Prevention Of Pungent Smell From Wardrobe

[myqutey 0]

1. Leave some corn flour in your cupboard for a few days (the flour will absorb the smell).

2. Make sure nothing damp in your cupboard.

3. Fragrance your wardobe with chemical-free fragrances. My favourite way is to hang dried orange peels together with a (opened) packet of several cinammon sticks. Put under clothes too if you want. The other chemical-free fragrance you can use is organic essential oils.

4. Air or have a fan "blow" your internal cupboard once in a while. Stagnant air can smell mouldy and old. Better still, expose your internal wardrobe to some sunlight (possible if your cupboard is on rollers where moving it to a sunnier spot is more convenient.) Beware of sanitizers that get rid of smell but NOT the germs!

Very hard to find furniture that do not use some kind of chemicals but consumers can make a difference if you make your opinion known to these furniture sellers. The more people who request for this, the more the furniture industry feels a need to switch to less harmful substances for manufacturing furniture. (My humble opinion!)

Edited September 1, 2010 by myqutey

[Topspin 1]

In my case, the musty and offensive smell in my wardrobe is usually caused by mold. To control it, I use a drying agent such as calcium chloride (e.g. thirsty hippo, etc). Mold cannot thrive in dry air. Agree, they are costly to use in the long run so I will just recycle the spent calcium chloride. It is easy to do. In fact I don't even need to buy them in those fancy packaging such as Thristy Hippo. I buy the dehydrated calcium chloride salt in 1 kg bags from hardware shops for about $10.

While the calcium chloride is inside the wardrobe, I try to keep the door closed as much as possible to avoid moist air entering the wardrobe.

I pour the salt into a shallow plastic container. After a few days/weeks, the container will be full of water. The salt absorbs water vapour from the air and remove moisture in clothes, books, wood, etc. I would pour the water into an unused pot (I find enamel pot the best, avoid porous earthen pots as the salt will leach thru the pot. I have used a cheap stainless steel pot once but the salt caused the pot to rust badly). Heat the solution in a low flame. After two or three hours or when the volume reduces by 50%, the solution will become thick. When cooled it becomes crystallised and solidify therefore, pour the thick solution back into your plastic container while warm. After it is cool enough, place them back into your wardrobe. Then repeat the process when it is full of water again.

(Warning: the boiling point of the thick salt solution is about 150 degC, so be careful handling it. It is very much hotter than boiling water. It is as hot as boiling oil. Don't use the thin baking aluminum tray as a container for the salt solution. The salt will attack the aluminum within a few days and cause a leak)

Edited December 14, 2010 by Topspin

[EV-Disinfection 0]

Hmmmm.... musky smell = mold infection,

once infected almost anything you do would be a temporary solution.

The vhive furniture, advise is to paint it with a semi or high gloss paint.