Matt Kelly, the Mold Man, explains why people store moldy items: they need to leave fast, don't know what can be salvaged, and struggle to throw things away. Storage doesn't kill mold or mycotoxins, it just buys time. He walks through cleaning approaches like outdoor spray stations and products like EC3 and Decon30 before moving anything to a new space.
All right, why do we pack things up and put them into storage? You've read it lots of times in mold groups. I recommended it to people. But why are we talking about packing up moldy items and putting them in storage? Well, number one, when things are going into storage, it's nicer to clean them first if you can, because it's not fun to go back, open up a lid of mold. Okay, so let me preempt it with that. But sometimes it's just a matter of timing. Like sometimes people have to get out quick. You know, a wall was opened up, it's full of mold, the kids are getting sick or yourself, and you got to get out, pack stuff up, put it into storage. Practicality is number one. Another reason why is because there are things that you're not sure if they can be cleaned or not. Okay, so you've got permeable, you've got non permeable, you've got semi permeable. And that's kind of that gray area where you're like, is this okay or not? Let's just pack it up and deal with it later. I made a couple notes here. I don't. I want to make sure I don't miss anything for you. The obvious thing is to make sure that you're not bringing problematic items with you. Maybe there are these semi permeable items that you're wondering about in the middle. And it's like, is this going to be okay or not? So you put it in storage and you're going to test it later, clean it first, clean it and test it later, and bring it in to make sure if it's okay to have in your home or not. And when you move things to storage, whether it's just for practicality or it's semi permeable or you don't have time to clean it, it's just a way to put off cleaning it or put off getting rid of it, you know, because that's hard. Depending on what these items are, it's emotionally hard to get rid of a lot of these things that have to be getting rid of sometimes depending on your health issues. So you're just delaying that. But as you get healthier, you can go back to storage. You can pull out one of those totes and, you know, spray it down. You got EC3, you got total clean, you got decon 30, all these options. You can set up a cleaning station outside with a folding table, use an air compressor, blow everything off first, stand up, wind and then spray it down, clean it, wash it, spritz it again, whatever your process is. But you can do it later. So putting it in storage buys you time, buys you time on making tough decisions, you know, and it gives you the ability to really clean these things well later before you bring them in and test them in your new space. Because you can't just move these tubs of items from your old place unless you're going to cross contaminate. Nobody wants to cross contaminate. So many people have burned their next place by bringing stuff in that couldn't be cleaned well or wasn't cleaned well or they thought was cleaned well and it's not. And that's kind of worst case scenario when you're moving. Right? But the idea of putting things in storage doesn't resolve a problem. Mold doesn't die in storage. Mycotoxins can't die because they're not alive. So you're not losing that. So. So there is no direct benefit in the mold or mycotoxins going down. You're just protecting yourself from the items, buying yourself time so that you can try cleaning them later and slowly reintroducing them. Hope that helps.
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