2002 Audi AllRoad Mold Removal/Restoration...Signature Detailing

Greg Gellas

I'm Greg :)
Haven't posted here much, I decided to add a post from some previous work I have done. Expect quite a few more write ups shortly once I get them all squared away...:)

First I want to thank DJ Mayo, David Fermani, and Barry Theal for their ideas and thoughts on this detail.
I got an email from the owner and said his Audi had some mold. I have done some light mold work before and wasn't too worried about it :cool1: I decided to go check out the car to put together a more exact estimate. This Audi had a leak coming from the firewall, causing the drivers side floor to be soaked. It was put away in a garage for about 4 months or so for the winter.
So what does 4 months of wet car interior look like...:sick1:

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After some discussion, and research, I decided to use an Enzyme Mold Cleaner called sporicidin. I knew this would be a two day project. I suited up, using a mask, gloves, long sleeve shirt tucked into the glove, and some old pants. I was going to throw away everything I was wearing so I looked like pretty silly :)
I diluted it in a bucket, and in a spray bottle. Not wanting the mold to get airborne I sprayed everything down with the sporicidin mixture and let it sit for a few minutes. Even after just spraying I saw a huge improvement. I was concerned about pitting on the leather but fortunately the mold wasn't on there long enough to pit the leather. I then continued to go over the entire interior with towels from the buckets rinsing after about every square foot or so, I wanted to remove it not spread it around.

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Even though I was using the sporicidin I decided to break out the steamer to assist in the mold killing. I have a Polti 2085 steamer that is absolutely amazing at producing steam, I don't know what I would have done without it. I steamed the carpets and lightly hit the seams of the leather. The air ducts were steamed also.
 
After Day 1 I went back to finish up. After setting up a mini dehumidifier all night I got about a quart of water. I included the cost of this in the detail and left it with the owner to ensure that the entire car got dry. He will be using it daily until no more water appears.

All of the leather was then cleaned and conditioned using Lexol. I decided to use the Lexol instead of Leathurique due to time. Any plastic was dressed using Optimum Protectant Plus.

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Thanks for looking as always Greg :D

If I could have removed interior pieces I would have, the customer declined.

If you get paid for a 1 step paint correction and can't get all the scratches out do you wetsand and do a complete two step? NO!! You do what you get paid to do.

I did assure him without complete removal of the interior I cannot guarentee full remediation. He understood that and still agreed. I did what I was contracted to do and that was clean the surface mold and anywhere I could get.


 
Great work! If I saw that car I would think it needed to go in the crusher, but now it looks like new!!! You still couldn't pay me to get in it since i know what it looked like though...lol
 
Saw this post a couple years ago (??) on another site.
Last year I had an fricking Expedition big dog with a very similar mold growth going on inside as well.

Remembered this post, and the Sporicidin product, got it, and it totally killed the mold
This vehicle had cloth seats so I had a lot more mold removal to deal with, but it all came out, the vehicle looked great and didnt have that sickly sweet-moldy smell any longer.
I was sick for a couple of weeks, with crap in my lungs I guess, but I eventually got over it.
Thinking next time, perhaps need to call the HazMat people out first and hopefully they can help me determine if this is a life-threatening situation or not..

Dan F
 
Flannigan, You know how many times I have heard that :D

Dan, the sporicidin product is really good, and it does help with the smell quite a bit. I wore a respirator, and threw out all the cloths I used on this job....
 
If a customer came to me with a car like this, I wouldn't want to do it because just looking at that makes you want to walk away. But then think of how nice it would look clean and how happy the customer would be. You sir took it head on.

Amazing job!! :yourrock
 
I'm afraid to look at the pics again, I think I should at least have a mask on. Nice job!

What about mold you can't see? Would fogging the car with something like chlorine dioxide (autovaccine) help? I have used this stuff in the past for oders and it worked well. Thoughts? What would you do outside of taking the car apart?
 
I'm afraid to look at the pics again, I think I should at least have a mask on. Nice job!

What about mold you can't see? Would fogging the car with something like chlorine dioxide (autovaccine) help? I have used this stuff in the past for oders and it worked well. Thoughts? What would you do outside of taking the car apart?

Unless it kills mold it will only "hide" the smell. If I were to run a small ozone machine for 2 days straight then maybee the mold would have been killed. I offered the extra service and was declined. I still don't know if ozone would penetrate through the carpet foam and kill the mold.
 
Unless it kills mold it will only "hide" the smell. If I were to run a small ozone machine for 2 days straight then maybee the mold would have been killed. I offered the extra service and was declined. I still don't know if ozone would penetrate through the carpet foam and kill the mold.

Sounds like they were passing the problem on to the next person which is unfortunate, and dangerous.

The autovaccine says it kills mold.
 
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