Five Tips for Preventing Mold Growth in Your Closets

Lisa Rivera • 29 March 2021

Mold is an unwanted visitor that can show its ugly face anywhere in your home, including your custom closets. It loves dark, moist environments with insufficient airflow. Having mold in your closet means that the integrity of your wardrobe becomes compromised.

Fortunately, there are several ways you can prevent mold from destroying your clothing:

Monitor Indoor Humidity
Use Dehumidifiers
Increase Air Movement
Don’t Store Wet Clothes in Your Closets
Regularly Clean Your Closet Walls

Read on to learn how you can stop smelly mold from taking over your closets!

1. Monitor Indoor Humidity

To determine whether or not your closet is susceptible to developing mold, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends monitoring the level of indoor humidity within your home. Use a moisture meter, which can be purchased from a local hardware store, to detect if levels of high humidity are present within your closet.

Ideally, your indoor humidity levels should read between 30 and 60 percent. Should your humidity level read higher than this, you know that it is time to take action before mold wreaks havoc on your wardrobe.

2. Utilize Dehumidifiers

If you determined that the level of humidity in your closet could become a problem, it is time to be proactive and dry out the air. To do this, simply keep a small dehumidifier in your closet. There are several different types of dehumidifiers available for you to choose from.

The first aspect to consider is how large of a closet space you have. If your closet is rather small, there are mini-sized, rechargeable styles that contain non-toxic, odorless crystals. These styles are low in cost and are good for lowing humidity levels.

Another type that works well for small closets is a bucket-style dehumidifier that also contains non-toxic crystals. They absorb water out of the air and when the bucket becomes full of water, simply swap it out for a replacement.

If you have a larger closet perhaps, an electric, plug-in style might be your best bet. You’ll be able to empty the water tank when it becomes full and keep reusing it. Be sure to give your dehumidifier a good cleaning every week.

3. Increase Air Movement

The EPA also warns that in colder temperatures, the air is able to hold less moisture and as a result, this dampness appears on surfaces such as walls and floors.

One way to stop this from happening is to increase air circulation within your home. Keep your closet doors open, as well as the doors leading into your bedroom. Try sitting a fan in the back of your closet to blow out any musty, stale air.

To keep your clothes smelling fresh, keep an inch or two of space between each hanging item. If your closet is stuffed too full of clothing and other items, it may be time for some routine purging. Learn to let go of items you no longer wear or use and make more space for the clothing that you love. Hang your clothing on aromatic cedar hangers and refresh your entire closet.

4. Don’t Store Wet Clothes in Your Closets

If you have a dirty clothes hamper that you keep in your closet, you might not think anything of it to throw a wet towel inside to be washed later. You might also have decided that the perfect spot for you to hang your damp bathrobe is in your closet. Some people even use their closets to hang up their wet laundry to dry. You should definitely avoid all of these scenarios. If you want to keep mold out of your closets, only hang clothes that are 100% dry.

5. Regularly Clean Your Closet Walls

Even when doing all of these preventative measures, mold can still find its way in, sometimes from the outdoors. That is why it is important to regularly clean the walls of your closet. Clean My Space.com recommends spraying undiluted white vinegar onto the walls and allowing it to soak for less than an hour. Follow this with a rinse of clean water and then respray it with vinegar and allow it to dry. This is to prevent any regrowth of mold from reforming. If the smell of vinegar is too much for you to handle, you can use a 50/50 solution of hydrogen peroxide or bleach instead.

Final Thoughts

No matter how spotless your home may be, even the cleanest of homes can develop mold. Keeping the air in your home as dry as possible is a great place to start. Opening up the windows and letting the fresh air circulate when you can is helpful. Regularly cleaning your closets and keeping your eye out for any signs of mold and immediately getting rid of it is critical. With these measures in place, you won’t need to worry about your clothes becoming ridden with mold.