I try to avoid votes by email unless the issue is a slam dunk. Someone usually raises a minor discussion point and then it becomes difficult to sort it out (is this a fully revised proposal? what are the pros/cons of the new idea?). I find email votes good in theory but complicated in execution.
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Yea, I can see how it could get complicated if discussion needed. So far we’ve just done the slam dunk type of email votes (ie rubber stamping the church scholarship winners recommended by a subcommittee, when the winners were the only two to apply). Not sure what evidence needs to be kept - perhaps it would be enough to document in the next minutes.
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@Colorado_mom, I’m on a neighborhood board that has used Microsoft Outlook Polls for votes between our regular meetings. I only have a home use version of Outlook, but one of the members of the board has the business version and she creates the poll which all can access whether you have Outlook or not.
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Meanwhle, back to flylady.net – I browsed through. I really feel it’s a crappy sight. My offspring would never take it seriously. Does anyone know of a more sophisticated site with the same goals?
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Has anyone had any luck eliminating musty odors from vintage wood (in this case, teak) furniture?
Long background:
So far, neither baking soda or Odo-ban spray has done much good. I’m furious with myself for buying these two pieces from a dealer in another state without first seeing them. I fell for his videos showing extensive cleaning and restoration work, which he claimed to do to all pieces. It’s obvious he does not. They’re now in the small bedroom we use as an office with an air purifier that has a UV light running on high.
I’m very sensitive to mold/mildew as is our son who will be visiting in about six weeks. The pieces are big and heavy, so moving them out in the sun before we clean again will be hard. H did remove all drawers to the garage where we keep a window open.
We babysit in our home several days a week, so I’m glad we can at least keep them in a closed room with the air purifier running. There’s also an air purifier in the nursery.
Thanks for any advice.
My first thought was to literally set them out in the dry hot sun for several days. Bring them in a covered space at night if it gets dewy where you are
Do you think it’s the entire piece or like the drawers? The other idea is to get some charcoal bags
Angbo Activated Bamboo Charcoal… https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QHT1GHS?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
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Mold is apparently a huge problem for boat owners. Google moldy teak, and you will find links to many marine forums discussing the problem of moldy teak trim inside boats.
I don’t think I can link those here, but there are some useful suggestions mentioned in those forums.
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I had a 60 year old oak desk my father made and I had shipped to our home. It was musty as was their whole house. They lived in Pittsburgh area, I live in the rocky mountains. I used a lysol spray and a wipe, then put the drawers in direct sunlight for days. Turning them around at different angles frequently, and taking them in each night. That worked for us.
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Lysol and vinegar are good for mold. We successfully eliminated mold from an unused vehicle with lots of lysol. It did smell like Lysol for a long time but no more mold. Whatever you use, Lysol, vinegar, or something else, I’d use it on an inconspicuous area first and make sure it doesn’t harm the wood.
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Thanks, everyone. We can at least put the drawers outside when the weather cooperates. I’ll try some white vinegar next and look into the activated charcoal and the hints from boat owners. The latter never occurred to me. The dealer suggested the Odo-ban, then three hours later said I should not use it on the exterior.
I’m willing to do whatever I can to clean these pieces. Their size and style is perfect. If I don’t get good results pretty soon, I’ll just have to write off the cost as an expensive lesson learned.
I had some nice mahogany family antique furniture (with paint of 2 colors) that spent some time in a barn in Maryland. Luckily it did not smell too bad… and it spent over a year at the furniture refinishing workshop. Looking back we were fortunate there was no mold or mildew.
This idea won’t solve the teak furniture problem (especially when there are allergies involved), but I’ll mention for others tha tsometimes cotton balls dipped in vanilla can mask a smell. I also like vanilla candles.
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I am not a fan of using one smell to cover up another. Scents make me sneeze terribly, too.
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Shockwave. FEMA uses this stuff after floods for mold remediation:
https://www.amazon.com/Shockwave-RTU-Disinfectant-Cleaner-Gallon/dp/B07D4PTFNG
Put it in a spray bottle and spray enough on so that it will take 10 minutes to dry. Make sure you work it into the joints in the wood. Repeat if necessary.
I used this stuff on pretty much my entire house after pulling up 2500 sq ft of 50 year old moldy carpet. It works great.
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Thanks, I will try this if the current round of cleaning/treatment is not successful. The white vinegar/water solution and the Lysol disinfectant seem to be helping. H can no longer smell the musty odor but I can, which is not unusual.
I should go ahead and order the Shockwave cleaner today to have it ready, just in case. If we don’t need it for this furniture, it will surely be useful later. Our new area is more humid than where we used to live.
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What would you do?
We rented a very nice beach house last week. Saw a few ants in the kitchen. Called rental co, and they sent ant traps out right away. We stayed all week, and didn’t see many ants.
Friend rented a very nice beach house this week. They saw a couple of roaches, and left the property, never to return. They called rental company late in the day, and company sent pest control the next day. (They will not get a refund, so lots of money down the drain, and now they are paying to stay in hotel).
I’m honestly not sure what I would have done.
I don’t love bugs but unless a place was infested, I’d go back after the pest control company treatment. Not sure I would even have left for a few bugs in the first place, especially in a hot beach climate. Palmetto bugs and the such are kind of par for the course.
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I agree, something like bed bugs is one thing, but harmless bugs unless in huge quantities is sometimes part of a trip in a natural/outdoor location. I might leave for the pest control day/24 hours but I don’t have the $$$ to throw away double on a hotel!
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Yeah I agree. Bedbugs are a whole different ballgame. I MIGHT leave for fleas since we have 4 cats. But anything else? Nah. We see roaches regularly in my workplace. Nice gigantic ones. But I’m also the person who tries to relocate spiders and stink bugs outside vs kill them.
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For ants or roaches I wouldn’t have even reported anything, much less left.
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Unless it was the roach apocalypse I would have returned after the pest control people had come out.
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