[Tia Maria]

Been doing a bit of a clear out under beds and in the bottom of the wardrobe and some of the leather items (belts, handbags) etc have gone mouldy.

Not just the odd splodge you can wipe off, but full on 'growth'. The stuff has been there for under a year, so not a particularly long time.

Just wondered if there was anyway to prevent this?

Also if you buy leather chairs/sofas etc will the backs of the seats and bottoms of cushions suffer the same fate?!

Cheers

Tia

[Moorf]

I've not experienced mouldy leather before, but found this which is interesting:

http://www.tantec.co.nz/fungi.htm

[mgbridges]

Uncanny Tia, we've just had a similar experience. I went in the shoe cupboard and noticed Martin's Doc Martens looked a bit weird, hauled them out and they've gone mouldy as have my Tevas which is a big bummer as I'm just beginning to really need them.

I'm wondering if its because all the shoes are in the cupboard under the stairs which has always smelled a bit musty and damp?

If you have success cleaning it off do let me know what you use to get rid of the stuff.

Anneliese

[Tia Maria]

Moorf wrote:

I've not experienced mouldy leather before, but found this which is interesting:

Strangely enough I found it interesting also! Thanks for the link!

mgbridges wrote:

I'm wondering if its because all the shoes are in the cupboard under the stairs which has always smelled a bit musty and damp?

Possibly, but in our case the room had been recently painted and had a new carpet, so everything was fairly fresh, even under the bed!

Having read the link it looks as though once the damp spores have landed on the leather, they just need the right conditions in which to grow. So presumably they could have landed at any point (depending on how long they survive) and just needed the Auckland climate to encourage growth. I know a lot of stuff comes out of the container with damp on.

I'm afraid it was too far gone to clean!

I seem to be having a bit of a mouldy week. Whenever I'm half way through a sandwich I always notice, too late, that the bread has gone mouldy. Is it bad to eat bread with green bits? And we had some strawberries literally explode in the fridge with lots of yucky growth. We'd only had them for 3 days!

I'm beginning to suspect that maybe the supermarkets aren't the best at keeping their produce stored/transported in a way to keep it fresh. :(

Cheers

Tia

[jubjub]

Tia, mould was used to discover penicillin, so in actual fact its probably good for you! :laugh

We have had bags go mouldy too, not just leather ones, but also cloth ones, also the fabric on the baby capsule, (but that came out after I removed the cover and washed in the machine with napisan)

I am going to put a holdall through the washing machine too see how that holds up... if the mould comes out, great we can use it, but if it falls apart, so what, we wouldn't use it mouldy anyway!

[Rabbit]

You need to consider the root cause - e.g. is it damp?

more importantly, think about your health.

Check humidity levels and ensure proper ventillation.

Not a big problem at this time of year, but can be life threatening during winter.

Rabbit.

[PeteS]

You need to consider the root cause - e.g. is it damp?

more importantly, think about your health.

Check humidity levels and ensure proper ventillation.

Not a big problem at this time of year, but can be life threatening during winter.

The W.H.O. have commented upon these as being a cause of Asthma. The W.H.O. recommended minimum house temperature is 18C. The average in NZ is 16C.

[Familyofmonkeys]

Uncanny Tia, we've just had a similar experience. I went in the shoe cupboard and noticed Martin's Doc Martens looked a bit weird, hauled them out and they've gone mouldy as have my Tevas which is a big bummer as I'm just beginning to really need them.

I'm wondering if its because all the shoes are in the cupboard under the stairs which has always smelled a bit musty and damp?

If you have success cleaning it off do let me know what you use to get rid of the stuff.

Anneliese

Are they the leather Tevas or the nylon ones? You could maybe try some of the oxygen bleach stuff and then use the nikwax proofing stuff (not dubbin if leather) or spray if nylon ones to prevent in growing back.