Does anyone have any hacks for getting rid of the urine odor in laundry?

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Does anyone have any hacks for getting rid of the urine odor in laundry?

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Seventh Generation laundry detergent really Makes laundry white and removes the stains . The best price is at Target . I use it On all my sheets and Blankets . There is a good product I got at Wholefoods - A enzyme spray for Pets and stains - in a green and white bottle - it has a orange scent - when I used it to get Out the dogs pee in the rug it was like a Miracle . I would think it would work On stained clothes also . I was called biotine or something similar .

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I've also used baking soda, vinegar, and Lysol laundry sanitizer. One other thing I haven't seen mentioned here is Liquid Alive. It's formulated to break down enzymes, and I add it to my wash and let it soak for a bit before adding detergent and running the washer. I also add white vinegar to the rinse cycle, and this has helped tremendously with the smell. Also, if I don't have enough laundry to do a load, I pre-soak with white vinegar water. I bought a container normally used for storing dog food, and use that for my "diaper pail"--it was larger than most pails and cheap enough to get at Walmart. I also cleaned the container with white vinegar and baking soda, and kept a dryer sheet in there to keep it fresh smelling. Good luck!

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There are reasons for strong urine smell. Those should also be addressed. However, from having used cloth diapers for many, many years, I understand the desire to eliminate that odor as soon as possible. Begin by creating an odor absorber in the clothes hamper. Charcoal is pretty good for this. You can break up charcoal into small pieces and enclose it into a cotton bag. Place it at the bottom, even attach it with twine or lock-ties to keep it in place. As for the washing, you are using baking soda - try adding hydrogen peroxide. You can make a paste and apply it directly or add to the soak process. It should also help with stains. White vinegar can be used to clean surfaces around her living space that may also have odor. Simply make a solution of it mixed with water (2:5). Wipe with a cloth, wipe with a dry cloth, allow to dry well. I suggest you avoid stronger cleaners such as bleach, as they can discolor, breakdown fabric and leave behind an odor that can make the situation even worse.

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I use hot water and add white vinegar. Unless I am "nose dead" it works.

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There are some products that remove Skunk Odor from clothing. If all else fails you might try some of those.

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I sure have a solution - Febreze Odor Eliminator which I find in the laundry section of our local WalMart. Terrific stuff.

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I’ve been through this with my mom when I cared for her for 5 years in my home. Plus, I was a dairy farmer for 25 years and had to find something to help me remove barn stink from literally everything my late husband wore.

First off; use ONLY cold water. Warmer water isn’t good for washing away body wastes of any kind because the heat expands proteins (urine, feces, sweat, saliva, blood, milk) and makes them sticky, leaving behind traces of those proteins, and their smells. Cold water keeps the fibers of whatever you’re washing tight so the proteins have less “hiding” places to stick to, and the soap and cold water together wash them away.
Rinse with cold water and vinegar. Try a cupful per load until you start to notice things are smelling better…. and get rid of anything that still holds onto the smells after a couple of washings. Don’t put anything in the dryer that doesn’t smell better after a washing or two.

The heat from the dryer will set the proteins that don’t wash away, and industrial dryers run extremely hot… so the clothing that was being done in the facility may never smell right again, but you could try to save everything with this method…. Or you may find that some materials never smell right again no matter what. I was able to rescue some of my mom’s clothing with this method, but ended up throwing away about half because facilities ALWAYS use super-hot water and dryers, thinking along the lines of “sanitation”/hotter is better….the stink was well set into some of the items, and just not worth the effort.

Btw: the vinegar smell doesn’t linger for long, and it’s worth putting up with to get to the end result of deodorized clothing.

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I used bleach and it helped a bit. Along with a good scented laundry soap. I'm not sure what else you can do. I cleaned her mattress with Hydrogen Peroxide mixed with water and a bit of soap and sprayed it real well then put baking soda on top of that. Let it dry and vacuumed it up. It got both the smell and stains out. So you might try adding the hydrogen peroxide to the wash. I would also put it on a soak cycle.

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Try adding White vinegar to each load of her laundry. It’s an effective deodorizer, fabric softener and disinfectant. Good Luck.

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I used white vinegar today with my husband's clothes. it seems to have worked. I just added 1/2 cup to the wash with the soap.

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There is a product called Funkaway laundry Booster. I had the same problem with my Mom’s laundry and it works wonders! I find it at my local grocery store or I have also ordered it on Amazon.

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I like Oxyclean, just a scoop in the wash cycle.

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Tide 10X seems to work well

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Try using white vinegar in the rinse water.

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My husband is in a nursing facility, and I do all his laundry & all his clothes smell.
I use only cold water and add to the laundry detergent, oxi clean and always use
Lysol (cost only $3.99 48oz) you can use the Lysol for everything. If fact I love the clean smell so much I use it on everything I wash. My clothes smell clean too.
Pour it on the clothes when you put them in the machine, I just pour it on. It will take all the smells out. Try it, it does work! If you like add it to the rinse cycle too.

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White vinegar. I put it into the tank and also where it says "bleach".

