5 Clever Ways To Get Rid Of The Bad Smell In Laundry Room
Our home is our own little piece of paradise; a place where we can shut out the world and all its troubles, relax when we want to and live in tranquillity. The peace that our homes provide can’t be replicated anywhere else and that’s why even small things like a piece of furniture out of place or a bad odour can ruin our perfect haven.
A lingering foul smell that just won’t go away is an experience that no one envies but if you have a laundry room in your house then, sooner or later, it’s a certainty that you will encounter a bad smell in the laundry room too.
Whether such a things happen to you more often than not, or whether it’s the first time that you have encountered this problem, you have, luckily, landed in the right place. I used to have this problem too and after some research, I found some excellent ways to make the smell go away. So without wasting anymore time, let’s take a look.
1. A dehumidifier might do wonders
The more humidity in the air, the worse the odour will be. That’s why using a dehumidifier is often a good and practical way to get rid of a particularly nasty smell.
As an added bonus, reducing the humidity in the room or the house will also increase your comfort level and might even save you some money by reducing your electricity bill. But before you whip out your credit card to buy such a gadget (they are a little on the expensive side), there are a few things that you need to keep in mind:
- If you have repurposed your basement as the laundry room (among other things) then the dehumidifier won’t work in the way you want it to. You may get acceptable results but basements tend to be soggy and cold and that results in a high level of humidity.
- If you are using a room on the ground level as the laundry room then a dehumidifier might work extremely well. But in addition, you will also have to make sure that you don’t let smelly clothes sit in the room for too long. The dehumidifier can’t do its job if you don’t do yours.
With a basement, you can try opening the high windows through the day. You can also keep the door open to the basement at the risk of spreading the smell throughout the house. So, tread softly if you have to do. Opening the door and the windows, along with a dehumidifier, may just be enough to do the trick.
You just have to make sure that you are using the dehumidifier in the right environment.
2. Your washing machine might be the culprit
Modern washing machine are nothing short of wonderful; we just have to put in the clothes and the detergent and the machine takes care of the rest.
Despite all their benefits, such modern washing machines create an airtight seal when they are washing their loads. This results in fungal growth – also known as mildew –in the machine which in turn becomes the cause of the foul odour. This will not only make your laundry room stink, there’s also a good chance that this smell will also be transferred to your clothes if you don’t do anything about it.
If you think that this is the case that you are dealing with then the remedy is easy: just put a cup of vinegar or bleach in the machine and run a complete cycle with hot water. Once you are done, open the door of the machine and leave it as it for a little while. After that, repeat the process at least one more time.
There are also some tablets available in the market that can be used for the same purpose and they can be used in exactly the same way.However, a home remedy always trumps anything else so you are better off sticking with the vinegar and bleach. Be sure to repeat this process after every 2 to 3 weeks if need be so that your laundry room stays odour free and fresh.
3. Vinegar can help you get rid of the smell
White vinegar has a lot of benefits including it being a great way to get rid of unwanted smells that may inhibit your laundry room (or any other room too).
Using this method is really easy too: all you have to do is to put a bowl of vinegar in your laundry room and leave it overnight. Place it in the middle of the room. You can also use a couple of bowls if your room is reasonably big. You can also use vinegar with water for the same purpose; just mix the vinegar with some warm water.
Depending on how strong the smell is that you want to get rid of, you may have to leave the vinegar in the room for longer periods of time like 24 hours. If, even, that doesn’t work then you might have to keep doing this for a number of days before you see any results. In the meantime, you should try not to dump more dirty clothes in the room.
Rest assured knowing that the results of this procedure are spectacular; your laundry room will never be smelly again.
4. Baking soda is also a great solution
Just like vinegar, baking soda is also a great way to get that nasty odour out of the room.
In fact, baking soda is quite versatile and can be used from removing odours from the carpet to making the air fresh in a room. Baking soda works great when it is used in combination with lemon juice.
Mixing baking soda with fresh lemon juice and then spraying it in the laundry room is what you need to do. Spray the mixture in every nook and crevice in the room. Make sure that there is a good flow of air in the room by opening the windows and doors when you do this to accelerate the process.
If you have carpeted the laundry room and feel like the odour has crept into the carpet it self then the baking soda can also work in such a situation. Spread a good amount of baking soda on the carpet throughout the room. The more baking soda you use, the better the results will be. You don’t have to worry about baking soda damaging your carpet because it doesn’t do that.
Once you have done this, let the baking soda sit there for several hours or, preferably, a day so that it can soak up the smell. After that, just vacuum the baking soda of the carpet and your carpet and room should be odour free.
5. You can do more with newspaper than just reading them
The old stack of newspapers that has been just sitting there for a while can come in real handy if you want to fight the stink in the laundry room. The only drawback with using newspapers is that while they work great to “soak” up the odour, they work rather slowly.
What you have to do is to crumple up as many newspapers as you find and then place them in the room. Be sure to spread the newspapers throughout the room so that they are able to “soak” up the smell better.
If you are worried about the stains that the old, slightly yellowed, newspaper might leave then it’s better to place them on a piece of cloth. You will have to leave the newspapers for at least a day in the room so make sure that you don’t have any laundry to do in the next 24 hours or so if you want to go down this road.
Using newspapers is a cheap and easy way to take care of your laundry room smell problem and works magnificently.
Now you know what you need to do if you have a really foul smelling laundry room. But remember this: just eliminating the odour is not enough if the smell is being caused by something like mildew, mould or fungus. You need to find the source of the smell and then you need to get rid of the source.
In addition, you should take of smelly clothes swiftly and don’t let them just sit there for a while. None of the methods mentioned above will do you any good if you not fix the source.
So what do you think about the list? Have you already tried any of the methods listed above to a great degree of success? Is there anything that I missed out? Or do you have any other method that would be even better than this? Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments below. And may you have an ever fresh laundry room.