anniec55

I read somewhere that you could put a bar of "Safeguard" in to get out the smell.... but that doesn't rid you of the mold.... you might try Lysol followed by the Safeguard. and see if that doesn't work..

Airwick156

When our van broke down right after we moved over to the Oregon coast and bought our house, The back door on the van had not been totally closed and we didn't know it. And since it seemed to rain over there all the time, rain and moisture had gotten inside that door and the red carpeting inside half the length of the van was MAJORLY MAJORLY moldy and mildewed even up the side of the one wall. I called EVERYWHERE to find out how to get rid of it. And this is what we were told by a car lot that does detail work... Try to dry it out if you can first and then Get a spray bottle and fill it 1/2 way up with regular old rubbing alcohol and the other half of water and go and spray everywhere on the carpet that has the mold and mildew. Wear face mask, and brush it off and then spray it again Let it dry and repeat if needed. This particular car dealer I called says that is what they do to all the cars and trucks that have mold or mildew in them.
We had mold growing inside one of our closets at the top of the stairs right next to our front door that we rarely even open and one day my husband was in there and saw the whole right side and half of the back wall in it moldy...yelled to me to get the mold spray and I did and sprayed it and wiped the walls down and to this day have never had anymore mold in there nor is there any in the van that we are still driving and this was back in 2003. So give it a try...it can't hurt and you can buy the alcohol at the dollar store.

Prism99

Airwick's solution (no pun intended!) sounds great! After you get rid of the mold spores, you might want to put a pair of Odoreaters brand charcoal shoe insoles inside the case. That's what I do. The charcoal keeps the case sweet-smelling and also cushions the machine.

Hen3rietta

I've got lots of alcohol around. I'll give that a try tomorrow. I was actually wondering if something like that would work. It's essentially the basic ingredient of hand sanitizers.

Thanks!

2000HD

While stationed in the UK I bought a old curio cabinet that smelled to high heaven. I scrubbed it with everything you can think of. Dragged it in and out of the sun. Still if it was closed up it would stink,,,just not as bad. When we packed out I put some bunches of dried flower inside of the cabinet so they wouldn't get crushed. To my surprise when I unpacked the cabinet a few weeks later it didn't stink.
Now if I run into something like that I clean it and then put a bowl full of potpourri in it and close the door for a few weeks.

cabinfever

200Watts sounds a bit hot, you won't want to start a fire. Why not try the slow bake approach. Dave, the "Those fantastic FW's" author, suggests about a 25w light bulb mounted to a wood board, and be sure it doesn't come in physical contact with the sides anywhere. propping the lid closed (except for the cord coming out) for several hours. He suggests checking on it as well, & not leaving it unattended for fire safety. Just cut your board a bit smaller than the bottom of your case, mount a ceramic "lampholder" to the wood, wire it with a lampcord with a plug (wire must be rated for the wattage of the bulb you plan to use). Screw in your lightbulb, set it all in the case, plug it in, pull the chain to turn on the light & close lid... but Please don't use a 200 Watt bulb! I believe he also used a diluted mixture of bleach & water as a fine mist spray prior to the lightbulb treatment being put in place.
Similar to: http://www.lightinguniverse.com/prod...72785&cse=1658 Home depot/Lowe's has these for less I'm sure. You could probably get one @ a Habitat Restore cheaply. I advise the pull-chain variety if you don't like the arc when plugging & unplugging things.

justlooking

Thanks for the ideas!

lucniak

to restore mildew in antigues not sure about case. But if you take charcoal (plain) and close it ,we used to this with old books and some storage boxes.

quilt3311

I put several dryer sheets inside and left it for a week, ten opened and set in direct sunlight for several days. It worked and got rid of all the musty smell. Keep a dryer sheet in the bottom now. hope that helps.

Hen3rietta

I got the 200W figure from the McCallum website, but then on another website quoting the same person the wattage was 150. He recommends a mechanics cage light but I was more to your way of thinking with a ceramic base.

I think however, I'm going to try the alcohol spray first and see if that takes care of it. Or maybe alcohol and a lower wattage heat source. If it were anything else, I'd just douse it with bleach.

Thanks again everyone, for all your suggestions. I'll let you know how my experiments turn out.