ffs. I was pouring gas from a gas can when some spilled on my sweats. No big deal, I’ll just change.
And oh, look, almost all my dark clothes are dirty, I’ll wash them together! Just jam them all in there!
You know what happened next. I could smell it on every article of clothing when I pulled them out of the washing machine. In retrospect, well, obviously that was going to happen.
Since then I’ve slow-washed them in vinegar, slow-washed them in ammonia, soaked them overnight in high strength grease-killing dish soap (which we normally wouldn’t have, but I won it as a gag door prize at a Super Bowl party. Thanks NFL!), then washed them again in ammonia, and…the smell is still pretty strong.
Every pair of sweatpants I own. All my concert T shirts. Most of my other T shirts. Gah.
My wife suggested starting over, since as she fairly pointed out, a lot of my clothes were pretty ratty. And I already threw out the $40 tennis shoes that also had gas on them.
I dunno. Don’t actually ask me anything, I’m still pretty mad at myself. Thanks for listening.
If it’s just the smell, I think that will go away eventually. It’s volatile, so eventually there will be nothing left to smell. Just air them out somewhere.
This (@Bear_Nenno’s) was the answer I had after an accident after refilling a balky lawnmower. If weather permits (not so much right now 14FEB2024) hang them up outside, preferably in the sun with some wind. Otherwise, hang them up somewhere where the smell won’t be an issue in the rest of the house (basement, garage) and come back to them later.
I have -heard- of people having luck with multiple run throughs on high in a dryer (air flow plus heat to volatize) but I’d worry about leaving residue in the dryer, and or damage to clothes from lots of hot cycles.
Soak in a bucket with about 5 boxes of baking soda for maybe a week. Then hang out side for several days.
Then wash at a laundry mat. Secretly, if you can. Peeps won’t like it. So go on maybe late night or Tuesday morning.
Use Persil washing liquid(not pods). Buy the stinkiest laundry additive crystals. Use the whole container.
You’ll have the awful lavender smell.
Then sit in your favorite chair and decide what’s worse? Gas or Lavender?
I agree. In my experience the gasoline smell, while really pungent at first, eventually dissipates and goes away. Hanging clothes outside I would think would help out with this.
It’s close to freezing here (or below at night), with the trees and roof dripping everywhere, so that’s not going to happen. As it is, during the day I’m going to scoot the clothes forward to some sun hits them though.