Community Forums

tnarvs · 05-11-2012, 07:31 PM

I have a customer ,, that just bought a 02 Rexhall 25 ft MH ,, and it has been stored since 08 ,, all closed up ,, he brought it to me after he got a good deal on it ,, to have it cked out ,, everything works ,, no wtaer damage ,, it does need tires and batts ,, but other then that it is in pretty good shape ,, but since it was closed up for all that time ,, it has mold smell inside ,, he is gonna have a carpet cleaning company come out and do the interior ,, but if that does not work ,, i am open to any suggestions anyone has on getting rid of the smell ,, thanks ,, this stuff is not in my line of work

timex · 05-11-2012, 07:52 PM

After a good cleaning find some one with a good Air Ionizer. Maybe a company that cleans up after a fire would have one to get rid of smoke smell. Plug it in and close up the camper with it running for a day then let it air out good. They will get rid of most odors. Good Luck

Wire Wrat · 05-11-2012, 08:16 PM

A heavy duty ozone machine working in the coach for a day or two after a real thorough cleaning, fabreeze on the fabric. a can of opened coffee in the ice box. all of those should alter the odors you don't want.

TXiceman · 05-11-2012, 08:20 PM

When we had the 1979 Silver Streak, it would get a musty smell when closed up in the damp Houston climate. We found some mold on the furniture and wiped every thing down with straight vinegar....vinegar does a good job of killing the basic gray mold. You can also buy specific moldicides.

Another thing that helped after that was we kept a dehumidifier running any time the trailer was parked. We kept the trailer at home and set the dehumidifier in the shower and left the gray tank open with a hose running into the woods.

Ken

jimbo16720 · 05-11-2012, 08:32 PM

I had some stuff my daughter left in my frig last summer in the heat for a couple months and when I opened the frig it almost knocked me out. Don't know what it was but it left a green slime on one of the shelves in the door. I wiped it out with pinesal full strength. No smell anymore. I also left one of the roof vents open and the frig door open.

WeatherTodd · 05-11-2012, 08:41 PM

I would avoid sprays like febreeze. The ionizer machine will work. A good one is $500ish. I guarantee youll get your moneys worth out of it. I use it in rental homes/apts all the time that had pets or smokers.
Steam cleaning every fabric surface will help. If theres carpet... Id pull it out.

wa8yxm · 05-12-2012, 06:59 AM

Step one is to get rid of the mold.. It tends to hide in cracks and holes and lives in ... Dark places you can't see well.

Once that's done simply airing it out sould do the job.

I had a trailer get moldy once.. I ended washing it down with chlorox, STRAIGHT.

What was black, was once again white, when I finished, inside and out.

So were my trousers (Wear old ones).

Dogpatch · 05-12-2012, 07:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wa8yxm

Step one is to get rid of the mold.. It tends to hide in cracks and holes and lives in ... Dark places you can't see well.

I am a restorator. That's right. If you smell it, it's there! Mold is not always visible. The color you see is actually the feces of mold.
You do have to find and get rid of the source. What you see on the outside of something like paneling or drywall, likely starts on the inside. Only treating what you see does not necessarily rid you of the problem. Using fabreeze is only a masking agent to add a deodorizer.

Mold needs 3 things to propagate:
1- a source of moisture - ie: a leak of some sort or high humidity
2- a food source - ie: any type of porous fibrous material
3- darkness - ie: it typically does not like daylight and especially exposure to sun

The key is, if you remove any one of the 3 components mentioned above. Mold (or mildew) cannot grow.

wa8yxm · 05-13-2012, 03:50 PM

Thanks Dogpatch (For the support)

Oh, I perhaps should explain one line...
"It tends to hide in crachs and holes.... And "

Typed that way because of these lines

Evil Grows, In cracks and holes, and lives, in people's mind"

I sing a lot.. and that is from a song.. Way back around 1969/70 as I recall. Santana was the Recording artist if memory serves.

(You find a lot of music references in my posts... Oh well, my choir count is now up to 7,, Got invited to yet another one this morning

) (I don't usually sing Santana.. Marty Haguan yes, Santana No, Still, he had some good stuff).

JimM68 · 05-14-2012, 12:12 PM

I love santana. One of the greatest guitar players of all time, right up there with daltry , hendrix, and clapton.

Murf2u · 05-16-2012, 08:22 AM

A friend who does insurance restoration works swears by his method for getting rid of reasonably minor lingering odors.

He spreads out a cheap bed sheet (thrift store, Wally World, etc.) then liberally sprinkles a large amount of baking soda all over it, shuts the place up and keeps it that way (and warm to hot) for a few days if possible. Then fold up the sheet and remove, shake out the baking soda outside, it just washes away in the next rain.

I tried it in my C that had smokers as previous owners. I did the above twice, now the only time you get even a whiff of it is it's been shut up in the heat for a while, but it's gone in minutes if you open some windows.

A cheap and cheerful solution.