Help - mold on schach mat

Goldie613

Tue, Oct 17 2017, 7:19 am

It rained over sukkos and a family member's sukkah schach mat (brand new - bought right before sukkos) got moldy.

Any suggestions for cleaning off the mold, not to mention anything they can do to avoid this problem in the future?

Thanks!

amother

Khaki

Tue, Oct 17 2017, 7:47 am

Perhaps, spray it with bathroom mold remover and let it dry outside in the sun.
You have to make sure it's 100% dry before folding it.
DH doesn't put it away until it hasn't rained for 3 days straight.
Kinda hard in hurricane season.

watergirl

Tue, Oct 17 2017, 8:05 am

If its new from Sukkah Depot - this is all over facebook and Dans Deals. Tons of people are reporting that their brand new bamboo mats, bought from Sukkah Depot - are moldy. Call and tell them. They are offering money back, but hurry because they dont seem thrilled about it.

zaq

Tue, Oct 17 2017, 8:19 am

Immerse in diluted bleach solution or hydrogen peroxide, then rinse and allow to dry completely, preferably in the sun.

ra_mom

Tue, Oct 17 2017, 9:32 am

In my experience, it's gone. No matter how much you bleach and sun dry it and clean the surface, the spores are inside the wood and mold will continue to grow while you store it until next year. I wouldn't want that in my house or to sit in a sukkah with that over me. Unless you have a cellar type storage place where it wouldn't hurt anyone to store it and see what it looks like by the time next succos comes around. I'm really sorry if happened. We stopped spending a lot lf money on our mats because they mold so easily.

lavenderchimes

Tue, Oct 17 2017, 10:13 am

I would use white vinegar rather than bleach, and definitely let it sit out in the sun! But DON'T rinse the vinegar off. I agree that you will likely have problems with the mold coming back, especially depending on how/where you are storing it. So, keep an eye on it. Hatzlacha!

shabbatiscoming

Tue, Oct 17 2017, 2:58 pm

Just get rid of it. Mold is not something to play around with. Even if you are able to get rid of it all, the mold spores can still be alive in the wood and then putting it away all wrapped up for a year will almost certainly come out next sukot with mold again. Just not worth anyones health.

amy613

Tue, Oct 17 2017, 4:10 pm

Hi. I also got mold on my schach. I just bought it from Leiters. They said it happened to everyone due to especially humid weather (Im assuming they mean in NY?) And offered a small discount to buy new ones. Isnt it rainy or humid often on sukkot? These mats were expensive. I cant imagine buying them every year or two. Is it true a lot of people got mold this year? Were they a bad batch to begin with?

ra_mom

Tue, Oct 17 2017, 6:35 pm

amy613 wrote:

We now look for cheaper ones as we realize they need to be replaced every 2 years. We don't buy the brand names anymore as they're too expensive and not any better (lately, possibly, even worse).

watergirl

Tue, Oct 17 2017, 6:49 pm

We get the ones from Home Depot - the crc says which ones are good. Last year and this year, they listed 2 specific ones. Super cheap and after 2 years using them, they look great.

Goldie613

Wed, Oct 18 2017, 12:10 am

I hadn't realized that this was happening to so many people, or that some mats were better than others. When my relative told me about it I was stumped, as I'd never heard of this before.

I think they are trying to see if it's salvageable, in the hopes that they won't have to replace it, but they do realize that there's a strong possibility that they are just going to have to get a new one.

From what everyone is posting it seems like people haven't had much mazel with clearing this up. Has anyone been able to get rid of the mold on these mats and keep it from coming back? What about the bamboo poles that a lot of us used to use - are those more resistant to mold?

amother

Cyan

Wed, Oct 18 2017, 12:17 am

watergirl wrote:

We get the ones from Home Depot - the crc says which ones are good. Last year and this year, they listed 2 specific ones. Super cheap and after 2 years using them, they look great.

Which brand? How much are they?

Goldie613

Wed, Oct 18 2017, 12:21 am

watergirl wrote:

Can you post a link or a source for this? I hadn't seen this online, and I'd love to be able to reassure my family members that it's not just them, that it's nothing that they did that caused this, etc. Thanks!

Sara89

Wed, Oct 18 2017, 5:19 am

This happened to ours that we bought this year. We called where we got it from and they said it happened to a lot of ppl this year due to the exceptionally hot sukkos weather this year combined with the rain. They said normally they should last much longer. They are replacing it for us.

watergirl

Wed, Oct 18 2017, 5:58 am

amother wrote:

Which brand? How much are they?

Here is the link - please note that there is a specific way to put them up. The crc explains it. https://www.dansdeals.com/misc.....epot/

Last edited by watergirl on Wed, Oct 18 2017, 6:06 am; edited 1 time in total

watergirl

Wed, Oct 18 2017, 5:59 am

Goldie613 wrote:

No, I saw a cut/paste from dans deals, not a link. Are you in jwtaa? You can do a search in that group.

amother

Skyblue

Thu, Sep 30 2021, 1:39 pm

Our schach that we bought right after last year succos (was half price then,) is moldy. So upsetting. Any solutions?

shabbatiscoming

Thu, Sep 30 2021, 2:57 pm

amother [ Skyblue ] wrote:

Our schach that we bought right after last year succos (was half price then,) is moldy. So upsetting. Any solutions?

As I wrote 4 years ago when this thread was started, just chuck it. Mold, if not properly cleaned and aired will just grow and grow through the year and be much worse by next sukot.

ra_mom

Thu, Sep 30 2021, 2:59 pm

amother [ Skyblue ] wrote:

Our schach that we bought right after last year succos (was half price then,) is moldy. So upsetting. Any solutions?

I'm sorry 😞

amother

Fuchsia

Thu, Sep 30 2021, 3:23 pm

We do not get much sun on our deck. We use poles because they are “shiny” and the water runs off and they don’t mold as easily.
We had mats and they molded 1/2 through YT. The bamboo is softer and not coated like the poles. We tossed them. Tried again a second time.
Poles for us.