Bedroom always smells 'stale'

[NoNameNoGame]

We sleep with our windows open all year round and leave them open during the day. I wash the bedsheets once a week and use candles (which help temporarily) and have a reed diffuser. I shake down the pillows and duvet every morning. What am I doing wrong?

Cut a lemon in half and put it in your bedroom. It genuinely makes the room smell fresher.

Leaving a couple of pots of bicarb around the room will help with odours. Put a few drops of essential oil on the pots.

Thanks all. Will try everything!

Does your DH tend to rewear clothes or worse, put worn clothes back into drawers?

Are the sheets hot washed, ironed and only put on when bone dry? Is the quilt clean? Do the pillows need replacing?

The mattress might need cleaning - I'd try baking soda first, vacuuming it off with the brush attachment and if that didn't solve it, I'd gently wipe over it with a barely damp cloth using a weak solution of mild detergent before airing it to dry.

Our memory foam topper stunk. Once that was cleaned, along with the quilt and the pillows of evil were unceremoniously binned, the stale smells went.

DH does rewear clothes but they are hung on a rail in another room.

Duvet is 2 years old and clean, I hang it outside regularly on the line and spray it down with my water / Lenor / Zoflo mixture.

I wash the bedsheets is nice a week in a 60 degree wash and tumble dry with Lenor tumble sheets.

I didn't have any Bicarbonate left so I have to use Shake n Vac on the mattress! It's not a flip mattress as it's a Simba one that is 2 years on.

Come to think of it, when I wash the sheets they don't have that fresh smell of linen anymore. I've tried changing the softener too. I deep clean my machine regularly and that is 2 years old too!

*I wash the bedsheets once a week.

Change sheets and make dp sleep on the couch and you sleep in the bedroom alone.

See if the smell is still there the next day.

If not you know it’s his sweat or musk or something!

I had a similar smell. It was the duvet covers, they never smelt great after washing, they were old and when replaced the smell went away.

so I have to use Shake n Vac on the mattress!

Do not out this on your mattress!

It’s toxic enough in the carpets but will burn your skin if you sleep on it. Also the insides of your nostrils from breathing it in. Please don’t use it.

Get your pillows and duvet laundered. If you can’t do them At home take them to launderette or dry cleaner.

If doing them at home do a 90 degree maintenance wash on your washing machine first. No washing powder. Just some white vinegar. Then Wash pillows and duvet at 60 (or higher) with biological washing powder and white vinegar (no fabric softener) same with all bed linen. do an extra rinse on the wash. Then hang outside to dry if possible and finish off in the tumble drier.

Get bicarb for the mattress and sprinkle it on in the morning then brush it over the mattress with cloth or sofa brush. Then spray a mix of 50:50 white vinegar and water. (Don’t soak it- a light spray) You can add some nice essential oils if you want. Then leave it all day with windows wide open. If you get direct sin into your bedroom window then prop the mattress up so the sun is hitting it. You might need to adjust the position during the day. Then before bed hoover the whole mattress and make sure it’s dry. Use a hairdryer if you have to.

Then make up the bed with the freshly washed bed linen.

Direct sun! not sin!

Try giving your sheets a blast at 90. I don't think 60 is hot enough to get sheets properly clean when they've been slept in all week. And don't use fabric softener - chuck a capful of white vinegar in instead, then dry outside (it's sunny and windy at the moment, perfect drying weather!)

It's just smelly man-ness. Is he bald? Hear me out, I have a very good sense of smell! I know it sounds awful!

Get him to change his pillowcase every few days. Shower before bed and wash his head.

You can be perfectly clean but heads can stink, especially without hair to mop up any grease.

It could be sweaty sports sox in the dirty wash basket (or any sweaty, damp clothes left for a while). Man made fibres start to stink quite quickly. I had a microfibre cloth by the sink that dh had left unwashed for weeks in the cupboard !!

He was getting all aerated about the smell, he lit burners etc.!! I always like to find the source of the smell

I second washing bedsheets at 90 to get them properly clean. I put ours on with non bio powder (bio doesn't work above 40) and no fabric softener.

You say you spray the duvet with a Zoflora mix,I find that a very musty smell tbh that's why I only use it for drains if at all. It smells fresh when it goes on but smells like old mops after about an hour.

Oust spray is very good. When we had a dead rat (dear God,the SMELL) that really helped.

Get on your hands and knees and literally sniff around .

Is furniture not allowing the room to air properly , could be damp behind something .

Move around furniture so air can get around .

Wash curtains

Wash your windows and seals down with bleach in case of mildew ( ventilate well )

Strip bed - I have a mattress referesher spray I found online . Leave it to dry all day whilst using .

Wash bedding on a hot wash .

Wash pillows and duvets if possible .

I'd empty the room and give it a complete once over whilst we all have so much time on our hands

I’d ditch the Lenor. Can you dry your bed linen outside?

Also try a dehumidifier. It’s helped in our room. We don’t realise how much human breath and sweat can build up in an enclosed space overnight.

Wrt the sheets,give your machine a good service wash with a dishwasher tablet and a boiling empty wash. You might need to do this a couple of times and any smell might get worse before it gets better.

We had the dead mouse under the bed smell last week. Husband thought it was the drains. I moved the bed and found the mouse. That’s cats for you!

Are the duvet cover and bedsheets new ?

I think that after a few years of use they become a bit 'stale' and impossible to refresh. (especially the bedding my teenage DS uses as he doesn't strip his bed often enough).

The duvet and pillows can absorb a lot of sweat and moisture and become quite stinky. Give those a sniff too.

Can the curtains be washed?

My vote is for big box laundry powder, no softener and wash everything you can - bedding, cushions, curtains etc and dry outside (finish off in the dryer if you need to)
Softener coats the fabric so stuff doesn’t get properly clean

I use powder for towels and bedding and liquid for clothes. Good shout adagio

Also have you got fitted carpet? Man made fibres in bedding won't get properly clean because you can't wash them at high enough temp.

Stripping your bed every day for a couple of hours (with the window open) to AIR it before making it will freshen it. (I leave mine stripped all day). No one else goes in there, it doesn't bother me.

Are your duvets and pillows synthetic?? They may absorb more moisture and not air as well. I don't know, but I have always had feather everything, and only washed duvets once every couple of years with no problems. Just a thought.

Does everyone wash curtains?? I have never had curtains you could wash, and the dry cleaning would be horrendously expensive. I just hoover them once in a while. I am obviously a complete slob.

Also never used the 90oC wash....... eeeeekkkkk.

Softener is ridiculous, it bungs up your machine, costs a fortune ,stinks to high heaven, is no good for towels.

I use water softener never fabric conditioner\softener and everything washes really nicely. My machine is always shiny. I have never run a 'cleaner' through it.