Mold on MDF Shop Cabinets

[EddieO]

My wood shop always has a musty stinky smell to it. I thought it had something to do with the mice problem that I once had until I found mold in my shop cabinets. I'm talking about 1/16" thick blue mold in several cabinets.
It's not on all of the cabinets but most of them. I bought the MDF several years ago at Lowe's and HD.
I live near Louisville so the humidity is always bad and my shop always feel humid too.
I killed some mold on the doors with mold killer. However I still have some work to do inside the cabinets. My worry is the back of my base and wall cabinets might have mold between them and the OSB that I used instead of drywall.
I have about 10 base cabinets and 6 upper cabinets. Do you think I should continue with mold killer or should I destroy my cabinets? Does plywood cabinets have mold issues?

Eddie

[JGrout]

IMO the issue not so much the cabinet materials as it is the issues you have in the garage.

Mold will stick to anything even concrete if left alone.

I would be for determining the root cause before making decisions that may just reintroduce the same issue

[Robert Adams]

Start with ac or a dehumidifier. Personally I'd trash the cabinets. Plywood will will mold too with high humidity. I'd also worry about what's in the walls as well. The recommended stuff to spray on moldy stuff according to the epa for flooded houses is actually pinesol. Bleach is highly discouraged.

Regardless of what you make your cabs out of you need to control the moisture because it's obviously very high. D

[Herb G]

Robert Adams said:

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Start with ac or a dehumidifier. Personally I'd trash the cabinets.

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^^^^^THIS.
Get rid of the mess to begin with. Then, buy some Clorox Clean Up (product name) & spray the bejesus out of everything. Rinse, repeat. Do it 3 or 4 times to get rid of the mold spores. Clean everything. Seriously, it's the only way to rid yourself of mold.
I had to do my entire basement twice to get rid of poisonous black mold, but it was worth it.

[fredhargis]

I agree with both the above comments. The material isn't the problem...it's the environment. The cabinet should probably be replaced, and the room dehumidified. Use plywood if you want for the new ones, but unless you dehumidity it won't matter.

[rwe2156]

I live in FL and the humidity here is high as anyplace.

What you are seeing is mildew, not mold. I've had happen on a TS sled made of MDF. Only MDF did it. Wierd.

Its a humidity problem. Check your shop for leaks and if you have an "open" shop or you leave the doors open, it will cause the problem.

Don't toss the cabs. Don't they have some finish on them?
If they do, wipe down with bleach water, let dry and reseal. After I did that a put 3 coats of Shellac on, no more problems. But read below:

FWIW, Since I started closing up my shop every night I haven't had the problem. Even the rust that used to form on my machines is much less. Only 1 window is open that's the one I have an exhaust fan.

Depending on size of your shop, a dehumidifier will not work, but sealing it up at night when the humidity gets bad will help the problem.

Hope this helps, Good Luck.