Mold - on LP covers

[kach22i]

I plan on cleaning all of my records with No. 6 enzyme and replace the sleeves of anything I clean.

However that leaves the original cardboard covers.

At random I picked out an LP that I do not know how I got, I never bought it. Carole King's debut album "Writer", it looked to be in great shape including the cover.

However as I read the cover and as it lays beside me as the LP plays my throat is starting to burn from the mold.

I just counted the rows of LP's in my collection and about a quarter of my collection is LP's given to me or my wife. I mean it's the whole bottom row of a 6' x 6' Ikea Kallax.

I need to kill a lot of mold, and before it migrates into my regular collection.

Ideas?

I do not know how many of these orphaned LP's have mold in them, just going to assume all of them are infected.

 

[treitz3]

Hello, kach22i and good evening to you sir.

The very first thing you have to do is find out what is causing the mold issue. Whether it be through an HVAC vent, a leaking pipe, something that trickles down from above....whatever the case may be? Mold does not present itself unless there is something feeding it.

Get rid of the problem first, otherwise you are fighting an win less battle.

THEN work on restoring what you can.

Tom

 

[kach22i]

Hello, kach22i and good evening to you sir.

The very first thing you have to do is find out what is causing the mold issue. Whether it be through an HVAC vent, a leaking pipe, something that trickles down from above....whatever the case may be? Mold does not present itself unless there is something feeding it.

Get rid of the problem first, otherwise you are fighting an win less battle.

THEN work on restoring what you can.

Tom

Tom, maybe I was not clear.

75 percent of my collection is my collection and it is mold free and always has been.

25 percent of the collection is from parts unknown. Stuff my wife thought I might want and brought it home where it sat in boxes on the first floor of our old home for several years before we sold the home 9 months ago and moved into our new home.

I only unpacked my records a few months ago and along with them these other records with unknown histories.

I never looked at the stuff before a few days ago when I had to relocate my record rack, and only played one of them today.

So the original source of the mold was someone else's basement many years ago.

So how do I kill the mold before it migrates?

If you do not have an answer, then just fine.

I will Google it.

I just finished spraying my listening room with disinfectant including the offending LP jacket cover.

I also took a sani-wipe to my TT platter and anything the record or jacket touched which means I sprayed my clothes too.

 

[treitz3]

Mold will not migrate if it has no source for food to do so. Wipe off what you can. Steam clean the LP's, replace the sleeves and you are good to go.

Tom

 

[kach22i]

Mold will not migrate if it has no source for food to do so. Wipe off what you can. Steam clean the LP's, replace the sleeves and you are good to go.

Tom

I have a drapery steamer that I've used on a few dirty used LP's before, something tells me to do this outside.

I found this post below while doing a search.

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/mold-on-lps-and-record-sleeves-help

Your FIRST step can be a 20% bleach solution with water, followed by a thorough rinse, followed by cleaning with one of the cleaning fluids mentioned. Be sure to clean the label and the center hole where mold spoors may also be hiding and can cause a recurrence. (Use a Q-Tip style cotton swab to clean inside the center hole.)

Only after killing the mold on ALL your LPs with the bleach solution and rinse, should you go back to the lengthier task of cleaning each LP. It is important to first stop further damage from the mold continuing to feast on the vinyl grooves of your LPs.

For the record jackets, I've used a combination of 20% bleach with a two tablespoon of TSP per gallon of water. Use a sponge, wring it out to just damp, and wipe down all exterior and interior surfaces of the jacket. (CAREFULLY check a small section of the outside jacket FIRST to be sure this solution is not going to adversely affect the jacket.) Insert something inside the jacket to hold it open for 24 hours until it thoroughly dries.

TSP is trisodium phosphate (Borax).

It is what a lot of articles recommend to use on wood and so forth.

Mold migrates once released into the air, it migrated to the back of my throat for instance.

I never opened these "free" LP's before. They do not look moldy at all, but it's in there lying in wait.

 

[kach22i]

Read ammonia, vinegar and other things people were guessing at, then found the below.

https://www.vinylengine.com/turntable_forum/viewtopic.php?t=19962

You may make it look better, but that cover is impregnated with mold spores. Even a new plastic slip cover for the album will allow those microscopic spores into the grooves of the album, and if it gets humid, they grow on the LP again, or if they stay in their "inert" stage, they'll act like dust in the grooves. How to kill mold spores? Chlorine, bromine, iodine, florine and some of their compounds and strong UV "A" rays (fades the cover) or rather extended dry heat ( electric oven at 250* F for several hours???). My brother-in-law DIED of a mold infection (mucormycosis) in 5 days! (Worst week of my life, including my trip to SE Asia for the USAF). Three major surguries to his BRAIN to try and cut it out. My "moldy-oldie" garage/yard sale LP's get a color copy made of the cover and back, then new "blank" covers and plastic sleeves. I glue the color copies on the plain album covers, and get the nasty stuff out of the house. I use a 3M disposable resporator ($5) when working around moldy albums. Yes, I am scared now. I want YOU to think about it too. :shock

:

 

[Al M.]

Read ammonia, vinegar and other things people were guessing at, then found the below.

https://www.vinylengine.com/turntable_forum/viewtopic.php?t=19962
:

Yes, you need to get rid of the covers. As for the LPs themselves, I'm not sure if bleach is entirely harmless. You should try on one LP (let sit for 5 minutes at least) and then play it, after thoroughly washing away the bleach, rinsing with distilled water and another regular cleaning in your record cleaner. And yes, wear a dust mask!! Goggles might also help since you don't want to enter the mold into your body through the eyes either.

Yet honestly, given that those are not your LPs, and you never played them, how important can they be? I'd rather not risk health. Consider explaining to your wife that you appreciate her thoughtfulness in getting you the collection, but that there are unforeseen mold problems that may cause serious health issues, and then simply throwing away all those LPs. With gloves, and handling them vigorously only after you have carefully brought the boxes outside the house.

It's not that those are cherished treasures that you enjoyed before and now need to save.

The guy that you quote is right. You should be scared. Especially if you have to handle such a large collection for hours on end.

Wet mold is a bit less concerning because the spores are not readily flying through the air, as they are with dry mold.

 

[kach22i]

Thank you for in input Al M.

I'm going to put on one of my Covid masks today and vacuum clean the carpet and suck up any dust acting as hosts for the mold spores.

Then replace the vacuum bag, seal it and carry it outside, but before I do this will suck clean my Hunt brush.

I'm so glad I did not use my Record Doctor and get that mold inside of my machine. Things could be worse.

The fact that I have a Thunderon brush on the way in the mail means the Hunt brush will be sucked clean, sanitized and stored in a ziplock for emergency use only. The cigar box it was in bleached or tossed.

Beautiful day here, going to lock the cat in the bathroom and air out the whole house.

These albums of unknown origins pose no threat unless opened and disturbed. Maybe one day I will attempt to rescue them, but I want to get my vintage Porsche back on the road first. I was in the middle of doing the brakes when winter came early, gotta finish what I started.