What is Mold, and is it dangerous?

Mold is a fungus that can be formed if your car has been left over for a long time. The presence of high temperature and moisture, more than the natural level, are the two main reasons mold occurs. People with lung diseases, skin diseases, allergy sufferers, and a low level of the immune system are especially sensitive to it. Exposure to mold can be dangerous for them, which is why it is highly recommended not to expose you to mold, even if you do not have any disease or have a robust immune system.

Symptoms like wheezing, skin or eye irritation, nasal congestion, fever, shortness in breathing, etc. can be caused after exposure to mold, especially the dangerous Chlorohalonata species and Stachybotrys chartarum, also known as a black mold.

The origin of mold spores is humidity and moisture. To be very specific, if you left your car’s sunroof open on rainy days or somehow any liquid left inside your vehicle and that is in damp weather, then that was the time when the welcome bell rang for the mold in yur car. Any moisture, even a little bit, can develop mold spores, and gradually it spreads all over the surface, mold growth takes from 1 month to 3 months.

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Advantages of Steam Cleaning

• Steam cleaning is the most non-toxic way to get rid of mold and clean and sanitize the insides of your car. Apart from its effectiveness, it can kill almost all bacteria inside your car very quickly. Thus, steam cleaning is a safe, eco-friendly, healthy, and quick way to clean your car, top to bottom.
• Steam cleaners use a minimal amount of water. That little water can clean the entire car, even without any scrubbing or rubbing
• The steam produced by the machine does not require any chemicals in order to clean your car. So your sit fabric and leather, mats and carpets, windows, and car paint, will be safe
• You do not have to use multiple fancy or bulk-sized equipment or lots of efforts
• Just like a regular car wash, the steam cleaning process can also be done in your yard, without extra hassles
• Steam car wash is an effective way to clean your car, as well as it makes a complicated process like mold removal easier.
• Apart from using the dry steam of the steaming machine, one can use different nozzles to pick up dust and dirt particles from tough-to-reach places, like the footwell, between the dashboard button, etc.
• Regular dusting and cleaning cannot give you relief from germs and bacteria, growing inside your car, but steam cleaning can kill mold and other bacteria.

How to remove mold from your car?

Protect yourself

As mentioned above, exposure to mold should be avoided strictly. So make sure you have protected yourself properly before starting the mold removal process. Wear a surgical face mask or a particle mask, non-porous cleaning gloves. This reduces the chances of getting affected by any virus and makes sure you are exposed to mold.

Air out your car for some time

Sunlight and fresh air are the most useful tools that can be used against mold. Even not only mold, all types of fungus, or the other bacteria that grow in the presence of a high level of moist, can be killed to an extent by bright sunlight.

So choose a clean, sunny day and move your car out to a direct sunlight spot. Open the doors and windows, sunroof (if there is one), and let as much as sunlight enter the interior. Keep the car this way for a few hours. It will take the dampness out, and your cleaning process will be much easier.

Use wet dry vacuum cleaner

Remove seat covers if you have them installed and now clean the whole interior with a wet dry vacuum cleaner and remove all the food particles or dust or anything else that is lying around. This is an important step that must be done before steam cleaning. Otherwise, the steam will make the dry dirt wet, and then later, they will be tough to remove.

Steam your car interior

Now, it is time to use a commercial-grade steam cleaner. The car’s leather and fabric are sensitive to water, which is why it is safe and efficient to use the steam cleaning machine, as the steam produced by the machine contains an insufficient quantity of water.

That’s the reason, the interior car detailing stays dry even after steaming. The car windows are also safe with steam cleaning because the steam does not contain any chemicals that can leave any streaks behind. You can dry steam the surface with 125C of dry steam and pressure of 235 PSI.

Dry the car and get the remaining odor out

The individual product that was used after the steaming process will return your car’s old shine and make it as beautiful as new. Move car to direct sunlight, then turn the car on and dry it using heat from the air conditioning for 20 minutes and put an ozone machine inside the vehicle to get rid of any remaining odor and bacteria for another 15 minutes.

How to take care of your car even after mold removal

You must know now that mold can germinate again, and moisture is the thing from which you should keep your car away. The first thing you have to keep in mind is that try not to eat and drink in the car, especially during the rainy season. Fast foods can dry out before growing mold, but spilled drinks may help mold to grow inside your vehicle. Another thing you must keep in mind is, do not ever get into your car wearing wet clothes or shoes or even when you have long wet hair. These precautions are mostly for rainy seasons because that is the ideal time for molds spores to grow.

• Whenever you see the sun is shining brightly, get your car out from the garage and let the sun rays and fresh air come in your vehicle. It is very healthy for a car and, at the same time, harmful to the mold’s life.
• Keep your car clean. And try not to use lots of water to clean it. Use a vacuum cleaner to keep the sits, floor mats and carpets dust-free. Change the air filter time-to-time. A clean car is the enemy of mold.
• When it is rainy weather or stormy for weeks, it becomes difficult to limit the moisture in your car. During these days, you need to be extra careful. Use things like rice bags or silica gel desiccant packets to absorb the moisture inside the car. Sprinkle a little baking soda on the carpets; let it sit for a few hours then clean it with the vacuum cleaner. Being a thick piece of cloth, it is challenging to keep carpets dry. Baking soda absorbs the moisture to some extent.
• If your car is not running for a long time, buy a full-body car cover to prevent moisture from touching your car.
• Your car’s interior requires more than just moisture absorbents. Spray an antimicrobial cleaning product inside the car time-to-time. These products are made to kill mold as well as prevent mold from growing. When you are taking out your car in the rainy season, don’t forget to cover the seats with a protective cover and put waterproof floor mats on the floorboards.
• Do not forget to clean microfiber towels after finishing the job