How can I stop safe mildew?

The forum title says "maintenance" so I'm going to put this here!

I live in NE Oklahoma. Lots of rain this year but this problem happened last year as well when we were very dry. I have three safes. One in the house, two in the separate shop/garage building. All have goldenrods. All have those white oval dehumidifiers. The kind that the indicator turns pink and then you plug them in to dry them out. Indicator goes blue, you put them back in the safe. I've had zero rust problems. I use various oils and greases when cleaning and lubing but I tend to mostly use the pump bottle RemOil for external surfaces in the safe. The pump bottle RemOil is the one that has the MoistureGuard ingredient in it. "VCI Technology." I think it has worked well for me in safes since I really have no rust problems at all.

But years ago I had problems with rifles with leather slings. I had one old Enfield Jungle Carbine with a decades old leather sling that had a lot of oil on the leather. And the darn sling actually went white from all the nasty stuff that grew on it. It's like the mildew on a shower curtain. Obviously I took that sling off the rifle. But other leather slings, even modern ones, have had a tendency to grow some. I tried to keep the leather drier and I stopped using Neats Foot oil on this sort of thing since it leaves the surface too wet. Finally I just took all the leather out of the safes. The only slings now are on modern AR type rifles and they are all nylon and have no problems.

You would think that would fix my problem but mildew keeps showing up. In a few cases it has even crept out onto metal surfaces but mostly it is stocks. Sometimes even a plastic AR type stock will show a little. I was just in the safe and my 1978 Remington 1100 had a bunch growing on the buttstock. You remember those shotguns and their finish... it is a thick layer of plastic. Shiny and hard. But mildew was growing up from the buttplate on both sides.

So two issues...

1) Is there something I can spray on the carpet in the safes that will kill it? I can't see any growing on the walls but I have to assume the carpet is holding some. It would be worth emptying the safes to treat them if it would stop this. Is there a product I could apply to my gun stocks that would stop this from growing on them? A hard wax would work but some gun stocks wouldn't look right like that. Like the plastic on AR's.

2) No matter how I scrubbed that 1100 stock.. I can still see dots. Is there some product I can use that will totally eliminate the surface discoloration/pockmarks? I have several rifles that I've cleaned the mildew off them but you can still see where it was.

Very annoying. You would think I lived in a rain forest!! We've had leather boots that we tucked away in an out of sight corner for a year or two... then you find them and they are white with this stuff. Pain in the posterior. I'm hoping somebody else has had experience with this stuff and figured out the magic solution.

Thank you,

Gregg

I have that same problem. It mostly shows up on my MNs, Enfields and other surplus rifles. It gets particularly bad on the web slings. I have used a dilute solution of bleach to kill the spores but have to constantly check the safes. Last time after I emptied the safes I gave the insides a good spray down of Lysol. We'll see if this keeps it under control.

Don't know if this will help but before I had an a/c unit replaced I had a mold problem in it. The only thing that worked for longer than a couple of weeks was a spray solution of peroxide and boric acid. I found it on the internet. Works good, lasts a long time, but it might be too strong for your use.

I live in Florida and can relate to you r problem. I have a Golden Rod installed in my safe and do not have any problems with mold.

Gregg,

I had a similar problem when I lived in SW Washington. Visited a business that serviced sewing machines and vacuums, they had cleaning solutions for use in steamer-vacuums. Bought some carpet shampoo that also controlled mold and mildew...worked great (but do it when you can air-out the room, 'cause the stuff is strong smelling). If you have a vacuum repair/service shop nearby, stop in and check out what they have.

Ted

I wonder if the oval dehumidifyer doesn't somehow promote the mildew.
I never tried, but an ozone generator might help. Back in my sailing days they were recommended to keep odors and mildew down below deck. Getting one small enough for a safe could be a problem. Someone used to make one for cars to plug into a cigarette lighter.

Most people are pretty accurate in recognizing a musty, "mildew" odor or moldy odor indoors or inside of a car, closet, safe, etc. To be technically accurate, mildew, a smaller group of mold types, grows only on living plants and not in containers. If it smells moldy, it's mold (not mildew).

This will provide several potential cures:
https://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGRP_enUS498US498&q=mildew+removal

Hi. I am in central florida. Mold seemed to be attracted to objects directly proportionally to their value.

Then I started using stuff called DampRid. Once you get the initial product, you can get refill material.

It is like $6 and is perfect for a relatively small area like a safe.

Your mold troubles will be completely solved for about $10 every 3 months. If that much.

Doc

A 2 inch thick piece of rigid foam (with a perm rating of less than 1) placed under the carpet solved that problem for me. I also put a short wood rack on the floor that wood allow air to circulate under everything.

tulsamal said:

No matter how I scrubbed that 1100 stock.. I can still see dots. Is there some product I can use that will totally eliminate the surface discoloration/pockmarks? I have several rifles that I've cleaned the mildew off them but you can still see where it was.

Click to expand...

On one of the plastic "bowling pin" Remingtons, try one of the products made to polish plastic on cars. I think the mildew etches the surface and that's what you see. Mequiars makes several plastic polishes.

Don't use bleach. It is water based, and is actually mostly water, it will just make the safe damp, and feed the mold.

Your safe was exposed to mold & now has an active colony living in it. You need to go to the hardware store get some moldex. Follow the directions on the bottle.

I would spray the inside, wipe down all wood stocks with a rag dampened with moldex.

I had this same thing happen to my safe when a 1903 rifle was given to me with a leather sling. The sling was moldy, I cleaned it with some type of leather treatment. I forget which one. The trouble is that when wiping off the mold, all you are doing is spreading it, like dandelion seeds in the lawn. And to make it worse, the leather treatment is fertilizer for the mold.

I threw away the sling, and the next time I opened the safe up, all my stocks were showing some of the white stuff. The moldex took care of the problem. Now I keep a spray bottle of the stuff handy, anything new the comes in, gets a wipe down. Any leather goods get sprayed.

Try wiping the moldiest w/ vinegar. I believe the pH will inhibit most mold. Don't put any in the safe just wipe the stock, leave on over night-rinse and DRY. Might wipe out the bottom foot of the safe when you have everything removed.

Mold is everywhere and will blow back into the safe. Keep the door closed. Im not sure of the best way to dry it and keep the mold OUT.