How to Treat Mold
We are not endorsing any particular product right now, as there are many on the market. The first remedy we suggest to people is prevention.
TO AVOID AND PREVENT MOLD
(Particularly for tents up for long periods of time or over winter /spring) Avoid pitching your tent in shady spots. Sun is your best defense against mold.
Air it out every day or two! This is so important. We have had customers have their tents up for many months on end with no reports of mold because they are aired out for several hours a day.
Never go away for extended periods of time and leave it up: unless you have adequate airflow and someone to air it out everyday Lotus Belle tents are 40% cotton, which is much higher than most canvas tents on the market. Blue Bohemian tents are 100% cotton this means the tents are much healthier and better for you but being a natural fabric it may need a little more maintenance.
Get one of our Wood Burning Stoves or run a dehumidifier in your tent if you are in a high humidity area. Take it down for extended rainy or monsoon period. We all know things go moldy in monsoon. Hose it down every few weeks. Just like a car, which doesn’t get clean, the paint will oxidize and then turn to rust. So hose your tent down to help prevent mold! Better yet a pressure wash will work wonders.
For small spots of mold, say the windows sills on the canvas blinds, a good natural remedy: Spray with diluted clove oil and water solution every month as a preventative in colder months or if it’s damp or humid where you live.
IF YOUR TENT GOES MOULDY
When you first spot any mold, treat it immediately. The longer you leave the issue, the worse it will get and the harder it is to treat. Treating mold is a 2 part process treating the mold and then reproofing the fabric:
1) Treating and killing the mold with a mold killer specially formulated for canvas tents. We get good feedback about Wet&Forget which is widely available across New Zealand, Australia at Mitre20 and exclusively available at Costco in the United States. Or go to a tent repair place as they have other products they can recommend (just make sure you let them know what the fabric we use is) and you can also buy products online.
2) You may need to re-proof your tent to maintain the waterproofing after its been treated with a canvas tent re-proofer. These can be purchased online. Those products can be Dynaproof in Australia and NZ and Dry Guy in USA.
*** If in doubt test-patch it out! We don’t know the condition of your canvas. If your tent is old and the canvas brittle please check buy test patching first ***
If your tent needs an extensive treatment for established mold or if your tent was packed away damp
Pressure wash the tent first.
Buy a decent weed sprayer to treat it. We like the nylex ones with the attachment.
A soft nylon brush or broom is ideal for cleaning before treatment with a very mild eco friendly detergent. Hose or Pressure wash with plenty of water.
Only use products from camping/tent shops that are safe on canvas. You may well be left with some black marks/staining. Unfortunately, it is tough to get these out without resorting to bleach or products that can and can harm the canvas. UV light will fade these marks over time. Keeping your tent up in the sun and weather will help fade this staining, but it may take weeks or months before you see results. This is why it’s so important to catch mold early!
