I'm not sure this is the right place to post this, but maybe a moderator can help me with where to put this if this isn't right.

Yesterday we moved some items temporarily to a neighbor's house. We're picking them up tomorrow.
Today we found out that the neighbor had a home inspection, and they have mold in the closet of the bedroom where we stored the items.

The closet door has been open the whole time our belongings have been in that room.

Should we be concerned about mold spores getting on these items?

Some of the things are fabric covered, but most are in cardboard boxes.

I'm wondering if we should just trash the fabric covered items??

The items that are in cardboard boxes that are sealed with tape.....how likely is it that mold spores will have affected what's in the cardboard boxes? Should we clean what's in the boxes?? With what??

I also had some decorative door wreaths made of grapevine. They have ribbons and other decorative items on them. Would those need to be cleaned? With what??

Thank you for any advice you can give.

Thanks for any help you can give.

 

There are mold spores present in every cubic inch of air we breathe. Personally I would not be concerned in the least. Can't tell you what to be worried about and what not to.

 

XSleeper, So would you only be concerned about this if mold had come in contact with our items and not just "sharing the same air"?

 

Is mold growing on your items? If not, I would not be concerned. This is your call, not anyone elelse's.

If you have moldy cheese in the refrigerator, do you throw away the contents of the entire refrigerator? Similar scenario, imo...

 

So the whole "microscopic spores that can multiply" thing is just a bunch of hype, you think?

The other day I threw out a moldy strawberry and the ones touching the mold on that strawberry. 😂

 

Mold spores grow when the conditions are right for it. When the conditions are not favorable, the spores are just like any other allergen. I have nothing further to add.

 

If the items were in a room where mold was present does not mean mold was or is growing on your items since the conditions to support mold growth was somewhere else. And realistically, what can you do? Wipe the items down and call it done!

 

Marq1 I agree with you. I will wipe them down and throw the boxes away, but I'm a little confused about this part of your sentence: "since the conditions to support mold growth was somewhere else".

My items are in the room where the mold is currently growing.

 

If your items where stored long term there might be a concern but you'd see the evidence on your items. As noted above there really isn't cause for worry - only if you see evidence of mold. Mold takes 3 things to grow; a food source, heat and moisture. Take away any 1 of those 3 and it won't grow. Your neighbor likely had a moisture problem.

 

You're way over thinking this. Calm down and relax. As stated before we breath all kinds of molds and allergens. If fact if we didn't we would all be dead. The little contact that we have builds up immunity. As long as you don't have long contact with the mold from your neighbor's home, don't worry about it. The strawberry example is good. You don't throw away the whole quart, but just the moldy ones. Same with cheese (which by the way, is pretty much mold in of itself), you can cut away the moldy part eat the rest. And if you buy blue cheese, well, that is in fact mold!

 

Thanks marksr. We wiped the stuff down and called it done.

Thank you for your kindness, patience, and thorough explanation.