Help - mpuld in wardrobes

[summerdaysgain]

I am posting for my friend. Have been to see the problem and in 3 of her bedrooms there is mould in the wardrobes. All the wardrobes are solidly wood backed against the wall and all 3 are on different outside walls. There is mould to different extent in all 3 wardrobes.

1. What may be causing this? They are outside walls so it could feasibly be damp but as I say they are all backed so that would mean mould coming through the wall and then the wood backs. A builder friend suggested that it is because there is not sufficient ventilation in the rooms as the double glazing does not have trickle vents - but even if the windows are open would this make so much difference to the inside of a closed wardrobe?

1. How to deal - have tried to wash off with water and spray and most has lifted. Do we need to remove with special product and if so please can someone recommend?

1. What can be done about it re-occuring? I am thinking maybe to store less in the wardrobes to aid circulation? Can you buy something to leave inside wardrobe to help with problem?

Any suggestions welcome. Thanks.

I had a victorian solid wall house and the stuff inside of wardrobes could get mouldy. I think old houses just do get a bit mouldy especially in winter.

An obvious thing would move the wardrobes away from the walls, but sometimes that's not possible. If not, leaving a bit of a gap between wall and wardrobe helps.

You do need to get rid of it properly with a specialist product. My wardrobe wasn't real wood so I used bleach based stuff, there are other types of fungicide things.

I used an ecozone wardrobe dehumidifier thing and that helped enormously. And you only have to buy a replacement bag of salt thing when it's used up so it's pretty cheap/environmentally friendly and it doesn't smell of anything!

Sorry I should have clarified the wardrobes are backed directly onto the wall - it is fitted furniture.

In that case they might benefit from some ventilation to the wardrobe itself- making holes and fitting a grille. We had to do that with some cupboards.

I now live in a different old house and have clothes rails on the wall- no wardrobes as they are a pain in the arse!

You can get small hanging dehumidifier sachets (Acana brand) from John Lewis.
I find them very good. They just hang on the rails between the clothes.