Mold

[gordonv]

Well, what can I say, I parked my trailer outside with my gear in it. Was supposed to move it inside the garage, but after we where done, there was no room for everything that needed to be inside, so figured the trailer could stay outside.

I forgot that all my riding gear was inside it.

I opened it up so I could remove it all, and this is what I found.




 

I've been researching how to clean it for over a week now. Seems the basic steps are to;

1) Kill the mold. Use an acid solution, 50/50 water/vinegar.

2) Clean the mold off the leather. Use a mild soap. Saddle soap, something mild that wont dry out the leather, Dawn dish soap, maybe Woolite or baby soap.

3) Preserve the leather. Leather conditioner, Neatsfoot oil.

There is a lot of how-to info out there, youtube, but then mine isn't a little mold, I have forests growing on it. First to fix my trailer. There was o-rings for sealing the bolt holes holding the rack on, which wasn't good enough. I replaced them with plumbing washers, big and thick, that I had to screw onto the bolts. Dried it out, and am now waiting on more rain, something we usually have a lot of during the winter, but not this one.

The textile material is easy, remove items I don't want to wash (padding) and place in the washer (front load), with a full cup of vinegar. Then the 50/50 solution to wash the padding off, and now needing a quick wash in a mild soap solution. In my case, I used a watered down solution of dish washing soap.

So far, so good. My jacket, Airhawk and face/neck shield has come out clean. I didn't remove the helmet padding yet, my wife doesn't want to but the helmet back on, no matter how clean I say it is, as she doesn't want to breath the mold. I can't blame her, so it looks like it's going to cost me a few $100's to buy new ones for the both of us.

Then on to the leather, most likely tomorrow. Since the gloves have mold inside also, along with the riding jacket having an inside liner, I will be soaking all the leathers in a 50/50 solution with some Woolite soap in it. Rinse it by hand in a basin full of it, and a second rinse after they have all been cleaned, with fresh water.

I've a jacket, vest, chaps and gloves, all needing this care. After they have been cleaned and dried, then I'll need to re-protect it, neatsfoot seems the best. I did buy some automotive leather conditioner which contained lanolin and neatsfoot.

I'm hoping that this will recover all my gear. I have nothing to lose, as the way it is right now, I need to replace it all. I don't think this will harm it overall, as I've been caught out in the rain before and got completely soaked, taking days to dry out. It's about time I recondition the leather anyways, and now I have too.

I found nothing on a search, except for mold release, so thought I would post here and see what others have done with their accidents and leathers.

[Savago]

Once you cleaned the mold and get the leathers dry, it will be the time to treat the leather.

There are many leather conditioners on the market, I've tried a couple and the one I liked more was Leather Honey:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003IS3HV0/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It was able to recover a leather jacket that was dry/hardened, bringing it back to life: nice and supple after being treated.

Another advantage is that supposedly it only has natural components and is also made in USA. Some of the leather products in the market got some pretty nasty chemicals that would require gloves to be applied.

Once you apply it, it is important to wait 1-3 days for it to dry, as it will initially feel a bit sticky. It also may darken leather a little bit (i.e. light brown may become darker brown), but in your case with dark leather shouldn't be an issue.

[Hooter]

Since you have experience with the conditioner. I have a jacket I really like, but it's always been stiff. You say this "stuff" will soften the leather. Would it be worth it to try for that reason? Don't care if it darkens the leather.

[Pete]

Have done a lot of recovery work on stored old cars where mold is a serious issue. As you know some mold has serious health issues and only an mold analysis can tell one from the other.

First thing to do is put on a good mask and move everything to a dry well vented area. Fan would not hurt.

Then bleach everything that can be bleached without damaging it. Bleach is a real mold killer.

Then on everything else use a damp paper towel (with or without mild soap and with and without bleach) to remove as much as you can. Dry everything well and expose it to sun as much as you can.
If using bleach, get as much bleach off as possible, flooding water or damp wiping.

Then use special cleaners (depending on material) to finish cleaning. Most work ok.

Note that oil products will make it easier for items to mildew in the future and the more oil the more mildew. So keep them as dry as possible when storing.

No real secrets just hard work.

[..]

Good decision on new helmets.

[gordonv]

Good decision on new helmets.

I hate doing it, since a helmet is all synthetic, I figure it's one of the easiest to disinfect and clean, but since your face is in it, I need to agree with her on this one.  :'( Throw away a few $100's of helmets and buy them again, they where only about 2 years old.


Pete, thanks for the info, that jives with all I've read (except the bleach). Spray, wipe, dry, clean, wipe, dry. Keeping the leather as dry as possible. I've the mask already.

But in my case, I have very large areas (50-75%) and both sides. The other side isn't smooth, it's either lined (the jacket) and you can't see it, or unfinished and looks like cloth almost. Also my gloves

Right now, it's all outside in the garage, hanging. I'll take it down, and spray it with the 50/50 and clean off as much as I can. But then into a basin of the 50/50 and soap, and scrub it all down, cleaning the leather completely, inside and out. Rinse in 50/50 again, water, then pat dry and let hang and maybe a tumble dry with no heat and towels in the dryer for an hour 1st.

Once you cleaned the mold and get the leathers dry, it will be the time to treat the leather.

There are many leather conditioners on the market, I've tried a couple and the one I liked more was Leather Honey:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003IS3HV0/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It was able to recover a leather jacket that was dry/hardened, bringing it back to life: nice and supple after being treated.

