Why do you hang your washing outside when it always ends up smelling like damp?

[lilybit2025]

Apart from the obvious cost savings compared to using a tumble dryer, I don’t understand why people hang their washing outside because no matter what I do, mine always ends up smelling damp and completely unpleasant!

Are you leaving it outside too long?

if the suns set or temps dropped the damp air sets in and that maybe what you can smell? A bit like the smell outside after a sunny period and then rain!

other than that I agree to check your machine. Mine smells lovely when lined dried!

My washing always smells amazing after being on the line. One of my favourite smells 😍

@lilybit2025 agrees with me that is the whole point of the thread.

Luckily, you and I are unlikely to ever meet since I don't choose to hang around people who smell like mildew (or anything else unpleasant) and want others to pretend that it's okay.

My laundry smells lovely because its dried outside 😉

Thankfully, I have never seen anyone gagging all day long so I suspect you are exaggerating because you wouldnt be able to go anywhere if this was true and certainly not at a professional work place

You don't know me or what I've been through or do so keep reaching with assumption. Are you done defending smelly people yet or are we doing to do this all day? I'm baking bread so I have time. It's in the proofing stage.

You need to run an intensive cleaning cycle at 95C in your machine, and clean out things like the rubber seal, the filter at the bottom, and the inside of the space where the powder drawer sits. All sorts build up in a nice warm damp place. My machine is now 4 years old, and because I follow a strict cleaning schedule including take out the drawer after every wash and leave it out until next wash, the space where it sits has never grown black mould, and my washing always smells fresh. Another thing is to always use big box powder, not gels or capsules. They are harder to rinse through the pipes, and can promote smells.

Happiness is hanging your washing outside on a fine day
nothing nicer than getting in a fresh bed that smells of fresh air

In all my years, I have never noticed anyone smelling of mildew. Smelling of BO or heavily scented fabric conditioner sometimes but never mildew.

Ewww yeasty smell 🤮

gags

Not going to comment where that may be coming from, in your case, suggest you do some laundry 😝

OP, mine only smells funky if it's hung around a bit (just a few hours) either in the machine drum or in the laundry basket (don't judge me!) after the cycle's finished. Then it'll smell a bit sour even if I do hang it outside. If I hang on radiators there's always a risk it'll smell sour, but if you're taking straight from the machine and hanging out, it ought to be fine.

I agree with all the MN Washingistas who say, do a drum clean/scrub it out with vinegar/don't use capsules! Powder is better as it doesn't cause smelly bacterial build-up in clothing. I also swear by soaking any sweaty-smelling clothing in a bucket with some white vinegar and water in, for a few hours beforehand.

mine never smells like damp when hung outside, it smells fresh. Are you hanging it properly? Not bunched up.

I don’t like the line dried smell either. I wouldn’t call it “damp”, but I’m not keen. I prefer the smell when I’ve hung it inside.

My washing definetly does not smell damp when its dried outside 😂 it smells lovely.
I barely use the tumble dryer in the winter either. Close horse by radiator and dehumidifier on. Dries quickly, no damp smell....quick tumble for 10 mins in tumble dryer and done. No damp smell drying inside or outside

It will be your washing machine. Do a drum clean regularly and check the filter.

It probably isn't dry when you bring it in so you might be putting it away damp or you are not washing it hot enough to start with, my washing never smells musty.

Put some distilled vinegar in the dispenser drawers and run the machine on a boil wash to kill bacteria.

I hate the smell of outside dried clothes, it's not a damp smell it's just for me unpleasant. It certainly isn't my machine, how I wash things, it is my bloody nose!
I do have sensory issues so I put it down to that!
Whenever we move if there is a washing line up I take it straight down, my DH would put bedding on the line and then I can't sleep because they smell.
I

Sorry, now I've RTFT, I can see that there genuinely seems to be a small set of people who cannot abide the smell of outdoors-dried laundry, so I have to conclude that it's a smell sensitivity thing, peculiar to a very few people who are just wired differently in the nose-to-brain area. Maybe you can do some desensitivity training?

I know that smells can be very personal - for all I know, some people who can't stand the smell of outdoors laundry are having subconscious associations with unpleasant things from earlier life - but also I suspect a few people on here are just used to synthetic 'natural' smells from fabric softener, drier sheets, etc, so anything hung out without those additions smells wrong. I feel sorry for you!

(The poster who has a very extreme reaction to people she perceives as having hung clothing out though - sorry, that's ridiculous. Clothing hung outdoors doesn't smell of 'mildew' for the very simple reason that it does not HAVE mildew. Clothing left damp in a laundry basket for several days and then hung out might well have mildew, given the right atmospheric/environmental conditions, but who does that?)

There is an "outdoor smell". Not damp smelling but kind of sweet

My daughter dislikes it.

If yours smells of damp it's because something is going wrong during the washing. When you use high heat with a drier, it's quickly neutralising your high bacterial load. You need to clean your washing machine thoroughly and buy a heavy duty clothes detergent for 1 or 2 washes.

My washing smells amazing when it’s been hung outside. There’s something wrong at your end perhaps.

Yes, it's a wierd, sickly sweet smell. I loathe the smell of line-dried laundry and it is unfathomable to me that most people like it!

Apparently the smell is from the aldehydes produced by UV oxidation.

I have never, ever, taken in washing that has dried outside with a damp smell. It smells the opposite of damp.

I have experienced that awful damp smell in winter months when my clothes have been dried on our clothes horses inside - made worse if the washing sits in the machine for too long. It’s a horrible smell.

Ive never cleaned my washing machine - this is on my list now though in case it’s making it worse when I can’t hang clothes outside.

Last summer I sold a lot of clothes on Vinted and two different people complained that what they had received had a horrible damp smell which was remedied by washing.

Both things had been washed and dried on the line, in the sunshine, immediately before being sent. I was puzzled the first time, the second time, I did wonder if it was because these were people who used heavily scented laundry powder/conditioner etc. I use Ecover laundry liquid and my clothes don't really smell of anything.

But then, sometimes I walk past people in the street and their clothes have a really strong artificial smell. So maybe that being missing smells unpleasant to them.