Mildew Odors on Clothes?

Michawn
Bronze Feedback Medal for All Time! 188 Feedbacks

February 10, 20070 found this helpful

If they don't dry fast enough they will smell like mildew, plain and simple. If you have a load that mildew smell is abound in, vinegar will do the trick. And no they won't smell like vinegar. A cup of Borax and a cup of vinegar in the rinse load will take it out.

My suggestions for drying clothes. If you have to do it at home, do it on a rack next to the radiator (I did laundry in a tub in my shower many a times and dryed this way in my single days).

Or just wash all the laundry, save some quarters and take to the laundry mat, those dryers can dry up the ocean if you put enough quarters in there, they are HOT!

wash them in baking soda and let them soak for a while. I get all kinds of odors out of stuff by doing this. once in a while it'll take a couple of runs through the washer but it does work. They say use a cup of baking soda to a load but if the odor is really bad I use more. Its never hurt our clothes and I now add it to every load I wash odors or not. Another bonus is it cuts through soap/ softner build up in your clothes and makes towels soft without affecting their absorbancy!

Depending on the fabric, as long as it is not wool or rayon, you can put 1/2 a cup of bleach down in the water with the detergent as it is filling. Add the clothes and let it soak for about 10 minutes. This will remove the smell. For the past 2 years, I have tried to rarely use my dryer.

See "washing machine smell" listing on this website!

Mandy

January 11, 20080 found this helpful

Boy do I have a solution for all you! I bought this fabulous wool coat from a second hand store a few weeks ago but the only problem with it was that it reeked of mildew. I decided that the sweater was worth the challenge of removing the smell so I bought it. As you know, wool is one of the toughest clothing materials to remove mildew smells from but I wanted to try. If nothing else has worked for you, follow my system... it's worth the time and effort cause IT WORKED. So, I soaked the coat in a vinegar/water bath for 24 hours. (Make sure that the mix is about 75% vinegar to 25% water.) During that 24 hours I "churned" the coat to make sure that every single inch was consistently absorbing the bath. Then I washed it and hung it out to dry.