Cleancast: Do Mold, Mildew, And Persistent Dampness Plague You?

My guest this week on the official Ask a Clean Person podcast is Julia Rubin, the features editor at Racked National, who joined me to talk all about mold and mildew, and what to do about generalized dampness in the home. Julia, who is responsible for bringing my fashion-focused cleaning column, Out, Damned Spot, to Racked, recently came to me complaining of a vague musty smell in her apartment, and my prescription of a product called DampRid not only did the trick for her, but served as the inspiration for this episode topic.

More specifically, we took a question about mold in the shower, which allowed me to talk about a product, X-14, that I love ohmygodsomuch. I’m, like, really passionate about X-14. We also answered a question about a persistent mildew smell in carpeting, and the use of the Rug Doctor and wet/dry vacs.

But mostly, we squee’d a bunch about how weird and satisfying DampRid is. Would you like to hear two ladies get SUPER EXCITED about desiccants? Of course you would! You can do that here, or over at iTunes, where you can also subscribe.

And, as promised in the episode, here’s the House Beautiful piece on houseplants that serve as natural desiccants. Do you have something you’d like to hear discussed on Ask a Clean Person: The Podcast? Email me at [email protected] with the subject line CLEANCAST. Do you like what you heard? Please consider leaving a rating in the iTunes store when you head over there to subscribe!

Jolie Kerr is Deadspin’s resident cleaning expert and the author of the book My Boyfriend Barfed in My Handbag … And Other Things You Can’t Ask Martha (Plume). Follow her on Twitter, or contact her via email at [email protected].

Illustration by Sam Woolley.

Adequate Man is Deadspin’s new self-improvement blog, dedicated to making you just good enough at everything. Suggestions for future topics are welcome below.