Since you have experience with the conditioner. I have a jacket I really like, but it's always been stiff. You say this "stuff" will soften the leather. Would it be worth it to try for that reason? Don't care if it darkens the leather.

What he wrote was the the leather had gotten dry/hardened. If your leather is hard because it's gotten dry, then this might recover it. But if it was always a stiff leather, that was from the tannery. I don't know enough about tanning to know if it can be changed/soften by applying creams/lotions/waxes to try to change it to what it wasn't.

[Savago]

Since you have experience with the conditioner. I have a jacket I really like, but it's always been stiff. You say this "stuff" will soften the leather. Would it be worth it to try for that reason? Don't care if it darkens the leather.

@Hooter it will recover the leather to its original suppleness and protect it against water and mildew. The manufacturer suggests to do the treatment once a year to help protect the leather.

I've used it in 2 leather jackets:
a) A dressier leather jacket made of high quality leather I bought in Helsinki (Finland): the one I've reported the results and I was really happy with it (I thought I would have to donate the jacket due to its poor state).

Speaking of it, I think I will repeat the treatment, its being 2 years since I last applied Honey leather on it.
 

b) A cheap motorcycle leather jacket that the leather was low quality: it improved a bit the suppleness, recovered the color (i.e. darker) but I wasn't expecting miracles on this case.

There are quite a few user reports on Amazon in the link that I posted. I would suggest to have a look (specially the photos of before/after) and give it a try. For just 18 bucks is no big deal and a bottle goes a long way (i.e. I was able to treat 2 jackets with a single bottle with some spare left).

[Jess from VA]

Since you have experience with the conditioner. I have a jacket I really like, but it's always been stiff. You say this "stuff" will soften the leather. Would it be worth it to try for that reason? Don't care if it darkens the leather.

I also have a top quality heavy leather jacket that is pretty stiff.  (Fox Creek Leather from right here in VA)  It's OK to wear, but I almost never choose it among my four good leather jackets because of this (even though it is head and shoulders the best of the lot).

I've thought about dosing it liberally with leather conditioner and mink oil and throwing it in a HD laundromat dryer with a few bricks on air for a few hours.  But I'm pretty sure the laundromat would frown on this.

https://www.foxcreekleather.com/mens-vented-racing-jacket/

[gordonv]

The leather all came out good.

I sprayed the mold with the vinegar, to retain any spores, outside. Wiped the leather clean, and made sure I soaked the backing. Then soaked the whole garment in a basin of 50/50 and some Woolite. The water came out black, I think from the leather dye, then took it outside and rinsed it off with the garden hose, then hung to dry.

I then placed pieces into the dryer with clean dry towels, and ran it on low heat using the moisture sensor to auto shut off. The chaps and vest dried nicely, but I didn't want to over due the jacket, so it's now hanging inside near the heater.

My wife thinks her gloves smell of mold, I think of vinegar. Just waiting on everything drying, then start to apply the leather conditioner. No signs of stains on the leather anywhere. No worse than riding in the rain for the day in our mountains.


Something mentioned, wet and then wipe off the mold. The reason is that the mold is on the leather, it does not get into it, so it only needs to be cleaned. But mine was covered on both sides by so much mold, I needed to soak them to insure I got it all.

[Gryphon Rider]

Years ago I did the vinegar thing with gloves that got covered in green-coloured mould due to being forgotten in a plastic bag after they had gotten wet.  They are still useable now.  My stomach would have sunk if I had found what you did.  I'm glad your cleaning has worked for you.

[gordonv]

Going from thinking that my items in my un-insured trailer (if it was insured I might have been able to put a claim in) where all shot. To getting the textile items and the leathers clean, and then only needing to get new helmets. It's a lower lose than I could hope for.

Now for the leather conditioning, like on my wife's custom jacket, standing on it's own, after it dried.



Also expecting rain soon, so will see if the trailer is well sealed now. I laid paper inside, for the moister to drip on, and I can see where it's coming from, but I don't expect any, or out will be coming a tube of caulking.

[psckam]

I would use oxy clean or  any equivalent ( you can get the same stuff cheaper at a dollar store) instead of chlorine bleach. Its safer and works just as well.  I have had the same issue with mildew this past summer and  the oxy and saddle soap work well. It was a bad year for mold the latter part of last year here in the N.E. Also a dehumidifier and low power fan just to keep the air moving would help and possibly eliminate the mold issues.

[gordonv]

As a follow up, I applied the leather conditioner to the jacket, and it seems to have soften back up nicely. It will no longer stand on it's own.

As for the trailer, there is still moisture in it. Found that there where 4 pop rivets through the top. Drilled and temp sealed. A heater inside only did so much, and costs $ to run. It's winter, so the spring heat and drier days are still far away. So I've been thinking of desiccant.

After some research, I found this out. Kitty Litter! There are brands out there that use Silica Gel as the only media. 7lbs for $14.
https://www.petsmart.com/cat/litter-and-waste-disposal/litter/exquisicat-micro-crystals-cat-litter-23769.html

I figure I'll get 2 1gal plastic ice cream pails and place one in my trailer during the winter. Weigh them before, and during use. The claim is that they can adsorb 40x their weight.

For those who didn't know, you can heat the moisture out of old desiccant, and reuse it.

For those shooters among us, here is how you can get all that moisture out of those guns you lost in the boating accident, if you're able to recover them.