Household Issues that Can Ruin Your Laundry

Woman looking tired doing laundry – Image Courtesy of Pixabay

It’s a little bit of a nightmare when you ruin your laundry. Yet for all the faults you can make, there are also some household reasons you could be sitting with smelly and wet clothes.

Too High Humidity

Washing clothing with water is necessary. But moisture is a problem for your garments. If you don’t dry them thoroughly, you can face mold, mildew, and even fungus issues. Therefore, you must dry your clothes 100% before placing them in your closet. Otherwise, they are likely to become infected with something nasty. You can reduce humidity in your home by hiring an HVAC contractor to install or clean your AC system. If you don’t reduce humidity, the problems can spread to your entire wardrobe, ruining everything and beyond in your home.

Radiator Drying

You might not have access to a tumble dryer or a way to air dry your clothing. Living in apartments is a perfect example. In many cases, people turn to their radiators or other sources of heat to dry clothes. But you need to be careful when doing this. The moisture from wet clothes evaporates and will condense in your home. This will make your house very humid and will contribute to problems like mold. If you need to use your radiators, make sure your property is well-ventilated. Additionally, radiators might get too hot for some materials like prints.

Your Machine Ruin Your Laundry

Of course, you can ruin your laundry if you don’t learn to use your machine correctly. Different material types require specific settings. And it’s possible to misuse a washing machine or dryer. Here are some of the most common things people do that can ruin a load of washing:

Using too much detergent
Not emptying pockets
Overloading the drum

The average washing machine lasts around ten years. But misusing yours could drastically reduce that lifespan. For example, too much detergent causes a washing machine to overflow and metal objects, like coins, can block pipes. While too much weight agitates the machinery.

Frequent Power Surges

Your home’s power system is fragile and can be compromised in many ways. Yet when you experience a power trip, it can also cause anything plugged into it to fail. For example, while it’s not common, your washing machine could end up in a failure state if the power goes out mid-cycle. And you might need an expensive repair to fix it. Fortunately, you can protect against this somewhat with power surge protection. Surge protection devices divert excess power away from your appliances. Even better, they’re cheap and could save you a massive headache.

Blocked Drains

Like all appliances, washing machines require maintenance. As you do more washing, all the dirt, grime, and grease are washed away from your clothes. But it has to be excreted somewhere. And this is usually through your outflow pipe. However, like the arteries in your body, gunk can build up in the pipes and cause drainage issues. Telltale signs include interrupted cycles, no heat, and water not draining from the drum. To remedy this, hot rinse an empty machine with cleaning tablets or bleach every 3 to 5 washes and inspect the hoses.