[Nick Johnston]

Hi guys

I've been asked to find a solution for a medical equipment supplies company, which has imported 100 electric armchairs (the type which push a person from seated to standing position). The armchairs have come from China and are individually packed, but it seems as though the wooden packing slats were damp when the items were shipped as each chair has a fine coating of mould.

I have successfully cleaned mouldy mattresses and upholstery before, using HWE and Prochem Microsan, to kill the spores. However, as the armchairs have electrical components, my client wants to find a process which does not involve HWE, such as wiping the mould with a chemical solution (Microsan plus something else, perhaps?).

All replies will be much appreciated.

Nick

[the red carpet]

For what its worth, i brought a car once at auction and it had mould like this on the seats, so i took it to a car valeting place that cleaned it with a karcher machine and it never came back.

However to be on the safe side i guess you had better use somthing to kill it, i wouldnt know what to use myself but if you say microsan does it, why not pre-spray with that and then mini-tex it?

Ps, why do i never get these jobs sounds like a nice little earner 100 armchairs, i just get called to do the odd lounge
Where did the lead come from y/p?

[Nick Johnston]

Thanks for the reply, red carpet. I think even a Minitex would be too large to fit into the crevasses in the chair, but nice idea.

The lead came from Yell.com, but of course I dazzled them with my charm, wit, film star looks and sparkling personality.

Nick

[John Kelly]

That is Chinese Pig Parma fungi. It is highly dangerous...only joking. I would get the chairs dried off a soon as possible. Once dry, vac off the fungal growths with a hepa vacuum, using a respirator. Then I would just sponge it down with Microsan or similar. However I would advise them that the visible mould is just the surface growth and the actual mould will have penetrated the whole fabric and that extarction cleaning would be the most thorough method.

[Nick Johnston]

Guys

Thanks for your great advice. I start tomorrow cleaning chairs in return for the tidy sum of £1,500.

The client agreed to do the job properly (HEPA vac, Microsan, HWE rinse, dry).

Cheers

Nick

[*paul_moss]

Nick
As John states thourough vaccing will remove the surface mould and it is also not dangerous so dont worry.
However once the surface dried mould spores have been removed there may still be staining dependant on the surface material.
This is not always moveable and may be permanent.

Using an acidic based cleaner ( even citric acid) with the relevent dwell time will kill the spores in the fabric.
You will then need to extract but as I stated earlier lighter staining may still br prevelent which is none reversable.

It does depend on fabric and length of spore onset time.

If this is the case the only other remedy may be recolouring/dying