On 6/2/2011 9:41 PM, Steve Barker wrote:
On 6/2/2011 8:08 PM, mm wrote:
On Thu, 02 Jun 2011 08:52:02 -0500, Steve Barker
wrote:

Ok, so i neglect a vacant house all winter and guess what? The sumps
fail. So now i have many sterlite tubs full of clothes (that my wife
would prefer to salvage some of) that smell like stagnant water. I've
kept everything wet, still in the tubs, but even after regular washing
they still smell. (duh).

Have you tried drying them yet? With a heated tumle dryer, not just
the sun, I think.

I had a jackass roommate, who, when the steam radiator in his room
leaked, didn't bother to tell me and took MY thermal blanket from the
closet and used it to soak up the water from the floor, damaged the
parquet, and thought he was being gracious when he offerred to throw
the blanket away.

I washed it in the autmoatic washer, and things looked bleak when it
smelled just as bad.

Then I dried it in the automatic dryer, probably on a low temperature
even, but it was a commercial dryer in a big apartment building and I
don't really remember how hot it got, but you can always start low and
go higher, and it came out smelling brand new.

What's gonna be a good procedure to salvage
some of the more important items without a smell?

thanks!



Well if there's ONE thing i've learned through all this research is to
NOT dry ANYthing until the stains AND smells are gone. Drying sets
whatever problem there is.


Leaving the clothes wet is probably the worst thing you can do.
Cotton can rot and feed mold and bacteria growth. You wash and bleach
out stains and dry. May have to some repeatedly but with most of your
fabrics containing some cotton, you should not leave it sitting around wet.