I cant get the smell of dettol out of my room

[dettolpanic]

Ok so for context

I'm a boy not a mother I don't have any kids but I figured mums are amazing at fixing things so where better to come ask for help than mumsnet

I've used like half a bottle of dettol mould and mildew spray which in hindsight was a very stupid idea but Im 25 and only moved out of home a year ago due to saving up to afford law college without debt.

So im kinda just learning how to do all this stuff I never had to deal with mould before it wasnt even much mould but i decided to wipe down my cabinet and everything in it, my desk, and the edges of the window, and some areas of the wall, only the wall and window had mild amounts of black mould which i wanted to get rid of but now im suffering the stench of dettol and I can't get rid of it.

I did use a cloth that night to wipe it down like 3 times in all areas, thinking that would be enough wiping. How wrong was i, it lingered and it hasn't left. I tried wiping both areas with plain hot water twice but stupidly used the same cloth which actually had to be binned because it smelled so strongly of dettol so that was another bad decision. I then used some scented handwash and hot water in the hopes that the soapy hot water would help, it didn't.

So today I've bought white vinegar and used it to wipe literally everywhere I used the dettol. I don't know if thats worked yet, because it just reeks in here now and im not sure if its the dettol or vinegar thats smelling but im pretty sure its still the dettol, though some people said on news articles it can take a few days for the vinegar smell to fade and it'll supposedly take the dettol smell with it?

please help, im just renting this room I hope I haven't caused irreversible dettol stench. I have mild anxiety and its really freaking me out like is this dangerous because i used too much in such a small room I'm so terrified that its going to affect me or make me ill or something.

Sorry it's so long I just have no idea what to do anymore. I have two air fresheners in here but i don't think theyre doing anything because it still smells like dettol :(

Possibly a stupid question but have you opened the windows?

Yes I usually don't open them often maybe like once a day but I've had no choice but to leave it open constantly for this whole week otherwise i get a headache.

Bicarbonate of soda dissolved in warm water would work much better than vinegar. Or sprinkle bicarbonate about and then hoover/wipe it up after an hour or two.

Also fans/open windows as PP said.

@RickiTarr

Bicarbonate of soda dissolved in warm water would work much better than vinegar. Or sprinkle bicarbonate about and then hoover/wipe it up after an hour or two.

Also fans/open windows as PP said.

So baking soda ? what kind of ratio do you use? I'll definitely give anything a go at this stage to get this smell out

The spray you've used is bleach, and the smell will wear off. You must stop using other products where you've used it as bleach does not react well to mixing with some other chemicals and can become harmful.

And to stop the mould returning your need to ventilate and heat your room. Make sure air can flow around furniture, open windows every morning, and don't dry washing indoors.

Don't worry, it will fade. It's just really strong stuff. Open the windows as much as possible and it'll soon go.

Bleach + vinegar = chlorine gas. Very dangerous!!

Please open a window. Dettol mould and mildew spray is strong bleach. Mixing it with anything else, especially vinegar is exceptionally dangerous.

the window is open and is remaining open, how do i get rid of the dettol then?

It will fade, give it time and open the windows frequently, I can sympathise I spilt a bottle of TCP once, now that is hard to get rid of!

I only use that stuff on the grout in my shower. Just air the room as much a possible and stop mixing other chemicals with it.

@dettolpanic

the window is open and is remaining open, how do i get rid of the dettol then?

You just need to be patient. Don't use anything else as has been said... mixing chemicals can be very dangerous.

Hi!
Try not to get yourself in too much of a panic over it, I suffer with anxiety and actually had near enough a panic attack over a similar situation to yours a few weeks back! This may not be ideal depending on your budget but I bought a dehumidifier off Amazon which helps absorbs smells (think I paid around £30 for mine; plugs into wall and reusable so ideal for keeping mould at bay). As previous posters have said keep windows open at all times which ventilates the area and try to avoid spending time in the room that you have used the spray in until you feel the smell has decreased as the fumes can make you feel sick😌

So baking soda ? what kind of ratio do you use? I'll definitely give anything a go at this stage to get this smell out

Two or three tablespoons in a pint maybe? It’s good for absorbing all smells. A dish near a strong smell or a sprinkle in smelly shoes all work, and it’s fairly inert stuff. The only issue with is it is gritty so you have to patient wiping it away later if you use it as a sprinkle.

Hey OP. It’s going to be okay.

How is the smell today? Is this your bedroom? If it’s still bad I would probably try to spend as little time in there as possible - I know that may be difficult right now. Ideally leave the window AND door open so you can get some proper ventilation, that’s going to be the best way to rid you of the smell.

