillows but you will need a larger basin or a bathtub.
Put in your bathtub at least 10 tablespoons of oxygen based bleach, 5 tbsp of vinegar and 5tbsp of vinegar, finally fill the bathtub with warm water and submerge the couch cushions inside.
don’t let any of the foam stick out. Leave for 30 minutes and then gently squeeze the moisture out and let air dry.
Mould Removal From Car Seats & Upholstery
Mould in car seats is by far the most difficult to remove and you will feel like you’ve done a workout afterwards for sure. Not only that, but there’s no hiding away from the mould spores.
Before you start, a few extra safety precautions:
Open all of you car windows and wait at least an hour before going in
Wear a mask to prevent those spores from entering your system. Remember to keep your goggles on as mould spores can go into your eyes.
It’s also important to remember that you will need to clean your entire car, including the headliner with this cleaner if you want to ensure the mould is gone.
The process:
Make sure the car upholstery and seats are dry
Apply the cleaner to your seats, mats and carpet floors
Do one section at a time, gently scrub the cleaner in with a soft bristled brush and allow to sit for 30 minutes
Place baking soda on the seats and upholstery to dry it out
While you are waiting for the car to dry, tackle the rest of your car
Use your cleaner on everything except the windows (this will cause steaking)
For windows, you can use an alcohol based glass cleaner
What if the mould has gone into the foam seat
If that’s the case then you will want to take the foam cushions out and repeat the same process as the couch cushions. If you can’t remove the foam cushions of your car seats, then you will need can do one of two things:
Call in a professional: A professional carpet cleaner or even some detailers will be able to sort this out for you. They will soak the seat with a commercial mould cleaner and then use a water claw attachment to suck it all out once it’s done the job.
Try it yourself: Not really recommended but needs must sometimes. Calculate how much of your mould cleaner you need and then soak your seats in that solution. Leave it overnight and then dry up as much as you can afterwards. Eventually the seat will dry on it’s own and you will have killed but not removed the mould.
Conclusion
Mould in carpet, upholstery and cars is a tricky one to remove and, without our techniques will cost a bomb! Thankfully you are now armed with the knowledge of how to do it yourself, but are you prepared to do it yourself?
If you do go for it, take those safety precautions seriously and don’t miss a step as they are all equally important for getting rid of that mould.