I moved and the boxes got wet. Many books were destroyed, but some like my grandmother and great-grandmother's cookbooks are okay but smelly. What do I do?
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Use a product called Nok-Out. You can get it on Amazon.
I had moderate success in the exact same situation by covering the books in a thin layer of baking soda and putting them in the freezer for a few weeks. It wasn't perfect, but it got a lot of the smell out.
It is very messy. You need to have big plastic zipper type bags to fit the book (1 book per bag--just fan the book and let some of the baking soda in) and hold all the powder as you don't want it floating around in your freezer.
A friend tried freezing the books in a zip bag without the baking soda, and she had some luck..I think I had less smell after, but it still wasn't 100%.
If it would ever stop raining long enough, I'd like to leave them in the sun for a few days....another friend had good luck doing that. I will let you know if I am ever able to do that as it seems it is always raining in Pittsburgh :(
They may not appear so, but most likely these books are still a little damp as it would be almost impossible for them to be in damp conditions with other books and not retain some of that moisture.
you want to kill the mold spores
the best way I have figured to not harm the books (much) is to leave them in the sun or the car in the day in summer, the intense heat will kill mold and a lot of times eliminate the smell
also baking soda
Thank you so much. And here's the odd thing. I unpacked the boxes on the patio and just laid them down in disgust. Few days later, i inspected them wondering what to do with them - still stinky.
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