Mould on clothes & bedding (OK to wash?)

[Wilff]

An outer wall in our home has caused lots of mould on clothes and pillows we had stored in that corner. Is it okay to just wash them ?

Warmest, longest wash the fabric will tolerate, but yes, it should be fine

In my experience it doesn't come out 😥

It doesn't come out unfortunately 😩. I've had to bin so many things.

Just do them on 60 will a decent detergent, will be fine

We ended up with mould on our pillows and I threw them out, I wasn't convinced washing would completely get rid of it and the thought of breathing it in for 8 hours every night made me feel quite ill. I'd probably try washing the clothes to see if it comes out of them though

Spray with dilute bleach to kill the spores before washing.
It will take longer and probably sunlight to get the staining out but you can kill the mould and get things clean and healthy, though they won't look great. Redye if you can once the mould is all dead.

Pillows I would absolutely throw, you can’t risk breathing it in all night and supermarket cheap replacements are the way to go. Clothes, will probably be stained even if you kill it.

Bleach doesn’t kill mould. It will bleach it, though.

Vinegar and methylated spirit kills mould. Then you can wash it. Sometimes putting a thick layer of damp salt on and brushing off when dry can remove the stains.

@TheSandgroper what if there is no visible mould on it but the clothes were in a basket with other clothes with mould?

Wash it all again anyway with vinegar in the final rinse - a good slurp of it. Dry well.

Mould spores are very small. You never see the first one.

You'll probably have your chuck. Washing rarely gets it out.

@Mimi2022 Thinking a bit more - wipe the basket with vinegar as well and put into the sun or a good breeze and get it dry.