It is very easy to take for granted that your car is a machine that is built strong and tough and can withstand reasonable amounts of damage. This can cause you to overlook the details when carrying out regular care and maintenance of the vehicle, making it very likely that some flaws will be missed. One of these details that are very often easy to miss has to do with the car seals. You should note that while all your doors and windows may be securely shut, it does not mean that the interior of your car is entirely sealed off from the elements. Moisture may still be able to seep into your vehicle, creating an environment that is ideal for the formation of mold.
If the right conditions are met, mold will start to appear inside a car about two to three days after the vehicle has been exposed to elements that encourage its growth. The main culprit in this scenario is damp interiors that have not had a proper chance to dry before the car was shut up. Once it forms, mold is unmistakable, both in appearance and smell. At this point, getting rid of it is a challenging process.
Since it can be very dangerous for your health, you need to consider removing it professionally, because breathing in the small particles named spores may cause lung damages and prolonged lung diseases. Your vehicle is small, and it’s easy for the spores to be spread inside, especially if you use the airconditioning system or the heating ventilators.
That means even the people who travel together with you, may face the danger of breathing in these spores, which may cause allergies, reactions, and in worst of the cases, pneumonia, which can be very dangerous, especially now, during the pandemic.
So, hiring a professional to help you remove it should be your priority. Even if it seems that there is nothing like that in your vehicle, let the professionals do their job and clean up all the mess, and protect your health.
How is the mold removed from your car’s interior?
As suggested by carcare.net.au, professionals have developed ways and methods to get rid of car interiors’ mold at varying degrees of manifestation. Usually, before any definitive action is undertaken, the first thing to be done is to identify the source of the moisture that encourages its growth. Once this source has been found, the following typically occurs:
- The interior is completely vacuumed to dislodge and expel any spores and clumps of mold that are already loose, but also to decrease the chances of appearing the new ones.
- Scrubbing comes next. All interior surfaces and corners are cleaned thoroughly. Nothing is left to chance. Seats, seatbelts, consoles, and even areas that fall in between are all scrubbed and cleaned thoroughly. This is the only way to be sure the car is completely clean from the interior, with no sign of damaging particles near you.
- Once the cleaning has been completed, the smell is tackled next. Using a particular purifier, the car is flooded with ozone that serves the dual purpose of removing all odors, no matter how odorous, and eliminating any residual bacteria that was left behind after cleaning. You shouldn’t skip this process, because it’s the key step of ensuring all the surfaces are clean and that it won’t appear soon.
- Drying rounds out the process. Special care is taken to certify that this step is not rushed. Anything short of such meticulous drying that the vehicle has little to no moisture retained in the interior results in the resurgence of the mold, which would throw you back to square one.
Once the mold has been removed, and your car is ready for use once again, the onus now falls upon you to make sure that the problem does not present itself again. Be sure to check your seals often; especially the area that was determined to be the source of the moisture. Keeping these areas clean is the only way to prevent the formation of more mold.
You don’t have to frustrate yourself by trying every remedy that is presented in various places to find in the end that your molding problem persists. Contact an expert detailer who will have the know-how to take the best approach available to make sure that once the mold in your car has been eliminated, it will not be an issue again.
How it can cause health issues?
As we already said above, mold and spores can be very dangerous to the people who are sensitive to it. If they are exposed to them constantly, as the drivers are in their car, people may develop a wide range of symptoms, including allergy or pneumonia symptoms, cough, sneezing, stuffy nose, skin conditions, and eye redness. Some of them may even have stronger and more intense symptoms, so it’s very important to keep both your home and car free of mold.
Also, the spores contain mycotoxins and microbes, that are related to the dampness. If you don’t clean the car regularly, you have increased chances of allergic reactions, but the risk of fungal infections is even bigger. As a responsible driver and vehicle owner, you must take care of that, especially if you use a heating system and ventilators. Everything can be affected by the dampness and mold, especially if you spill something by accident, or forget an open can of soda, for example.
Possible health issues shouldn’t be the only reason to keep your vehicle clean. It’s a basic principle, and also the aesthetic reasons are here. No one wants to get in a car that looks like a mess from the outside, especially if you often share it with your friends or coworkers in the morning.
The most important thing you must remember is that usually you can’t remove the mold by yourself, and you will need to hire a professional cleaning service to do that for you, as we described above in this article. They have advanced methods of removing it, and you can be sure it won’t appear soon if you take care of your vehicle.
