It happened so that in the closet there suddenly appeared a whitish smell, as if several families were living in the apartment, and the mold that infects the clothes?
If this situation is familiar, it means you started your closet or the increased humidity in the apartment caused mold. It is time to begin the general cleaning, it is desirable to carry out it with enviable regularity, not forgetting about preventive measures.
If you do not want to constantly smell bad in your wardrobe, then it is advisable to carry out cleaning and preventive measures regularly. But what is prevention, how to remove unpleasant odor and mold, as well as the reasons for their appearance - you will learn about all this from the article.
Why a musty smell appears in the closet
Find out the cause of the problem before starting cleaning.
Dust mites
These microorganisms are invisible to the naked eye, but cause a lot of problems. Musty smell is a consequence of their appearance. Since they settle in your closet, sort and process all the clothes to prevent them from spreading. Do it as follows (the method is not the fastest, but effective.):
- Spray clothes with hot steam.
- Wipe each item with a 20% salt solution.
Improper storage
To prevent unpleasant odors from occurring anymore, follow basic storage rules. You can find them later in this article.
High humidity
Common problems are high humidity. No matter how the room is ventilated, it does not disappear. Therefore, proceed as follows:
- Get a dryer, heater or hairdryer. Dry your clothes before placing them on shelves.
- Arrange activated carbon on the shelves in the cabinet. Change it once a month. This will prevent mold and odor.
- At the store, buy an odor absorber and use it instead of coal.
If the cabinet is very saturated with smell and the reason is your carelessness, then it is advisable to follow these tips.
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Cabinet cleaning steps
- Get ready for cleaning: buy products for cleaning surfaces and washing clothes. If the case is running, get rubber gloves and a respirator that will protect you when using household chemicals.
- Pull things out of the closet and set aside - they will have to be washed. Open the doors and wipe all surfaces with a damp cloth. Open the windows, doors, balcony, if any, - the room and furniture should be saturated with fresh air.
- Begin the wash. If there are hopelessly spoiled, torn or unnecessary things, throw them away. Wash the rest manually or in a washing machine. The smell on things is preserved? Soak them with fabric softener for half an hour. Then wash again. That should be enough.
- Dry your clothes thoroughly, iron them. Lay out pieces of toilet soap on the shelves between the rows of clothes so that the closet smells nice. And now you can put everything in its rightful place.
- Use aromatic substances: coffee, tea bags, cinnamon, cotton bags with herbs or something else to your taste.They perfectly neutralize the odor and prevent the appearance of others.
Folk remedies against the smell of mustiness and mold
There is mold and a musty smell soaked too deeply, and you don’t want to throw out furniture or not. Go to extreme measures. Washed clothes do not need to be returned to shelves. Find her a temporary shelter and move on to combat mold on furniture.
- Table vinegar is used to eliminate mold. Dilute one part into three parts of water. Apply this mixture to places where mold has appeared.
- Boric acid. The effect is the same as with vinegar. To breed in the same proportions.
- Hydrogen peroxide is also suitable for neutralizing mold. Use similarly to the previous means.
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If the folk methods did not help and the mold returned again, then proceed to the heavy artillery, the chlorine-based agent Belizne, which is used to clean furniture, plumbing, walls and other surfaces.
Take out the laundry again and wash it. The smell is absorbed very quickly, so do not even hope that you managed to escape from the aroma by simply neutralizing the mold. Treat the sites infected with the fungus "White." Wait a little and wipe everything with a rag, and, if necessary, repeat the procedure again. The product is very odorous, requires careful handling, discolors the fabric. Use only in diluted form and work in protective equipment.
“Whiteness” is enough to eliminate mold. But if the tool did not help you or it is not in the store, get another one. Just make sure that it does not corrode the wood.
Folk and purchased flavors for the closet with clothes
After eliminating the smell, prepare for preventative measures: buy fragrances or fragrances, however, you can make them yourself from improvised means:
- The simplest odor absorbers are charcoal, salt, soda, silica gel, which are enough to put in a container and put on shelves in a cabinet. Change once a month.
- The soap has a pleasant smell that will spread inside the cabinet. Just a few small pieces.
- Place the beans or ground coffee in a container or in a canvas bag.
- Perfume bottles, peel of orange or other citrus fruits, dry herbs, tea bags - all this to improve the smell in the closet. Place in a container or in a makeshift cloth bag.
- If there are no used bottles, put perfume with a pleasant aroma. Spray perfume on clothes do not need!
- To prevent mold, put a napkin dipped in iodine in a jar and cover with a cotton pad on top. This measure will protect you from the reappearance of mold. Iodine is very volatile - stains on clothing may appear.
- Place ground cinnamon or cloves in a jar or bag. They will not only enrich your closet with a pleasant smell, but also prevent the appearance of moths.
- Buy fragrances, essential oils at the pharmacy. In no case do not take air fresheners - they serve for other purposes.
Useful Tips
- Regularly clean your closet: throw away excess, broken, torn and sort out clothes. Perform an audit once every six months.
- If a smell has already appeared, then do not put clean things there - they will quickly soak and you will have to wash them again.
- Do not put wet clothes in the cupboard that could be a source of mold and odor.
- Store bedding and underwear separately from outerwear.
- Do not try to condition furniture or clothing with an air freshener. The musty smell not only does not disappear, but also mixes with another aroma, which will aggravate the situation.
- Do not mix clean clothes and those that were put on the other day.Ideally, used clothing needs extra storage space. But if you do not have extra furniture, then air the clothes at night, and in the morning put them in the closet.
- Leave on the shelves pieces of soap that neutralize some of the unpleasant odors.
- A tea bag with bergamot, soaked in aromatic oils, will be an excellent tool for freshness in the closet.
- Put coffee in bags, place on shelves. This neutralizes odors and gives freshness to the cabinet.
- Such bags can be made both by yourself and bought in a store.
- Put the perfume bottle on the shelf. This will provide a lasting smell for a long time.
- As a preventative measure, it is advisable to ventilate the cabinet every two months.
- Clean linen attracts odors quickly. Do not hang clothes to dry in the kitchen (especially during cooking), in a smoky room, or where it smells bad.
- Always close the cabinet door to prevent foreign odors from entering the cabinet.
- It is advisable to put the furniture in which you store linen so that the sun falls on it. So dampness can be avoided.
It is easier to prevent the appearance of an unpleasant odor than to eliminate it later. It is better to ventilate the closet in advance, put a piece of soap there and occasionally sort out clothes, than because of one shirt, wash the entire wardrobe, washing the shelves along the way. Do not be lazy and regularly clean the entire apartment. This is your home. Make it comfortable for your family.
