Please, please help me get rid of the smell!!

[Gymbob]

Ages ago, I must have put an item of clothing away damp. Over time the smell of foisty? (sp) clothes has spread its spores to other clothes. I CAN'T GET RID OF THE SMELL AND ITS DRIVING ME MAD.

Someone please, please help. There must be something that will work. On recommendations of friends and the internet I have tried white wine vinegar, bicarb of soda, bleach, numerous other chemicals, and the latest (that I had high hopes for), was spraying liberally with neat vodka. It was an expensive failure. My clothes still stink, and to my horror it has spread to my daughter's wardrobe now - I presume they clothes have met in the ironing pile and the spores have transferred.

Anyone??? thanks in advance!

Have you just washed everything rather than spraying with stuff? Wash in batches, but don't put the clean stuff back with the stuff that's got the damp smell

Try cleaning your washer (90 wash with a cup of soda crystals, then 90 wash with a cup of white vinegar) then wash the clothes with biological wash liquid and soda crystals. Has to be bio, non bio doesn't contain the enzymes that eat the natural things, like spores.

Are your cupboards/ chest of drawers damp?

Add some lavender oil to your ironing water and once the clothes are washed (in bio on a hot temp eg 60) then blast them with steam, allow them to air before putting them away.

Op I have just been through this , it drove me crazy for months !

We considered buying new wardrobes etc at one point as no amount of machine cleaning , different chemicals or hot washing the clothes made a difference !

Then my machine packed in so we replaced it, re washed everything & the smell is gone !

I'm convinced it was to do with the washing machine !!

Yy it's likely to be the washing machine. I've run a cycle with a squirt of bleach in the drum before.. Apparently this isn't recommended but it works.

White wine vinegar probably more sensible :)

I have soaked, sprayed, loads of different products. the washer is only 3 months old, so it can't be that. I use a bio powder, but never tried soda crystals.

tipsy, congratulations! only slightly green with envy

Is there a slight blockage in a pipe? Something in the rim of the drum.. I souls run a 90 degree wash if it allows with machine cleaner or white vinegar.

the washer gets a 90 deg wash weekly, if only because it's new and cost me 1000 quid!

anyone?

I second soda crystals and also a cupfull of Epson salts in with each load. These are especially good on those sweat smells in armpits as well as sterilising the washer.

They aren't cheap though annoyingly.

I also would take everything out of the wardrobes and leave them a good week to dry out with a bowl full of bicarb soda to absorb everything.

thanks. soda crystals and epsom salts are on my shopping list

It was 14 years old

I hope you find what's causing the smell with yours , it got so bad with ours that I was getting clothes out of the drawers & having to re wash them without wearing !

The clothes smelt fine after drying but the smell built up during storage .

You need to wash and dry everything outside on a nice blowy day. Actually, several days. Sun is the answer but I don't suppose you have much of that! A thorough hot tumble dry can also help, for the hardier things.

thanks rooty, no not much sun at moment! I always line dry when I can and last summer, and I thought it had worked, but like tipsy says, the smell came back in storage.

tipsy, I had a washer that lasted 17 years, and there was never any smell with that one

Would putting a dehumidifier in your wardrobe absorb any moisture that's causing the damp?

hi clue, no I don't think so, the wardrobe isn't damp. I have now separated my wardrobe into two halves, one-half is smelly the other isn't, I just can't rid the clothes of the smell.