7 Steps on How to Clean Mold Out of a Car

Mold is one of the worst things that could inhabit your car. Mold is a form of fungus that forms due to moisture and warm temperature. Since it is a fungus, it is harmful to one’s health and can cause severe allergies even death.

There is one type of mold called black mold or Stachybotrys chartarum and chlorohalonata species, which are fatal even by just inhaling the spores. Be careful when leaving your car out in the open, especially if there is no roof above it.

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If you accidentally leave your car windows open and it rains, expect that the next day molds will form in your vehicle. It only takes a few minutes for mold to thrive in moist areas. In case mold forms, don’t worry, here are some tips on how to clean mold out of a car.

What You Need

Getting rid of mold is a complicated process. For one, the mold is smelly and dangerous to your health. Also, the products that you need to use are also smelly. You may opt to take your car to a professional cleaner if you are not up to the task. Here are the things that you need to get rid of mold in your car:

Surgical Face Mask

How to Clean Mold Out of a Car

Since mold is smelly and dangerous when inhaled, use a face mask to avoid inhaling the spores. The white side should be on the inside because it acts as a filter. The blue side is liquid repellent and should face outwards.

Household Gloves and Distilled White Vinegar

Household gloves will prevent your hands from fungal infection. Moreover, distilled white vinegar is acidic and will kill the mold and its spores to prevent them from coming back.

Borax Powder and Spray Bottle

how to clean mold out of a car

via Amazon

Borax powder is a natural mold killer because it is an antigen against bacteria and fungus. It can be a tough stain remover, cleaning agent, and odor remover.

Spray bottle will be used for spraying hard to reach areas that may be infested with mold.

Unionized Salt and Oil of Cloves 

How to Clean Mold Out of a Car

Salt is also a cleaning agent and can be utilized as a natural method to clean items while oil made from cloves is a potent antiseptic that kills mold and its spores to stop the infestation. Be careful when using this kind of oil because it is a skin irritant.

Baking soda, Clean Water and Lysol Air Freshener

Baking soda or bicarbonate of soda is an effective odor eliminator. Molds have an awful smell, and baking soda helps remove that powerful odor.

Clean water is used for washing everything else while Lysol air freshener or something similar will serve as the finishing touch to deodorize and remove the odors

And last but not least, we need wet and dry vacuum or brush – to clean out mold.

Steps on How to Clean Mold Out of a Car

There are a couple of ways that you can get rid of mold in your car. No matter which methods or products you use, keep yourself protected by wearing household cleaning gloves and a surgical face mask. Here are the steps on how to clean mold out of a car:

STEP 1

Since mold thrives in moisture, bring your car to a sunny spot and open all the doors and windows. This allows the sun to dry out any wet or damp areas and air out your car.


STEP 2

Remove seat covers and carpets. We can use two different mixtures to kill the mold from seat covers and carpets before washing them.

  • You can use eight parts distilled white vinegar mixed with two parts water and put them in a spray bottle.
  • You can also use ¼ teaspoon oil of cloves mixed with ½ cup of white vinegar, one tablespoon of baking soda in 1 quart of water.

Spray the white vinegar or oil of cloves solution on the car seat covers and carpets and let them sit for 20 minutes or longer. You can also use these mixtures to spray on your car’s interior such as seats, dashboard, steering wheel, and on the air vent.

Don’t forget to spray onto those hard to reach spaces and even under the seats. For stained seats and carpets, sprinkle some Borax powder on the area and leave it for 10 minutes then vacuum or brush it off.


STEP 3

Wipe off the surface with a clean cloth to remove the dried up mold. You can also use a vacuum to remove them. Make sure to throw away the cloth and clean out the vacuum bag as these contain mold spores.

If you have a vacuum for rv , that's perfect , you can use it to remove all them.​


STEP 4

Wash the seat covers and carpets with regular detergent. It is best if you add some Borax powder to kill any remaining mold spores. Dry them out in the sun for best results.

If you have no way of washing the seat covers and carpets, you can mix a packet of uniodized salt in a bucket of water and spray it on. Make sure you spray all the surfaces and not just the mold-infested spot, so all spores are killed.

Dry them out in the sun until salt crusts form then vacuum or brush them off.


STEP 5

After removing the mold in your car, it will smell like white vinegar or oil of cloves. Oil of cloves will not have an overpowering smell but vinegar will. Place a small dish of baking soda or a dehumidifier inside your car to get rid of the smell and additional moisture.


STEP 6

Spray your car with air freshener product to get rid of any bad odor and kill bacteria. Leave the car doors open out in the sun to air out your car and dry any moist spots.


STEP 7

Vacuum the interior of your car to clean out dust and other particles before returning the seat covers and carpets.

Conclusion

The above steps seem like a lot, and you might wonder if it would be best just to bring your automobile to a professional cleaner. Well, it really depends on how much mold there is. If there are just minor areas, it saves you time and money to bring it to a professional cleaner.

Check out this graphic video that shows how mold is removed from a car.

What are your thoughts on the article? Do you have other tips on how to clean mold out of a car? Please share this article with your friends, family, and other car enthusiasts. We’d also love to hear your creative suggestion, feedback and ideas.

5 thoughts on “7 Steps on How to Clean Mold Out of a Car

  1. Lonni Davis says:

    my rented cottage was just found to be full of mold under the 16 in crawl space of the whole thing. this didn’t happen over night, even because my water froze in January and I had 4 inch of water in most of the place. couldn’t get a wet vac fast enough, it just disappeared through the floor, less then 20 minutes,all I could use to soak up the water left in the carpet, as it was 3 am. towels and paper towels, newspapers cardboard.
    Land Lady could not get a hold of her cleaner. then again, I kept telling her I heard water running and she told me to mind my own business. August 13 the hot water tank started squirting inside under my sink. I went outside and took the crawl space board off and the hot water tank was leaking like crazy, so bad it had a sand funnel that looked like a tornado. Again, this just didn’t happen. I need help and no one will help me. I am getting sicker, as I have nowhere else to go. I also have a dog, he has been here since September 1. with all this said dog and I have been back in forth from house and car. I just found out mold spores can travel on dog, so I say what do I do now and how do I get the mold spores out of my car and dog????? Please HELP ME. Thank You Lonni

  2. Jessica wiliam says:

    Great article. You has shown me that how to clean mold out of a car. I know that If my car has mold, I should have it removed as soon as possible to avoid any health risks such as asthma attack, flu and more.

  3. Jessica wiliam says:

    Have you ever noticed a mold build-up on the corner of your wall? Or maybe notice the mold on the fruit that was left on the table?

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