Advice Needed On Very Dirty Whites

[xraytech]

Ok, here's the deal. I have been helping a friend clean a large home to settle an estate. On all the windows in the home are custom made Hollywood draperies and pinch pleated sheers. The sheers have not been taken down and cleaned in about 15 years, they are now a med-dark gray. In the bedrooms which were kept closed all that time the sheers werent too hard to get white again. The problem is the living and dining room, the ioccupasnts of this home didnt do any housekeeping and smoked heavily, the sheers in the public rooms are a very dark dingy gray and wont come clean.

I have soaked in water and clorox and washed several times. I let them soak for about 10 days in bleach water and they are a slightly lighter shade of gray.

Any suggestions on how to get these white again?

 

[whirlcool]

Have you tried using STPP in the wash water? We had some curtains in our den that were very dirty/dusty and we couldn't get all the stains out until we used STPP. After one use of it the curtains were like new again.

 

[dustin92]

2 ideas- wash them with some hand dishwashing liquid, or if that doesnt work, get some Spic and Span, which is normally used for washing walls, it comes in either a liquid or powder, and wash them with that.

 

[dirtybuck]

Besides buying online, where else can one find stpp?

 

[frigilux]

If you can't get STTP, try a mega-dose of Oxi Clean. I mean use a lot of it. Follow the instructions for soaking, using very hot water; then use another huge dose of it in the wash cycle, as well. I've had great luck whitening some items with it, and it's on every grocery store shelf.

I'm surprised the sheers didn't fall apart soaking in liquid chlorine bleach for that length of time!

 

[xraytech]

I have used 2 tubs of oxy clean with no luck. I'll try the spic and span.

I too am surprised the sheers didnt fall apart or shrink, since they are dry clean only