Saga of moldy seats and leaky rack

Back seats of Toyota Tacoma TRD are white with mold due to leaky roof rack. We have a hefty estimate for repairs. We can either get the seats cleaned for about $200 or replace the covers for about $4000 parts and labor. How effective is the standard cleaning usually done by ServPro? Family has autoimmune condition so nervous about not killing all of the mold. Any of you have experience with this? Does the mold usually come back if leak is fixed? Thanks

 

Are you certain it's a roof rack issue as opposed to the 3rd brake light, which is a well known problem?

Have you found / fixed the leak for certain?

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-brakelight-leak-known-issue.733379/#post-26117803

 

Another option is Katzkin leather covers. You could install them yourself for around $1200

 

ServPro does mold abatement in houses. They are franchised so I can't speak to the overall quality of yours but for the most part they know what they are doing.

Mold requires, moisture, heat, and a food source to continue to grow. If the antimicrobial spray is applied properly and the moisture removed I'd say you'll be fine.

 

Servpro is the company Toyota uses to clean interiors for the leaking brake light repairs. They cleaned my truck but it's taken a couple of weeks for the chemical smell to dissapate.

 

The damaged fabric would be under the covers. Not good.

 

I had a neighbor that a lot of mold in a car that was parked (and not driven) outside in her driveway.

I was able to get rid of the mold pretty easily using tuff stuff.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Tuff-Stu...VjxvUAR1gzAk0EAQYAyABEgI7S_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

It took a couple of hours.

 

Katzkins are replacements. The old covers come off first.

 

i would completely replace the upholstery. don't mess around with mold. i was in an apartment with toxic mold and i was sick for years from it. had to throw away most of my belongings. also have an autoimmune condition that got much worse after that apartment.

 

If it's not bad there is no need. Depends upon length of exposure to moisture, ambient temperature of the affected area, what actually has mold colonies, etc. For black (toxic) molds like stachybotrus or aspergillus penicillium the incubation period is roughly 90 days from inception.

YMMV of course, too many unknowns. ServPro should be able to tell you if the carpet/pad/fabric is better off totaled. Usually a visual inspection suffices "yeahhhhhh we're not spraying that, better off trashing it" but if the exposure isn't too bad they should be able to take care of it with their antimicrobial spray.

Be prepared for chemical smell afterwards like @jsinnard said.

 

D'oh! I was thinking of Clazzio.