You can't wash hurricane clothes

[jasonl]

My dad brought back some clothes from Chalmette that was in the flood. Most of the clothes looked clean but after 3 washings on the longest cycle including prewash, the smell will just never come out. We had to throw all that away. So, clothes get caught in a flood, get new ones.

 

[peterh770]

Try the Lysol soak. Get the original concentrated Lysol in the little brown bottles. Make up the recipe for laundry, and give the stinky articles a good long soak followed with a hot wash with detergent. Original Lysol has been know to cure things that completely bumfuzzle mere mortals.

 

[appnut]

Jason, you should have consulted here b4 the clothes were thrown out. Todd & Gary were able to salvage many of their clothes.

 

[westytoploader]

Yikes...I'm with you Jason. If I am ever in that circumstance, I will just replace them; clothes are not what I consider a "valuable" item in general unless it's an expensive suit, etc.

Were they actually in contact with the floodwater or were they just exposed to the air?

 

[bostonwash]

I'm just glad you made it alive.

I still can't believe this awful tragedy. I've heard there are several capped toxic waste dumps under portions of that flooded area. Given all that water for several weeks diluting and allowing the toxics to float where ever and the remnants from numerous oil rigs that have spilled. I can't imagine how unhealth the area is.
Sorry latent grief here.
Well wishes JasonL and those who have suffered from this catastrophy.

 

[jasonlsangel]

me and katrina have a love hate relationship, it is amazing what good can come from a tragedy!

 

[lavamat_jon]

Jason, as long as your alive & safe is all that matters, don't worry about the clothes as they're all material.

Look on the bright side - aren't you glad that your father has lost his "favourite" shirt which is actually hideous, that every father seems to have and, at worse, wear it out to every family occasion?

Take care

Jon

 

[jasonl]

BORAX BABY!

Well, my mom did some long soaking in Borax and I think in Lysol as well and the rest of the towels and clothes came out nice and clean.

Interesting... the VINTAGE towels and wash cloths made it while the newer ones disintegrated. But my mom might've caused some of it by running the machine at RIP speed. I saw wash cloths and towels that I remember from when I was a baby. They were definitely washed in the Kenmore 800.

I have some Tupperware bowls that won't get rid of the stink. Should I soak them in Lysol too? They were dishwashed on the hottest cycle.

 

[jamiel]

Try either Cascade plastic booster in a hot cycle in the d/w (even pause the machine after it's been dispensed to increase the contact), and/or OxyClean (or equivalent) in a hot soak.

JL

 

[whirlcool]

Or you could make a strong LCB solution and soak the Tupperware in it overnight. Rinse well and it should be back to normal again.

 

[jamiel]

After living through the floods in Des Moines in 1993 the less I smell of LCB in relation to that flooded, mildewy smell the better. That smell will forever be etched in my memory. Yecch.

 

[toggleswitch]

odor, be gone!

Some say add lemon jusice and let the bowl sit in the sun.
Gets rid of all kinds of odors.

BTW==> if your hands ever smell of fish or onion or garlic or whatever you are cooking simply rub them along the stainless steel sink.

 

[kenmore1978]

Tupperware smell

I hadn't heard about the lemon juice but I DID hear about leaving smelly plastic items out in the sun.

Baking or washing soda in the wash water may have removed the smell from the clothes, too