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Hi

I simply must post to let you know last Sunday I was mortified and very close to tears as I discovered our inner bedrooms had got mouldy in the space of a few days and after being left out to air in the garage.

I searched around here for advice and decided to put them in the washing machine, whilst the awful smell disappeared we were left with very unsightly black stains. I thought they were very off putting and did not fancy sleeping in them. So I decided nothing ventured, nothing gained, today I mixed up some bleach and hot water and sprayed it onto the bedrooms whilst they were on the washing line (holding my breath in case of damage). Well the marks almost went in front of my eyes. It was great, so mush so that I got carried away and even done the bits that wre not white, no problems another quick wash in the machine and they are as good as new!!!

I am so happy now I have been telling everyone how it has all gone. I am just so chuffed to have my tent back into A1 condition. Funnily enough the flysheet was not affected, just the bedrooms.

Rosemary

Hi everyone

No I wouldn't dare use it on the flysheet, was very worried about using it on the bedrooms, although I think it would have taken a lot to get used to the black stains.

When we took the tent down it was absolutely peeing down, everything got wet!. On Monday when we got home we dumped the very wet tent in the garage  took the damp bedrooms out of the bag and fluffed them up, so air could circulate, and the week that followed was very wet!! So venturing out to the garage only happened once to give everything a shake no mould spotted then. On the Saturday we pitched the flysheet only to give it an airing and provide shelter for my daughters 4th birthday party, bedrooms remained in garage. On the Sunday we got them out to air on washing line and horror!!!

I just did not know what else to do so tested a small part of one of the bedrooms and as it was OK done the other 2 berth pod. As soon as I had got it white I washed it in the machine in case the bleach did any damage. I mixed quite a lot of  bleach with hot water and put it in a spray bottle. Be careful of spray back I have damaged a pair of blue trousers with bleach stains. Only the four berth pod to go. But I have my tent back!!!

 hi i wouldn't recommend putting the inner tent in the washing machine if there is an attached groundsheet and i'd worry about potential shrinkage. 1 part milton to 10 parts water, rub on affected areas leave a few minutes then rinse and leave to dry. don't put away damp. i wouldn't use this on the outer fly sheet as it will affect the waterproofing.

good luck

Remember that even bleach will rot fibres if not rinsed out 100%, and will damage the flysheet horribly if the inner touches the fly in use and there's residual bleach on the inner. So use very sparingly and rinse as much as possible. Same goes for washing machine detergent, btw...flysheets don't like the stuff.

Bottom line is prevention is best, and using anything other than water to clean tents can cause problems. Even fluffing up a tent to air is only an emergency stopgap measure untill you can dry it properly. I dry and air all my tents, every time, even if they seemed to be dry when they came down. (And I had TWO out last weekend, urgh...) Never lost one yet to mould.

Same thing happened to us before the bank holiday weekend and it had only been 1 weeks. I was so sad as it was the night before we went and I was worried as we couldnt have slept in it. Luckily one of the tags had broken and needed sewing or we wouldnt have found out till we got there.

We were so worried about putting the tent away fully dry we didnt really worry about the pods because they were dry ... Must have been the condensation

We put the bedrooms in bath (as wouldnt fit in washing machine) with milton tablets and then soaked in bleach. Then sprayed with hose alot and air dried outside until bleach smell had gone. It worked really well there is just a very light mottled look which is hardly noticable.

Obviously we couldnt do that with the main tent but on the pods it worked really well and it was worth a go before having to go out and buy another one. 

I always dry and air the tent at the first opportunity.

and

Keep the tents in the house. This however is now becoming an issue due to the number of tents and the size of the latest addition.

Still wouldnae keep them in the garage though.