Shower Curtain Smells Like Mildew – How To Fix It?
A shower curtain is an essential bathroom accessory that has various functions: it provides privacy, helps prevent water from getting outside the shower or bathtub as well as serves as decoration. But due to bathrooms’ limited ventilation and high moisture levels, mildew easily starts growing on them making them smell and look ugly. In order to maintain high-level hygiene and a fresh-smelling environment, study these tips on how to remove mold from shower curtain!
Why does a shower curtain smell musty or start molding
Unless you own a mildew-resistant shower curtain, you’ve probably dealt with ugly pinkish or black spots on it. This happens because fungi spores from the air settle on the accumulation of moisture on your shower curtain and turn into mold and mildew.
These fast-multiplying fungus spores can quickly appear and reproduce on both plastic and fabric shower curtains. They are most likely to accumulate along the deep, dark folds of a shower curtain, where there’s little exposure to the air for drying to occur.
The presence of mold in your home is not only an aesthetical issue but also causes a musty smell in the bathroom, moreover can be hazardous to your respiratory and immune systems. So deep cleaning your bathroom including the curtains and other covering such as bathroom mats should be added to your monthly job list.
Hence, consider the cleaning options below as soon as your shower curtain smells like mildew even if there is no visible sign of molding, but immediately when you see black spots on it!
How to remove mold and from shower curtains effectively
While plenty of cleaning solvents on the market can help eliminate the mold and thus get the smell out of your shower curtain, many contain harsh chemicals. You can use more natural items from around the house to formulate your own cleaning solution to get pinkish mildew and black mold off!
People have all types of shower curtains. Some have plastic or fabric ones, while others place a plastic shower curtain liner between them and their decorative fabric shower curtain. Depending on what material/fabric your shower curtain is made from, you may wash it in your washing machine too to freshen it up. To do so, make sure to spot-treat any visible mold using the below-mentioned mixtures, and always check the instructions on the label to make sure you are choosing the right temperature/program.
Create a solvent using peroxide, water and baking soda
A widely used household disinfectant, hydrogen peroxide combined with baking soda that is known for its odor-removing benefits are brilliant if it comes to cleaning mildew from shower curtains and liners.
They are both budget-friendly and can be used on various surfaces. Hydrogen peroxide is a disinfectant because it kills yeasts, bacteria, viruses, and mold spores, while sodium bicarbonate is an excellent scrubber that leaves no scratches behind while absorbing odors.
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Mix one part of water into two parts hydrogen peroxide. Spray this solution all over your moldy shower curtain and allow it to work for up to ten minutes to loosen up dirt, residue and mold. Then rinse it with fresh water and apply a baking soda paste on it (a mixture of baking soda with a few tablespoons of water). Scrubbing the curtain with this mixture will help to remove mold spots and will also help get rid of musty smells!
Formulate a vinegar, water and baking soda solution
If you’re struggling to figure out how to remove mold from a shower curtain naturally, the well-known vinegar-baking soda formula -which is an all-rounder natural cleaning solution- will never fail! When these two ingredients are mixed, the solution releases carbon dioxide gas that helps loosen up dirt from the surfaces. Also, vinegar works as a disinfectant, while baking soda is a deodorizer so the surfaces you are cleaning will not only be clean but also free from bacteria and fresh smelling.
First, put on a pair of gloves to protect your skin. Mix one part of water with an equal amount of vinegar in a spray bottle, spread out your curtain so that there’s no bunching before spraying it with this mixture, and distribute the mixture with a rag across the entire curtain.
Over the moldy area, you’ll want to use a brush to apply baking soda so you can scrub the spots easily. When you are done, rinse the curtain with fresh water then hang it to dry.
Use a bleach, water and detergent mixture
When your shower curtain smells like mildew, using bleach will help! It is a powerful disinfectant that kills odor-causing bacteria to make your bathroom smell fresh and clean again!
Remove the shower curtain and soak it in the tub you’ve filled with warm water adding a few caps of bleach. Allow it to sit for up to 15 minutes then change the water to lukewarm soapy water. Leave in this mixture for ten minutes to get rid of the strong bleach smell, then rinse it with clean water, wring it out, and hang it up to dry.
Soak it in salty water to prevent mildew
After you’ve cleaned your shower curtain, you want it to keep from mildewing as much as possible. Good news that there is no need to buy expensive, chemical-containing products because it can be done all naturally using another ingredient from your kitchen pantry, salt!
Fill your tub up with warm water and mix in two cups of salt until dissolved, then submerge the curtain in the water for 30 minutes. When done, just drain the tub and hang the curtain back up (don’t rinse it) so that it can air dry. This is an approach that many housekeeping professionals use to as a preventative measure to keep mold and mildew at bay since salt-water forms a layer on the fabric so it will be more resistant to mildew forming.
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