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Chock_Full_o__N's avatar
Oct 12, 2014

UGH. Mildew!--Update pg 2

We have had our little camper for a years and always kept it at our house. In April, we decided we no longer tow, so we took it up to the mountains and left it there at our favorite campground. Due to illness, we haven't been up there since May.

We went to the campground this week. When I opened the door, DH remarked that it smelled musty. When *I* walked in, I immediately smelled mildew! In all the years we have had the camper we have never had the first bit of mildew. I couldn't find any water or any wet places, but I did find that I had left the bathroom vent open. I'm thinking it just let the moisture in.

There were small patches of mildew on all the windows, some on the blinds, and inside of the bathroom closet. Interestingly, the couch, dinette benches and everything on the bed smelled fine. But the towels in the bathroom closet reeked of mildew, even though there was no mildew on them. Needless to say, I spent about 2 days wiping down all the surfaces with Clorox water and I brought home all the towels!

It smelled good when we left. I remembered to shut the vent and all the windows. I left the bathroom door and the closet door open and sprayed everything with Lysol, for good measure. Hopefully, I got all the mildew out of there. We'll know in 2 weeks when we return. If I smell mildew again, I'm going to be so upset.
  • Get a big dehumidifier, run it 24/7 and be sure to leave cabinets open.
  • I always dry out the fridge and freezer and leave the doors open. They didn't get mildewed at all. I sealed up all the windows because I thought maybe having the moist air come in was what caused the problem in the first place.
  • That's what is nice about Maxxair vent covers that allows the vents to be open even in the rain. I always crack the end windows under their covers. Also, keep the refrigerator doors open.
  • You would probably be better off leaving the windows cracked if possible to do so without water entering.

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