Mold on Books — Should You Be Worried?
Books often carry deep personal meaning. So when mold appears on your collection, it raises urgent questions: Can I save them? Will they make me sick? This guide clears up the myths, explains what to keep or discard, and teaches you how to safely clean and handle books exposed to mold or spores.
Common Myths About Mold and Books
🚫 Myth: Mold is everywhere, so you can't do anything.
Truth: While spores are ubiquitous, mold growth is not. Mold only grows when materials get and stay wet. There's a big difference between settled spores in dust (which can be cleaned) and active mold growth.
🚫 Myth: Books are the worst.
Truth: Books are not worse than other porous objects. They just seem harder to clean because they have pages. Most books only collect dust, not mold, especially if they haven't gotten wet.
🚫 Myth: Books are different than other contaminated items.
Truth: They are not. Like other belongings, if they have visible growth or were water-damaged, discard them. If they were dry and only exposed to air and dust, clean them like anything else.
🚫 Myth: Mycotoxins bury themselves into books.
Truth: Mycotoxins don’t act like independent particles that "adhere" or "bury" into things. They are not gases floating around separately. Mycotoxins are bound to mold particles. Remove the mold dust and you've removed the mycotoxins with it.
🚫 Myth: “Small-particle cleaning” requires misting to drop particles out of the air
Truth: Misting was created and used by the asbestos industry as asbestos containing materials are ripped out of a building. Misting is not recommended for mold remediation as mold likes water. Water it and they will grow.
🚫 Myth: Microwaving books for 10 seconds kills the mold on them.
Truth: False. Mold needs to be removed, not nuked. Microwaving won't remove spores and could damage or ignite your books. Think of this like moldy food—you wouldn't eat it after microwaving. You throw it away.
When I first heard the misinformation about cleaning books in a microwave, my reaction was thinking it’s not true and a crazy idea. Then I thought how I might explain why. It didn’t take me long to think of an answer:
Let’s say you cook mold for 10 seconds, as you cook your books. Doing so won’t remove the mold. That won’t make books “safe” if they have mold on them. “Dead” mold won’t make the books safe for the same reason you can’t put food in the microwave that has mold and eat the food afterwards.
If you want to be safe and healthy, and mold grew on your books, do what you do with food that has mold - throw it away. If your books do not have mold growing on them - clean the books.
Talking about a microwave made me think about food, and how we clean food we eat. Consider mushrooms. A chef wouldn’t soak them in water because they will get soggy — a chef wipes them with a paper towel and brushes off the dirt. An example is ripe figs. They’re delicate. Instead of rinsing them under running water, you wipe them gently with a soft cloth or paper towel to remove dirt without damaging the skin. The important thing to remember is the figs were not moldy - just dirty. If they were moldy you would throw them away.
The Difference Between Mold & Actual Mold Growth
The ANSI/IICRC S520 Standard for Professional Mold Remediation defines:
- Mold growth: Actual mold colonization with hyphae and mycelium, caused by wet materials.
- Settled spores: Mold particles that landed in dust. These don’t grow unless they get wet.
If your books did not get wet and show no visible mold, they do not have actual mold growth. You are dealing with settled dust, which can be cleaned off the books.
Why Books Are Vulnerable to Dust, Not just Mold
Books trap dust. That doesn’t mean they’re moldy. If your books stayed dry, you’re just dealing with dust, not colonization of actual mold growth. Here’s why:
- Books are stored tightly packed, limiting your ability to clean around them when you clean your house.
- It’s difficult to vacuum books. Vacuuming does not suck up the fine dust that settle on books.
- It’s equally difficult to wipe the dust off books with a towel or micro-fiber cloth.
What About Mycotoxins?
There is no scientific evidence showing that mycotoxins "bury themselves" into the pages of books.
There’s no scientific evidence showing mycotoxins are “sticky” outside the context of them being stuck to the spores and fragments of mold from which they were created.
Mycotoxins are bound to mold spores and fragments of mold. If you remove dust you remove settled mold fragments, and therefore any mycotoxins.
Mold spores (the types of mold associated with water damage in a building) are generally not sticky, rather designed to disseminate into the air easily when disturbed. If mold were sticky we would not need HEPA filters and negative air pressure during mold remediation and there would be no pathway for you to be exposed to mold.
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When Fear Takes Over
If you’re feeling paralyzed by fear:
- Consider there’s a lot of misinformation on the internet about mold, mycotoxins, and books.
- Focus on what's true for you— not what others say happened to them.
- Remember: settled spores CAN be removed. Books that haven’t gotten wet are just dusty, not dangerous.
“We small-particle cleaned our house, but I'm scared to bring books back in.”
That’s a valid concern, especially with health issues. There’s a difference between being cautious and ruled by fear. If the books didn’t get wet and are cleaned properly, they are not a hazard.
The term “small-particle clean” is new. I’m not sure who came up with it. It may have been The International Society for Environmentally Acquired Illness (ISEAI), a group primarily consisting of doctors, not mold inspectors. Doctors may be good at treating medical conditions in the body - they are not experts on how to remove mold in a building and restore things that got wet or moldy such as books.
If you think about it, the term “small-particle cleaning” isn’t common sense. What do they mean “small”? How small? If you CLEAN something, it’s not possible to clean small particles without also getting big stuff and visa versa. Having a “small-particle cleaning” protocol suggests there is a “Big Particle” cleaning protocol. The term “small particle cleaning” is adding complexity and mystery to a topic saturated with misinformation.
The “small-particle clean” protocol says to “dry-wiping using an electrostatic cloth, such as Swiffer.” Dry wiping isn’t effective to clean books.
As you will learn in this ebook, air-washing (using a leaf blower, compressed air hose, or other method of providing a steam of high-pressure air) is the most effective way to clean dust off books.
Want to know more?
Get the Ebook
It covers:
- How to Test Books for Mold
- What to Do Based on Your Situation
- Step-by-Step: How to Clean Books That Were Exposed to Moldy Air
- A Flow Chart with decision trees
- How to digitize valuable pages before discarding
- Get the Ebook for more…
Disclaimer
The post is designed for educational purposes only. Our goal is to provide information and scientific data as to the potential hazards in the home or office. All the factors to be considered are beyond the scope of this post. We do not assume responsibility for choices or decisions made including those regarding mitigation. The principles presented here should empower the reader to make informed choices. Book a consultation.