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Removing Stains and Odor from Moldy Clothing?

I have clothes that were wet and left in a hot car in 100+ degree weather for at least two weeks some longer than that. They grew mold on them and got this nasty burnt crap smell. Well, they've been washed about 7 times now with vinegar, bleach, Oxi Clean and those little Arm & Hammer bead scent things that you put in with your clothes. They were presoaked and washed thoroughly every time, but there's still mold stains and some of the clothes still smell bad. One of the blankets looks like it still has black mold on it. Are they safe to wear and use? Is it still toxic? I tried googling it and found no answers for this situation sadly.

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Bronze Post Medal for All Time! 140 Posts
August 16, 20190 found this helpful

Oxyclean,is great for this!

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Anonymous
August 16, 20190 found this helpful

oxi clean did not work

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Anonymous
August 16, 20190 found this helpful

if you read what it says oxi clean vineagar bleach Armand Hammer bead things and soap were used numerous times

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August 16, 20190 found this helpful

as it says above in my post oxi clean ong other things were used numerous times

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Bronze Feedback Medal for All Time! 196 Feedbacks
August 16, 20190 found this helpful

Wow. That is not good. Mold is so dangerous, so do be careful. Wear gloves and a mask when you are dealing with these.

The one suggestion is to make a cocktail (per item--double for a blanket) in a large bucket or stationary tub--put 1 cup of baking soda, 2 cups vinegar, 1 tablespoon of plain blue dawn dish soap and a 1/2 cap of Tide and enough warm water to cover the item. SWISH to get it mixed in well.

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Let them sit overnight (one item per bucket or stationary tub).

Drain all the liquid and run them through a washer with the regular amount of Tide and Oxi Clean and warm water, do an extra rinse, and then hang them out in the sun to dry.

Several years ago we had a lot of water in our basement and a bag of my tee shirts had fallen off the shelf and I did not notice it and they were molded from the water when I found them a year later. I was able to save most (but not all of the items--some had to be tossed--those were the ones in the bottom of the bag and the most damaged and the ones that had rayon in them).

The sun dry really helps. Sometimes you have to do this soak, wash, dry 3 times.


Post back with an update! I hope it works for you!

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August 16, 20190 found this helpful

we used oxi clean and numerous other things 7 times and put them in the sun after drying and nothing helped it

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Bronze Feedback Medal for All Time! 196 Feedbacks
August 16, 20190 found this helpful

Did you try it as the cocktail mix? Sometimes that mix does the trick.

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Gold Post Medal for All Time! 677 Posts
August 16, 20190 found this helpful

I would use a stain stick and try one more time. Dry outdoors on a sunny day.

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Gold Feedback Medal for All Time! 949 Feedbacks
August 16, 20190 found this helpful

I do not believe they are safe to use or even have in your house unless they are in a sealed container. Mold spores may still be active and that means you can still breath them. This could be especially bad for young children.

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As to the blanket - I would definitely put this outside and lay it flat on a table or throw over something that makes most of the mold spots open to the sun. You can soak this in vinegar or spray vinegar on spots and leave in the sun for several days but try to spray the spots when they start to dry.
Some people recommend spraying with an enzyme cleaner (special formulae for removing pet/human urine stains and odor) but I have not tried this.
If this does not work, I believe I would discard the blanket.

You have tried so many solutions that it is difficult to believe nothing has worked.
A good recommendation that it appears you have not tried is a strong solution of 20 Mule Team Borax. Use 1 cup of Borax in hot water - soak clothes overnight (turn agitator on several times to keep it well mixed) and wash following day.

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Always use vinegar in your rinse water.

There are several commercial products that some several sites recommend and these can be found at stores like Home Depot, Lowe's and online.

www.lowes.com/.../3620698

moldblogger.com/.../

Ace or True Value Hardware stores usually carry a good line of products like this. Just be sure to follow directions.

I hope you can find a working solution as I know you are frustrated after trying all the recommended things and none of them working.

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Anonymous
August 18, 20190 found this helpful

Do not put in dryer until a stain is removed. It will set the stain.

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Home and Garden Cleaning LaundryAugust 16, 2019
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