I really wouldn’t put anything else on it, at most I’d wipe it down again with plain water (if there’s a chance there’s any residue remaining). Pp are right that mixing cleaning chemicals, esp bleach and vinegar, can be very dangerous - but that would be actually putting them on together, whereas it sounds like you did some rinsing in between? For future reference though, you could try using vinegar in future instead of dettol - on black mould. Or a 1:10 bleach solution (just regular bleach and water, 1 part bleach to 10 water). Rinse with plain water afterwards. Black mould can happen when there isn’t good ventilation so do try to open the window every day. Also be mindful of furniture right up against the wall - it can form there too, where the damp air kind of gets trapped.

Best of luck - let us know how you get on.

whereas it sounds like you did some rinsing in between?

Oh gosh I hope so. I was assuming he had at least wiped the residue away with water.

Thanks everyone. My bf recommended I keep the door open and window at the same time. I will do my best to go on lots of walks etc but it's my week off and with the level 5 lockdown theres really not much I can do to avoid my room while the smell goes on its merry way.

I survived the night so thats good I guess. Yes I wiped down the areas i used dettol 3 times after the initial application, then I used water and hand soap to wash the same areas a further 2 times, and last night I done the vinegar just once.

I will just leave it alone for now, but might use the bicard of soda on my carpet to hopefully help lift any scent that may be sitting there, I'm also considering washing my current bedding in the hopes that might help since my bf said the smell is clearly in the air and might be attached to the bedding too though I'd not touched the bedding with the dettol.

I've honestly no idea if there's residue remaining, I feel like there shouldn't be after so much washing but at the same time I could be wrong since the smell has to be coming from somewhere, yet I can't smell any dettol smell when trying to sniff the areas I done it in, but that could just be because my nose is a bit iffy and I can only smell dettol most of the day, usually I'd be afraid a spider would get in my window, but honestly right now I think every bug would disintigrate if they had to smell this place

I will look into the dehumidifier!

Sorry that last message was a bit unclear I rinsed the area I used dettol in, three times with clean hot water initially, I only used the dettol itself 1 time.

Sending you hugs OP! You remind me of the kind of phone calls I get from my two DS who are early 20s. The call always starts with "Muuuuuuuum...????" As others have said just open the window and the smell will go eventually.

Ok so it still smells..

Which is bad because we have two people coming for a house viewing, one is coming tomorrow so yeah I kinda have no idea what to do because the bathroom smells like dettol mould and mildew cleaner in a very extreme way.

I have wiped everywhere multiple times. I need to clean the bathroom this evening but I have no idea what to use? can I use astonish (similar to zaflora) I'm pretty sure the dettol HAS to have been rinsed enough by now but I can't be sure and im sick of leaving my window open. I don't want the smell to put off the new possible housemates

Did you spill it on the carpet? I can't understand how the smell can still be so strong otherwise. Exactly how much did you use?

@Fullofthejoysofspring

Did you spill it on the carpet? I can't understand how the smell can still be so strong otherwise. Exactly how much did you use?

I think it was like half the bottle, it was a HUGE stupidity on my part. I hope anyone reading this thread learns from my mistake.

It's taken SO much rinsing. I finally got it to a place where I'm fine with the windows closed can barely smell it anymore if at all.

So how did I fix it?

well I knew the bathroom stunk of it too, so that was my first room of attack, itd only been the cloth sitting in there that caused that so I knew I had to get rid of that so I did, I then literally washed the entire bathroom with the tesco apple scented anti bacterial spray. I didnt let it sit long literally just a minute before I'd wipe it off then rinse each area twice. The bathroom was only being cleaned because we had a possible roommate coming so I decided Id be the one to do that, and I noticed that my bathroom smelled fine after that, like not perfect but the smell was gone basically, maybe a slight linger but you have to put a lot of energy into sniffing for it.

So that made me think hmm how about I do the same to my room, full clean same as the bathroom. So I done exactly that. I started with just warm water, I used an empty spray bottle to spray down my windows and anywhere else that had had dettol on it and I let it sit for a bit, then I wiped it down, and repeated this three times, then I was satisfied the dettol HAD to be fully rinsed off now. So i used the tesco apple anti bacterial cleaner on everything and let that sit for a while, then rinsed that about 4 times maybe 5, dried it all down. Then I used some shake and vac on the carpet, let it sit for 10 minutes and hoovered it up. I discovered trimming my nose hair also helped to reduce the smell I think the smell had got on my nose hair and stuck to it.

So my rooms basically good now, Its a little clean-smelling but it's more of a fresh scent than an unbearable/toxic scent it had before. It's no longer giving me a headache. I also found a gel air freshener meant to sit in bathrooms helped a lot too.

If anyones reading this that went through what i went through, definitely the key is RINSING about 20 times in total I must've rinsed the areas, warm water seemed to help more than cold, and wait 2 weeks before using any other thing on the areas, just to be sure you're all good/safe as thats what I did and now im ok.

Thank you all so much for the advice! some of ye really helped calm my anxiety down. I've learned my lesson I will not be using that spray ever again I'm clearly not great at following its intructions.

Have a great day everyone, I hope this thread can help other guys like me find a fix someday.