How to Stop Mold in Closet on Shoes
Discovering mold in your home is always an unpleasant encounter. But when you see it growing on your clothes it’s another whole level of disgusting. In this article we will discuss how you can clean your closet and prevent mold from growing on your shoes in the future.
To successfully remove any type of mold, you first need to identify where it’s coming from. Most of the time mold found in the closet stems from wet shoes.
Storing your shoes in a dark place (even with small amounts of moisture) can create a recipe for mold to grow.
How Mold Grows in a Closet
Mold is often found in crawl spaces, basements, and under floorboards. But it can also start growing from moisture found on footwear, jackets, and even hats.
And while a minor plumbing issue can create excess water and organic growth, it’s probably not the problem. Below are some things you should check in your closet.
Wet Shoes
One of the most common ways mold starts growing in your closet is from wet shoes. Have you ever put a pair of wet boots away after walking around in the rain? Or maybe you went for a long jog and put your sweaty running shoes away, without letting them dry first.
The problem is that a little bit of moisture can create a lot of mold. Even a normal day of use can create moisture from sweat. Look, I don’t want to keep talking about sweaty feet either.
The point is you should only store footwear in a closet once it has fully dried. Keep your shoes in a sunny room to dry before putting them away, or you could even use a fan to speed up the drying process.
Dirty Closet
Even the smallest amounts of dirt and dust can create mold growth. When someone is walking by the closet door, dirt from their shoes could make it’s way into closet. This moist dirt might even land on the drywall and create organic growth.
You should always wipe down the walls and sweep the floor of the closet to keep it sparkling clean. Cleaning your closet on a regular basis also lets fresh air in. Have you ever opened up your closet door, only to be hit in the face by a musty smell?
This is not something that should be normalized. All rooms and closets in your house should be cleaned on a routine schedule. If you don’t let fresh air and light in, mold could start to grow.
Plastic Bags
A long time ago someone decided that it was a good idea to store dirty shoes and boots in plastic bags. It made sense in theory, because then the dirt would stay in the bag and wouldn’t land on the floor, or on other items in the closet.
The problem is that when you put footwear inside plastic it traps humidity in the bag too. If you’re familiar with mold you know that it feeds off of humidity. Combine moisture, a dark closet, and humidity and you have all the ingredients for mold to grow.
Mold might even grow faster on shoes that are wrapped in plastic stored inside your closet. So do yourself a favor and never store dirty footwear or clothing inside plastic bags.
Broken Pipes
You can often find mold behind washing machines and sinks. These places have pipes that are used on a regular basis that require constant maintenance. Even one fitting that isn’t tight enough can cause a minor leak.
As a result, this leak creates moisture in a dark area. Having broken pipes inside your closet is rare, but not impossible. Depending on the layout of your house, there could be plumbing behind your closet wall.
If there is a minor leak in one of these areas, moisture will start to build up on the floor and drywall. Again, this is rare but it could happen in an older home with outdated plumbing. Make sure to check your closet floor for any water or moisture on a regular basis.
The Closet Door
Another quick way to stop mold form growing in your closet is to simply leave the door open. It’s no secret that mold does not like the sunlight – which is why you don’t see mold growing outside.
Open up the door every so often to allow some natural light in. This will certainly stop, or at least drastically slow down mold growth. Another option is to completely remove the doors from your closet.
This may seem strange to some people, but now it’s actually quite trendy to remove closet doors in your house in order to create built-in storage. This remodeling idea will not only freshen up your space, but it will also allow sunlight to prevent any mold spores from entering.
How to Clean Mold in Closet on Shoes
There’s no need to worry if you opened up your closet door only to discover mold on your favorite pair of footwear. This exact situation happened to me recently with a pair of dress shoes.
It had obviously been a long time since I wore them last, so they got a little funky. Here’s a list of steps on how you can get those shoes looking new again.
- Protect Yourself – Even though this may seem like a small task, it’s important to wear protective equipment when dealing with mold. Wear gloves and a face mask so no mold spores get in your eyes, or land on your skin.
- Brush the Surface – Use a stiff bristle brush to clear away all of the mold stuck to the shoes. This is an important step, because you want to remove as much surface mold before using any household products during the next step.
- Remove the Mold – You can create an easy cleaning solution with everyday household products. Mix half a cup of white vinegar and half a cup of water into a bucket. Submerge the moldy shoes and gently wipe them with a cloth.
- Dry the shoes – The shoes can then be dried once you have fully removed the mold with the vinegar mixture. You can either leave them outside in the sun to dry, or dry them with a fresh towel. If you do leave them outside, don’t forget to bring them in if it rains!
Tips:
- When the shoes are dry use a deodorizing shoe spray to eliminate the potent vinegar smell.
- Always clean moldy shoes outside, so you can keep mold spores out of your house.
- Don’t try this cleaning method on suede shoes, as the aggressive brush will ruin them.
- Throw away your gloves and face mask when finished to prevent mold spores from spreading.
Final Thoughts
If you recently found mold in a closet on your shoes there’s no need to worry. This can be a common household problem and there are a number of different ways to solve it.
Once the mold has been properly removed, make sure to take all of the steps listed above to prevent it from growing back in the future.
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