# What's the (most likely) way to machine wash a bathmat? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 17, 2008, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-likely-way-to-machine-wash-a-bathmat/477616 "2008-12-17T19:42:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-likely-way-to-machine-wash-a-bathmat/477616/1 "2008-12-17T19:42:55Z")
(Please move if this is better in GQ; I couldn’t decide.) I have a bathmat - just a regular ol’ bathmat, with a rubberish mesh bottom so it doesn’t slip as easily. It needs washing, but there’s no tag on it and I lost the cardboard label that came with it. What’s the most likely care instructions? Do I wash it in warm or cold water? Can I put it in the dryer afterwards? Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-likely-way-to-machine-wash-a-bathmat/477616/2 "2008-12-17T19:43:51Z")
Warm load, OK in dryer works fine with mine. The rubber will eventually come off no matter what you do. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-likely-way-to-machine-wash-a-bathmat/477616/3 "2008-12-17T19:48:44Z")
The dryer is okay but I think repeated trips through the dryer make the rubber come off faster (it’s going to eventually come off anyway, the dryer only hastens this process). If you can line dry it, that might add some time to the life of your bathmat. ---
**Author:** ![CAT\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@CAT\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CAT_1)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-likely-way-to-machine-wash-a-bathmat/477616/4 "2008-12-17T20:10:06Z")
I wash a couple of mine in warm/cold at the same time and then only lightly dry them in the dryer. I let them air dry the rest of the way to save the rubber. It lasts longer if you don’t dry them in a hot dryer too much. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-likely-way-to-machine-wash-a-bathmat/477616/5 "2008-12-17T22:41:32Z")
What I do is machine wash, chlorine bleach to kill germs/remove stains, dry on low or preferably air dry. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-likely-way-to-machine-wash-a-bathmat/477616/6 "2008-12-17T23:12:49Z")
If it’s nylon-on-rubber, I use a delicate wash cycle, cold water, and lay it out to dry backing side up (the nylon dries quickly.) If it’s cotton-on-rubber, I throw it in the dryer, low heat. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-likely-way-to-machine-wash-a-bathmat/477616/7 "2008-12-18T00:07:33Z")
Mine are nylon on rubber and I machine wash them and hang them over the towel rod to dry. (As they are nylon, they dry in just a couple of hours.) ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-likely-way-to-machine-wash-a-bathmat/477616/8 "2008-12-18T00:14:05Z")
I’ve got a couple of the nylon-on-rubber types and I just wash them like anything else and toss 'em in the dryer, zero problems so far. I had some of the cotton ones and they just sucked, quality-wise. They kept shedding in the wash and the dryer and basically looked like a flayed ratskin within a few days of use anyhow so I ditched them for another set of nylon ones which are great. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-likely-way-to-machine-wash-a-bathmat/477616/9 "2008-12-18T10:01:33Z")
I machine wash on warm with color safe bleach, towel dry, the put it in the dryer for about 20 minutes. Let it finish drying on the towel rack in the bathroom overnight. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-likely-way-to-machine-wash-a-bathmat/477616/10 "2008-12-18T19:30:44Z")
Buy cheap bath mats, machine wash and regular dry on the setting I use for most things, replace every year or two when they look too ratty. It helps to have an ugly bathroom 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-likely-way-to-machine-wash-a-bathmat/477616/11 "2008-12-18T21:38:19Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Mine are nylon on rubber and I machine wash them and hang them over the towel rod to dry. (As they are nylon, they dry in just a couple of hours.) Right–they’re designed to get wet and dry off, after all. ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-likely-way-to-machine-wash-a-bathmat/477616/12 "2008-12-18T21:49:01Z")
A different bathmat question: Whenver I wash a bathmat, the washer becames unevenly distributed and stops mid-spin cycle. I open it up, rearrange it a little, start it again, and the same thing happens five minutes later. I had just assumed that bathmats need to be washed separately, but I’m tired of running up and down the basement stairs every time the washer stops. Do I need to add more clothes to the washer? ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-likely-way-to-machine-wash-a-bathmat/477616/13 "2008-12-18T23:11:17Z")
I’ll wash it with towels, usually. Putting just one thing into a washer will unbalance it - you need a more-or-less even distribution of stuff in there to keep the spinny part spinning nicely. While it was going much, much faster than your average washer, [this](http://www.chemistry.nmsu.edu/Instrumentation/Cent_1.jpg) is what can happen to an unevenly loaded centrifuge!