Hiya,

I went to wear my leather jacket last week but when I grabbed it out of the wardrobe it had mould all over it. I guess its just a combination of all this wet weather and the fact our bedroom faces south and has a balcony over it so gets NO sun at all. It does have a big sliding door and a window that are open a lot but I think having these open may have contributed to the problem cos the air coming in has been the moisture laden southerly breezes you get before the rain typically.

I have taken everything out of the wardrobe and am washing all the clothes and have my leather jacket and a couple of other things ready to take up to the dry cleaners on Monday.

I have also vacummed and then wiped out the whole wardrobe with a hot water/bleach solution. There was mould on some of the drawers and on the skirting boards.

I was thinking maybe I should put the heater in there to dry it out and keep the door open for ventialtion while we are having good weather. Is this a good idea? Is there anything else I should do?

I really want to be able to start putting stuff back in the wardrobe tonight cos at the moment all the clothes that have been washed since last week are sitting on my bed and I do want to sleep tonight

Thanks for your help. Jo.
PS Is there a forum where cleaning and stuff is dicussed? I loked quickly but couldn't find one.

I read that clove oil gets rid of mould. Also get one of those camel things that get the moisture ou thte air.

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I've used one called DampRid. You can actually see the moisture collecting in tne bottom of it. I've also read that clove oil is hte best thing to kill the mould spores. You get it at the chemist (it is an old toothache remedy).

I invested in a dehumidifier and rotate it all around the house...so my walk-in wardrobe one day, DD#1's bedroom the next (she has a chronic dustmite allergy and this helps no end!!) and next day DD#2's bedroom, then back to my wardrobe. Best $$$$'s I've spent in a long time and I'm absolutely positive my crew aren't getting as sick as they used to be when we had the mould problem. Highly recommend them.

Thanks so much for the replies. Will go to the chemist and will get some clove oil tomorrow. Also just grabbed one of those damp rid moisture collectors.... just got to put it somewhere I won't chuck shoes on top of it

I might have to look at dehumidifiers too..... although if the rain stops I don't think we'll have a problem... we didn't last year. They have forecast a super wet winter though and I really don't want to be mucking round with mould and bleach and stuff while preggers.

Thanks again. Your tips are much appreciated. Jo.

Resident mycologist (fungi studier) here.

Yep. You really need to get rid of the moisture or it'll come back. Anything to remove spores etc is pretty useless. Fungal spores are pretty much everywhere anyway.

If it's that damp, then Dani's idea of a dehumidifier rotated around different areas is a good idea.

We also have a mould and mildew problem.

Exactly how much are these dehumidifiers and where does one get one?

Bing lee and retravision both have them listed on their websites for $349.

omg! That's expensive. Would it dehumidify under the house too, which is enclosed (not on stilts) - where the ground is compacted earth and very damp?

I sed to live in Darwin which has massive mildew issues and those closet hippos were a dream. Once I bought them didn't have an issue again. Only prob was replacing them every few weeks!