Damp smell on clothes

saharapop

Hanging your clothes outside on a windy day will literally blow away the spores of damp.
And its totally free!

Primrose

Gill7229 wrote: »

but does anyone know how to get deodorant marks off clothes? I have a handfull of t-shirts that have marks down the sides (not just under the armpits), which don't appear to come out in the wash.

It might be worth buying a small container of biological washing liquid and soaking the affected clothes overnight. I've found in the past that ordinary washing products don't seem to work on some of the more stubborn stains, or perhaps it's that the clothes are not soaked in the liquid long enough in the machine for the marks to be removed.

new

Phoolgrrrl wrote: »

You could try putting some white vinegar, v cheap from asian supermarkets for loads, in the drawer and the machine and put it on a boil wash empty. Picked that tip up off these boards. It helps to get rid of 'gunk' in the machine. Then if you put vinegar in instead of conditioner once in a while it keeps the machine clean, I normally do a boil wash of towels with vinegar once a month.

How much was the white vinegar? I saw it for 52p in ASDA.

zarazara

I tad OT but, I sem to remember years ago that washing machines had a 95 degree wash , maybe this was farenheight [sp?] or maybe it was celcius? I seem to remember 65 degree too. Can anyone enlighten? Was the 95 degree the "Boil Wash"?

Minihauk

Vinegar was about £3 for a big plastic container (about 1 gallon?) in my local Indian supermarket. MUCH cheaper than any supermarket imho.

Suffolk_lass

I had a similar problem after storing my wedding dress in a case in the garage (nightmare). I washed it twice in Ariel Febreze and hung it on a hanger after 5-10 minutes in a tumble dryer, just to lift the creases out. I dried it in the airing cupboard, also on the hanger.

Between the washes I could still smell that horrible mildew smell so I sprayed the seams and thick parts with the furniture air-freshener Febreze product. My dress had been out there (unknown - I thought the removal company had lost it) for two years but although smelly, there was no black mildew in the fabric.

I don't know for certain but I suspect this method will work better on natural fabrics, because of the nature of the fibres

Suffolk_lass

Soak in cold water for a couple of hours and then use proper soap (as in a bar of soap) rubbed on the stained area and then rubbed together with another layer of the stained fabric btween your knuckles and rinsed in warm water will get rid of most things.

givememoney

I personally think it is more to do with the age of machine than anything else.

I had this with my old machine but since having a new one about a year ago there is no problem. Also as it is integral I never leave the door open but the washing still smells nice.

shebrett

I moved into a house with a washing machine that had been left closed for months and I tried everything to get rid of the mould and damp that builds up. Regular empty load days where I alternate between soda crystal wash and then a vinegar wash on a hot setting proved the best option and I do this once a month but it only helps doesn't solve.

So in the end I've had to realise that it's there to stay....I HIGHLY can recommend Ariel with febreeze but you still have to get your clothes out of the machine quite soon after the load finishes washing or even that won't work but if you do, voila, no smell