What Causes Mold Growth in Closets?

Your closet system is home to your clothing, shoes, and accessories, but you don't want it to also be home to mold or mildew. Many people don’t even realize that their closets might be hospitable spaces for mold growth, but sometimes they are. Mold growth can harm both the space and the clothes and accessories in your closet, so knowing what causes mold growth and how to prevent it is vital if you want to keep your closet mold-free.

• Keep an Eye Out for Leaks
• Reduce the Humidity
• Dry Wet Items Before Storage
• Clean and Declutter Regularly
  

Mold growth has a lot to do with moisture, so most of the methods of preventing it have to do with keeping dampness away from your closet.

Keep an Eye Out for Leaks

You may not be too worried about the possibility of leaks in your closet, but the possibility may still exist. If the closet is located near a bathroom or another water source, there may be pipes in the walls near enough to the closet to cause water to leak into the space if the pipe springs a leak. This is bad for both your closet and your water bill, so if you suspect that a pipe is leaky or broken inside the wall, have a plumber check it out as soon as possible.

Another event that can happen is a leak from the ceiling. Lots of people don’t make a habit of inspecting their closet ceilings, but if you notice unexplained water on the floor of the closet or on the items in the closet, look up. Often, you’ll notice yellowed stains on the ceiling if the leak is coming from that area. This could mean you have a problem with your roof, like a hole that needs to be repaired.

Putting a stop to any leaks and thoroughly drying any part of the closet or items in the closet that got wet are the keys to preventing mold growth.

Reduce the Humidity

It’s possible to have moisture in your closet that just comes from the air. If you live in an area with high humidity, if your house isn’t adequately climate-controlled, or if your closet is located too near a shower and is likely to absorb the steam from your shower fairly often, there might be too much humidity in your closet.

Humidity is more difficult to fix than a leak that you can pinpoint and repair. It’s important to try, though, because the moisture from high humidity is just as likely to cause mold growth, and since it isn’t confined to one area as a leak might be, it may be even more widespread.

There are multiple ways to dry out a closet. You can buy bags or pouches containing desiccant material like bamboo, charcoal, or silica gel and hang or place them in your closet. These absorb moisture out of the air. If that’s not enough, you can position a standing fan so that it blows inside the closet.

In some cases, you may need to consider stalling a dehumidifier in the closet. Mold Answers says that you should consider a closet dehumidifier when the closet is in a basement, bathroom, laundry room, or other damp areas, when you store food in there (for instance, a storage closet that holds pet food), the closet holds items easily damaged by dampness, like vintage clothing, or when the closet feels damp, smells musty, or has had mold issues in the past.

Dry Wet Items Before Storage

Advice such as “don’t put wet items in the closet,” sounds obvious, but it happens more often and in more ways than you’d expect. You wouldn’t think of tossing wet sponges into any closet, of course – but how often have you put your shoes away in the closet after you stepped in a puddle or ran through the rain? Many shoes contain spongy material that holds water for quite a while. Storing wet items like this in your closet can lead to mold growth in the closet.

In addition to letting shoes dry out before putting them away, you also shouldn’t be putting wet clothes in the closet hamper. Either put these items in the wash immediately, store them someplace else, or hang saturated clothes and linens over the shower curtain or in a similar place until dry, then place them in the hamper. Additionally, you shouldn’t hang wet raincoats, umbrellas, or other wet-weather gear in your closet or the hall closet until they’ve had a chance to dry. 

Clean and Declutter Regularly

Your closet clutter may not be responsible for mold growth, but it doesn’t help either. When you drop dirty clothes off of the floor, pull things off hangers or out of drawers and don’t put them away, or let other things pile up in your closet, you make it hard to see what’s going on inside of your closet system. You could be covering up mold growth, in other words.

Clean and declutter your closet on a regular basis. This prevents conditions that encourage mold growth from forming in your closet and gives you a chance to take a close look around the space regularly to ensure you haven’t missed anything troubling. 

Conclusion

Homeowners should know that mold growth can happen in closets and be prepared to look for it. By taking steps to prevent closet mold growth, you can save yourself the more difficult task of having to remediate mold.

Sources:

• https://www.mold-answers.com/closet-dehumidifier.html#