Photo-Removing Black Mould from Fabric

[Hollyisalrightactuallysorry]

Hi there

Hoping some wise Mumsnet tees can help!

I got out our hammock to put up this weekend. It was sitting at the back of the shed so only just discovered it

Unfortunately when it was put away last year it was obviously slightly damp and is now full of mould

I've washed at 90 degrees and it's made a very small amount of difference.

Can anyone suggest anything else to remove it or am I best to just swallow the mistake and buy another one?

Thanks so much

I've had this, unfortunately never found anything that shifted it entirely!

Apply washing detergent directly to stain and leave it a while. It gets too diluted in the machine. It washing up liquid and bicarb.

We had this at the bottom of our curtains. I washed on hot wash to get the most of it out.

then hung on line, put neat bleach in a spray bottle and sprayed on the area that still remained slightly black. After an hour it had totally gone (after going through a pink stage) and it was as bad as yours. The printed pattern stayed in and didn’t bleach out. I washed again to take the bleach smell out.

If you find it drying out and not gone, apply more bleach and put in the sun.

Elbow grease spray
There a mould and mildew spray I use for the shower but think it might bleach the fabric

Put things like this in the washing machine with bleech instead of regular detergent. It works although obviously you'll lose the colours.

Thanks so much all. Bleach seems to be the thing to try. It is ALL OVER this massive hammock so quite a bit area.

There is a pattern on it but I'm not worried about it coming out - just removing the mould

Do you think it's best to bleach in the machine on another hot wash or spray directly onto it? I'm certain drying it out in the sun won't reduce how much there is

using a pressure washer got black mould out of something similar for me - no chemicals needed!

ohhh this is interesting as I have one of those

Dunk it in a big vat of extremely bleachy water then!

Ok, I'm going to go back down to it and fill a bucket with bleach water. Leave it for 30 and take another look. If it's still bad I'll try pressure washer and see what that does. I'll upload photos post bleach bucket

I would soak in the bath with copious amounts of oxy action, it's bleach but with out the bleaching effects . Bleach will get rid of all the colour 😬

Then I'd cold wash in bio liquid /powder, put it on delicates or wool wash . When the machine is full of water and on wash cycle turn the machine off and let it soak overnight, make sure it's full of water.
Turn back on on the morning.

Leave to dry in the sun.

My pattern stayed on, even with the bleach. They are cotton as well. But I understand the reluctance to try! I was apprehensive as well but I was prepared to lose the curtains entirely if it didn’t work.

Thanks all for the continued advice. Hammock is currently soaking in a mix of bleach, water and white vinegar - absolutely no idea if this will do another.

Will then wash to get the bleach out and let the sun dry.

Reluctant to use the bath as have two toddles who are due one tonight and both have very sensitive skin - I'd worry I'd missed a bit washing it out!

Pretty sure you are not supposed to mix bleach and vinegar. Doesn't it create chlorine gas!?

Hopefully you are outside OP and not sparko on the kitchen floor...

Yes it does 😱 hope you're okay OP! Open all the windows and drain the bath asap

Eeek I didn't realise that! It's outside in the open air alleyway so not near the house or any others.
I'll do down shortly and take it out and see what's going on

Christ on a bike you don’t mix bleach and vinegar! Apart from anything else, bleach is strongly alkaline and vinegar is acidic so they cancel each other out. What possessed you?

Wear old clothes to allow for bleachy spray back with the pressure washer 😊

https://www.homesandgardens.com/life-design/why-you-should-never-mix-bleach-and-vinegar-when-cleaning

here is one of approximately a billion articles online that warn against it.

Bleach will weaken the fabric, so not a good idea for weight bearing fabric!

<ignores fact that OP is brewing a toxic gas cocktail>

Well, toxic cauldron of poison aside, it's safe to say it's a write off!

The bucket made almost zero difference but I took onboard the comments that they may have cancelled each other out so started again with just bleach

Made absolutely no difference. I tried neat bleach on one area and whilst it took out the colour, it did remove the mould. But I would have to use bottles of the stuff to bleach it all out and I'm not sure I'd be happy using it still.

So sadly had to say goodbye and swallow the cost of a replacement.

Sorry to see that OP, put the next one in a vacuum bag when you're not using it. You get a bit of a musty smell but I've never had anything go mouldy

I recently used lemon juice successfully on brown mould stains on a tshirt. Then washed as normal & dried in sun. Not sure if ok for black mould- although I see this has already reached its conclusion.