How to clean mold off of books: a step-by-step guide
A post I am making because due to the severe humidity this past summer my books and bookshelves have acquired mold and when I looked up “how to clean mold off of books” the articles I found were... less than helpful. Luckily my mom has been cleaning mold off of books and other things for many years and she taught me how to do it! So I am going to share my newfound knowledge with you.
What you will need:
1. Rubbing alcohol
2. Paper towels. A lot of paper towels. You could also use rags, but paper towels are better because you can tear them into little, manageable bits and throw them away afterwards.
3. An open space, outside, if you can manage it (under a porch is ideal, a driveway might also work). If you can’t go outside then find the most well ventilated room in your house and work there. Don’t do this in your room unless you have no other options.
4. A mask. We’re two years into a pandemic so you probably have at least six on hand at all times, so this is an easy one.
5. Allergy medications, if you’re like me and allergic to mold. (even if you aren’t it’s probably not a bad idea to take some over counter antihistamines)
6. Your moldy books
7. Somewhere to set the books to dry once they’re clean (again, outside under a porch is ideal but inside beside a fan works too)
Cleaning the Cover:
1.Take half or a quarter of a paper towel. Pour just enough rubbing alcohol onto it to dampen it (if you get too much on that’s okay at this point, covers are more resilient than pages, just wring the paper towel out some or press it on top of another one if you’re worried).
2. Gently, slowly, wipe off the cover with the paper towel. Once you have the main part of the cover done do any edges or crevices- like the crease on a hardcover where it flips open. Don’t worry about the edges around the pages on the inside yet, we’ll get to those. If you’re cleaning a fabric cover you may need to rub little circles into spots that seem worse than others. Use as many paper towel sections as you need, but since you’ve dampened the paper towel with alcohol it will wipe off the mold, kill it, and keep particles of it from getting brushed around and spreading.
3. If your book has a dust jacket do the same thing to it, but if the inside of the dust jacket is paper (not laminated) make sure your paper towel is not too wet and be as gentle as you can be. But if you do accidentally soak a spot on the inside of the dust jacket don’t panic! Prop it up and it will dry just fine.
4. Now before you open the book to do the inside of the cover you need to wipe off the outside edges of the pages. Try to make sure your paper towel isn’t too wet for this, just damp. Hold the book by the spine so that the page ends are facing you and squeeze the pages together as tight as you can, so there are no gaps at all between the pages (the best way to do this is to hold the edges of the cover and move your hand as you wipe the pages off, it keeps it tightest). Then slowly wipe them off with your paper towel.
5. While you have the cover squeezed together is a good time to do the little parts that stick out over the pages if you have a hardcover. Get the edge of the cover that sticks out and wipe it clean.
6. Open the cover and clean the inside of it like you did the outside. You can also gently wipe off the very first and last page of the book while it’s like this.
7. Get a half or full paper towel. Fold it up so it makes a wedge and stick it between the covers and pages. This will keep the book propped open so it can dry.
The cover is now clean! Good job! Make sure it has air so it can dry- leave it standing open and don’t replace the dust jacket immediately.
Cleaning the Pages:
Note: This only applies if you have mold on the pages of the book, outside or inside. If it was only the cover of your book that was moldy then congratulations, you’re done! Wiping down the outside edges of a book’s pages is usually sufficient unless you have a book like my hardcover Silmarillion that had previous water damage. This book had real, thick, fuzzy mold covering a good section of the outside of its pages, and some on the inside where the water damage had been. If you have a book like this don’t worry! I was terrified the book was un-salvageable, but my mom cleaned it easily (though it is time consuming).
1. Start where the mold was worst. For my Silmarillion, this was at the back of the book on the water damaged pages. This is where you really do want to be careful to get your paper towel only damp with alcohol, not wet, so if you’re like me and terrible at pouring things, use another paper towel to soak up the first’s excess then use the second one.
2. Tear your paper towel into little strips. Get them damp, like how I said in step one.
3. Start at the edge of the page. Gently, slowly, run your damp paper towel over the edge of the page. Once should be enough.
4. If there’s mold further in than the edge of the page, gently wipe the page off with a paper towel until the mold is gone.
5. Get a dry paper towel strip. stick it on either side of the page so that it will stay open and be able to dry.
6. Repeat steps 1-5 until you have cleaned all the moldy pages. Chances are only the places where there was mold visible on the outside will have mold on the inside edges of the pages, so if there’s a big chunk of pages that had no mold on the outside you can check them, but they’re probably okay. Do check any inserts (like fold-out maps) that were close to the moldy areas even if they don’t stick out to the edges of the pages as they may have a little mold as well.
7. Leave your book open with the pages fanned out somewhere with a breeze or a fan where it can dry. If there was only a little mold it should be dry in a few hours or less. If the mold was bad (or the pages already had water damage) leave it out like that overnight and check it in the morning to make sure its dry.
And there you go! You have successfully cleaned mold off your book, good job! Make sure you also wipe off your bookshelf with alcohol to get rid of any mold that might be on it and check your nearby books for any signs of mold as well!
And in case you’re worried...
Books this works on:
Old books
Water damaged books
Paperback books
Hardcover books
Books with fabric covers
Books that have very visible, fuzzy outgrowths of mold
Damaged books
Books with leather or leather-like covers (just be sure to test a little spot of the leather to see if it discolors it first! And if you have a Barnes and Noble classic collectors book the color did not rub off on mine because of the alcohol, but the mold itself left little spots. No way around that as far as I can tell, but it’s not very noticeable. Do check a small spot before you clean one of those though, just to make sure!).
And above all don’t panic! Just be slow and methodical and check things over once you’re done to make sure you got all the mold. Your books will almost certainly be fine. Mold on books (especially books you love) is very upsetting, but almost all of them can be salvaged with some effort.
