I should have been careful but I wasn’t. I went out for a week and then, boom! After my first night back home I smelled something funny and it was my futon… I sleep on a hard floor, not tatami. I guess I should have done something before leaving, but I didn’t.
I bought this futon one year ago more or less from Amazon, it doesn’t have any removable parts or so.
I have been trying to give it a sunlight bath on the last couple of sunny days and I bought a Widejet product (like a mist sprayer) that is supposed to fight against mold and kill 99% of germs from clothing (?). I have also put some sodium bicarbonate powder on it. The smell has been solved but I have no idea if it is still moldy inside (because of the black dots there)
Here’s a picture. The dots are only on one side of the futon: https://imgur.com/a/PIEAn6Y
Is there any way to save it?
Edit: Thank you very much for your suggestions! I think it’s time to buy a new one…
8 comments
Yep, that’s mold. You can kill the mold but cannot get rid of the black stains. I personally wouldn’t be able to stand sleeping on it so I would get rid of that futon and buy a new one.
Since it’s white, you can spray it with some カビキラー (bleach) which will get rid of the stains and kill any mould left over.
What is worth more to you, your health, or the 8000en to buy a new futon?
Put the futon in a large plastic bag. Squeeze the air out, pour in a half bottle of isopropyl alcohol (like the kind you buy for washing hands) and seal the bag. Wait 24 hours and then remove and let it evaporate. Any fungus will be killed.
Just buy a new one
They are so damn cheap just buy a new one. Literally futons are like 3-4000円 at Nittori?
Meh I live in a trash hovel.
It’s completely fine after you wash it. Just the stains won’t go away
Before you go away, and also weekly anyway, you should lift the futon onto its side for some air circulation and drying, if you do not have a dehumidifier running 24/7. That’s just part of the routine if you have it directly on the floor.
You can also get pallet beds off Amazon so you still have the floor bed style but it has a few cm of air circulation underneath. Assuming you have a small bedroom you still get the feeling of space of having a floor bed yet the critical circulation too.