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Put vinegar in the bleach dispenser for each load. About 1/4-1/2 cup.

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I deal with the urine odor problem in my 88 year old moms clothing - but also deal with her on and off bowel incontinence so my methods change and I have given up on expecting 'solved' !
I sometimes refrain from washing one or two items - water bills - so I purchased the fragrant Hefty trash bags for when things are not too bad and I cannot wash immediately -
(they have different hefty scents and really do help when you can't do it in the right now mode)
I have soaked for hour prior at times-- depending -
I have switched laundry detergents -
I have tried the Downy beads with the detergent - clothes have a camouflage fragrance that let me know I am camouflaging -
I am now trying Gain laundry but am also doing a second rinse cycle with vinegar-- it does seem to help !
All I can say is I can't continue to buy clothing for my mom so I try ----but repeated wear of the same clothing even freshly washed time after time the odors may not always go completely away -
Good Luck

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if you don't want to buy any of the items, people are suggesting, there are some DIY's you could google. (diy for urine odor on clothes). good luck

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KisaVal: Try OxiClean.

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Odoban works great. Check it out!
https://odoban.com/

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Mom lives at home but there are times when it's closer to a week before doing laundry. There is some things getting wet but not soaked. If I do laundry within the day, I only use Tide HE, and then a dryer sheet ( Downy ) in the dryer. If it's 2 or more days, I first wash with Tide HE plus a color-safe Clorox pod. Then I wash a full 2nd time with only Tide HE ( to get any Clorox out due to itchiness ) and then dryer with Downy sheet. Have never had any urine odor issues.

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White vinegar in pre-soak wash.

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I have multiple pets, an incontinent parent and a teenage son. I have multiple urine issues in my laundry and home. Odoban disinfects and removes all odor using just this and the laundry egg. Its not toxic and is concentrated so one bottle goes a long way. I use in carpet cleaner as well and it does not damage the flooring. This can be bought at Sams Club, Home Depot etc and is about 10/gallon. This is the only product that actually eliminates these smells. I use this A LOT!

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Adding to previous response..The laundry egg is a mineral clean. The mineral combinations open the cell of the clothing to clean the clothes allowing all the dirt/urine out. Nothing is in the product that coats the clothes like the commercial detergents so the clothes don't retain water which reduces drying time. As they dry with the dryer egg the cells close and the clothes. The laundry eff is good for 1050 washes and the Dryer egg for 210 drys. Using these 2 products has heavily reduces cost by not buying all the commercial products, being able to use the short cycle on the washer and has reduced drying time to 20 min instead of 90. Static is removed but still struggling with wrinkles if you don't take the clothes out while they are hot. My totasl cost for the Laundry and Dryer egg on ebay was 24. The box of tide pods was 32 alone.

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Many thanks to all of you who took the time to reply and share your advise. Several of you suggested baking soda. I had been using washing soda and still think that is a better option for cleaning than baking soda. I love it on pots and my own family laundry, especially napkins, towels, table cloths. But it wasn't doing the job on the urine odor. I have also tried Borax, which I love for general cleaning, but that too failed on the odor. Suggestions for the hamper are not really practical for me because the nursing home staff takes care of the hamper. Yesterday was the first laundering since my post and your replies. I used Tide hygienic clean and lysol laundry sanitizer sport. It was a lot better, but not perfect. With tim, I will work my way through the other suggestions. A few of you mentioned a laundry egg. I am curious about this, but unclear how it works. It seems like this replaces detergent, but then I thought one of you mentioned using it with other products. So if any of you have time to post about the laundry egg I would appreciate it. I a

Those of you who complained about the new washers are right on. I hated my front loader and replaced it with a top loader that has a deep water option, but even that is much less water than the old top loaders. The only solution I have found is to dump buckets of water in the machine, let it agitate a few minutes Then I have unplug the machine because after about 10 minutes it will start a drain if I don't unplug. I don't have a sink in the laundry room, which means carrying bucket after bucket of water from the kitchen to the laundry room. Grrrr.

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if you leave the cover down - on my new GE - (on pause) it will not drain the water out.

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Wash in white distilled vinegar first , like around a cup and then wash again in laundry detergent.

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I have been using Lysol Sanitizer-blue lid liquid-at the big box or maybe grocery store. I use about 1/2 cup in each load. the product is not bleach so will not damage fabrics but gives a pleasant fresh smell. I find the sanitizer also helps with the issue of front loader washing machines getting smelly.

I do give my front load machine a deep clean with a brush in the nooks and crannies around the door as needed, but otherwise i leave the door open in between loads and the Lysol seems to freshen up the machine at the same time-this comment is more towards OP who have had issue with front loaders.

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Vinegar or listerine …works great
also do a second rinse cycle

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Her urine should be going into disposable diaper..& if it’s always in/on clothes, then they’re not changing her often enough or not putting diaper on correctly. Discuss with facility. Hugs 🤗

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not necessarily true. I can not tell you how many leaks and puddles I had with my Husband. Skin folds can be a way for urine to escape from a "diaper"

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Does anyone have any hacks for getting rid of the urine odor in laundry?

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