Who has to solution to musty towels?

[4speedy]

I’ve been staying at my mom’s house during the week since June due to some health issues.  I have noticed her towels (kitchen, bath, dish cloths, etc) smell musty almost immediately.  They come out of the dryer smelling fine but at the first hint of moisture, the smell is back.  And if I dry my hands with a towel, then my hands smell gross, too.  Is there a way to fix this or do I just need to replace all the towels in her house?  Towels are colored so they can’t be bleached.  Washer is a top load.

[gummybear]

You could strip them. Also an enzyme cleaner line Rockin Green would def solve the issue!

[arielroux]

Try using a “sport wash” laundry detergent. I use WIN activewear detergent or Nathan Power Wash for all my towels and gym clothes. Both are available on Amazon. The Nathan Power Wash was able to get that weird gym clothing smell out of that stuff, and none of my towels have that musty smell, but I did replace them all within the last two years, so that could also be why. Towels are tough though, once they get that smell it’s really hard to get rid of it.

[dcn]

Aug 2, 2023 8:03:59 GMT -5 gummybear said:

You could strip them. Also an enzyme cleaner line Rockin Green would def solve the issue!

This. Soak them in the tub with rockin green for a few hours. Then wash in hot water. Use vinegar in the softener dispenser. Do an extra rinse. Make sure she’s not using too much detergent too. If it’s a HE washer you barely need any. I can always tell immediately when people use too much.

[onomatopoeia]

Tide sport, double rinses, adding vinegar, a sport powder wash, Oxy, lighter loads, and longer drying time are all things I've tired with various levels of success. It's really hard to get out once it's there. I have both white towels and gray ones and I find the grey ones have gotten mustier more quickly, I think because I can't bleach them.

ETA: I think scented laundry soap and liquid fabric softener also contributes to the problem.  We use Tide Free and Clear now and it's been less of an issue.

[Eagles]

Borax in the wash cycle, white vinegar in the rinse cycle.

[kitty]

Borax in the wash in addition to the correct amount of detergent with the hottest/longest cycle (mine is called sanitize). Also, never any fabric softener or dryer sheets.

Has her vent been checked/cleaned recently? This happened to my in-laws and it turned out they had a bunch of lint that was holding on to dampness and odors and passing it on to the towels.

[puppylove64]

Sounds like they need to be stripped and she is probably using too much detergent. There are a bunch of ways to do it and they probably all work. I would throw them in the tub, with some blue dawn and some borax and fill it with hot water and stir some. Let them soak overnight. Afterwards throw them in the washer and you might need a double rinse.

In the future, use the proper soap amount and if needed, add vinegar or a tablespoon of borax or oxy clean to each load

[bex1973]

In addition to the borax & vinegar suggestions that we do regularly as well can you hand them in the sun to dry? We try to do that as often as possible.

There may also be moisture in the place she is storing them - maybe put one of those little drying things in there? I feel like the arm & hammer ones work best.

[bee20]

I've been happy with the unscented Lysol Laundry Sanitizer for funky smells. Add it to the fabric softener/rinse tray.

[cleo29]

How old are they? When mine have gotten to this point and are just old, they are relegated to becoming cleaning rags and dog towels. If not old, I would try some of the above suggestions.

I have bought, for my bathroom, quick-drying towels that I really like. Not nearly as heavy as my old ones and have great absorption.

[fivechickens]

I had this issue. Every time I washed my towels they had a musty smell. I started using vinegar (I put it in the fabric softener dispenser) and they do not smell at all anymore.

Also some of my towels are 20 years old.

[livinitup]

I love my towels and really want to strip them some day. It’s an odd goal.

[isabel]

Aug 2, 2023 11:53:32 GMT -5 bee20 said:

I've been happy with the unscented Lysol Laundry Sanitizer for funky smells. Add it to the fabric softener/rinse tray.

Ditto this. I think it's made a big difference with all our clothes.

[daisyduck]

I use liquid detergent + powdered oxi clean in the washer, and vinegar in the fabric softener dispenser. I used to just use vinegar, but at some point that wasn't enough by itself.

I stripped my towels thinking that would help and I wouldn't need to use oxi + vinegar anymore, but that didn't do anything and made the smell worse.

[raleighnc]

The laundry sanitizer helps a lot. Also making sure they are completely dry.

[litskispeciality]

You have great advice. Do you have access to a clothes line? I live in a very humid area and find in those times my towels don't dry all the way after a shower. Maybe sun dry would help a tiny bit?

At some point you may also just have to get new towels. Signed mine are over 10 years old, and have holes.

[mcppalmbeach]

I had this problem with pool towels thanks to certain members of my household leaving them all over in a wad. Just vinegar did the trick for me.

[redheadk]

If you want to try something she likely has on hand, a 1/4c. of pinesol or fabuloso straight in with the towels will do the trick and won't harm the towels. Put detergent (not too much) in like usual.

[namasteak]

Soaking with oxi clean & adding the Lysol laundry sanitizer always helps me.

[cheeseplease]

Does she have well water by chance? I use powdered Tide and a vinegar rinse and it gets rid of all towel mustiness. Wool balls in the dryer, no fabric softener ever.

[stemmie]

Other thoughts.

Is her home humid with poorly ventilated closets? Is her washer dirty. My mom did adapt to her HE washer and used too much which made towels nasty. I ran several Affresh cycles to get the washer clean and then washed the towel without detergent so she could see how much was trapped in her towels already.