More bathroom cleaning questions!

[kherrmann3]

I am getting sick of this bathroom. I fix one thing, another thing turns up disgusting. For those of you who actually clean the bathroom of your household, how do you prevent your bathmat (the thing on the floor outside of the tub/shower) to not stink?

I mean, this thing smells like a trifecta of unholy nasty bathroom smells. It's moldy, I think. To get a good idea, imagine the smell of a moist bath towel that sits on the floor for a few days and gets that mildew-y smell to it? Multiply that by, like, 50.

I have tried hanging it outside, hanging it up inside post-shower, and the smell seems to be stuck in the mat. It's almost like it has changed its molecular properties. The stink is in the molecules!

Should I try washing it? The tag said "spot clean only". I have no idea how to wash it other than spot cleaning because it has the rubberized bottom on it. I almost am ready to just throw it out and get those towels that are meant to be on the floor. They are like a bathmat/towel hybrid that you just wash more frequently?

Help? Anyone?

 

[slavetoabunny]

I would just trash it and get a new one.

 

[pamnock]

I agree - toss it and get a machine washable one.

Pam

 

[mouse_chalk]

We wash ours, or just get cheapish ones and chuck them out every so often. Take a rubbish bag, pick it up very carefully and don't look too closely!

It's funny how we stand on them every day but don't realise how dirty they get.... :?

 

[degrassi]

Is the mat furry on the top and rubber on the back? IF so I've washed that kind before and its fine. The only issue is if you put it in the dryer the rubber gets dry and cracks off. So I wash mine in the washer and air dry. But my mat doesn't get too dirty.

In the bathroom we shower in, we have a towel/bath mat thing without any rubber backing. That way it gets washed each week.

If yours is stinky its probably best to toss it and start over. Bath mats are bound to get gross if you dont' wash them.

 

[BethM]

I have the kind with the fuzzy stuff on the top, rubber on the back, and I've washed it before. Just let it air dry, just hang itso it gets a lot of airflow, it shouldn't takemore than a day. (I do the same with the one in front of my kitchen sink.) But if it's really really stinky and moldy, I'd toss is and get a new one. Sometimes it's good to start fresh!

I recently replaced the one in my guest bathroom because the rubber was starting to crack and come off the back. It wasn't a really expensive one, so I just got a new one. This time, though, I got a nice all-cotton one. (Looks furry on one side, looped on the other.)

I was just looking at mine yesterday, thinking they need to be washed.

 

[kherrmann3]

I vacuum it and such, so the top isn't icky, but the bottom is what's mildew-y smelling. Will that wash out?

I would get a new one, but I am a wee bit low on cash (Happy Holidays!) and I live with two guys. This thing has smelled funny for awhile, now. It doesn't stink up the room, but you smell it when you pick it up to clean. I think it smelled that way about a month after we moved in here. I am afraid to keep buying new things, because the guys don't seem to respect them. Almost everything in the apartment is mine, because I hoarded everything I could get my hands on prior to moving out. I think they don't care because they didn't pay for the stuff. Grr...

Can you bleach them? That color-safe bleach stuff? I think I have some of that in the hall closet somewhere...

 

[undergunfire]

You don't know what stink is until you have smelled a stinky pee soaked rat hammock!!!

Wash it with "Holy Cow" in the pink bottle. You can find it at Walgreens and a few other stores.

Holy Cow is AWESOME and takes the smell of rat pee out of fabrics 100%. I also put 1/4 cup of it in with my bath towels....smell no more!

 

[kherrmann3]

I worked at a pet store for two years I know stinky!

 

[NZminilops]

We don't have one . We use a towel for drying then hang that up, then next time someone showers that towel goes on the ground to be stood on. Then it goes in the wash after that.

 

[Raspberry82]

I have a big bath mat that I always keep in a dark color that matches my towels so that they all can get washed together in our washing machine. I always wash the bath mat + shower curtain + towels in hot water with detergent, really hot water kills mold/mildew. It if it REALLY bad, I would just throw it away.. but you could try soaking it in the washer with distilled vinegar (it's cheap by the gallon), drain it, then wash in the washing machine with detergent.

I have to wash my shower curtain about once a week too or else it will get tub mildewiness showing up.. and it said it was supposed to be resistent .

 

[PepnFluff]

We've got those cotton ones but dad douses his in baking soda and rubs that in then chucks it in the wash with a bit of white vinegar then leaves it on the line till its dry, it doesn't smell of vinegar or anything but the odours gone and it kills lots of the bacteria.

 

[naturestee]

I'd try spraying it with vinegar first, it's acidic so it might help kill off mildew. Then just dab it dry with paper towels. I generally get by with vacuuming + Febreeze, although I have useda steam cleaner on it once when I was doing the rest of the house. Turns out the pigmentscouldn't stand up to that as well asnormal carpet so now it's slightly faded.

Good luck with the stinky boys! I swear they're like children sometimes!

 

[pinksalamander]

Do you hang it up, like over the bath every time you use it? We do with ours and its been fine for 6 months!

Fran :hearts :brownbunny

 

[kherrmann3]

We did, but then the stupid thing got so stinky that it would stink-up our bathroom when we would try to air-dry it. I've even left it outside to dry. It can be bone-dry and still stink.

 

[undergunfire]

Can you are your room mates pool together and spend $8 on a new bath mat? I just got one for the new house at Walmart for $8.

 

[kherrmann3]

I just don't want to start the stinky bathmat crap all over again. If I could get the stink out, or knew how to prevent it, I'd try it again, but since it seems that the ickiness comes back, I might invest in those floor-mat towels that get washed more often. That way I don't have to deal with the stinkiness.

Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions!