We found a leak in the base of our toilet. We took out the toilet last night but couldn’t figure out what caused the leak, perhaps the wax ring failed but it wasn’t clear. I used towels to soak up the water as it was very slowly leaking over a couple of days, despite turning off the water and draining the tank until we could deal with it. The water was clear and there was no obvious odor but I have to assume the towels are contaminated. Do I have to throw them away or can I sanitize them? If I decide to sanitize them, I have a few options.
A. Trust the sanitize option on our washing machine.
B. Bleach them. Will putting bleach on the washer work or should I soak? (This option will ruin the look of some of the newer towels towels which would be sad but not a huge problem. I’m a Walmart shopper.)
C. Purchase one of the laundry disinfection products I have seen since covid started and follow the directions, and assume it’s not toxic. (Didn’t people used to do this with Lysol? Lysol has its uses, but I have concerns about residue ending up on skin. I have to be cautious because some of us in this house are very reactive.)
D. Some combination of the above.
The towels are now in a plastic trash bag in case anyone is wondering.
Before we caught the leak, it affected the ceiling of a downstairs bathroom…but that is another question.
I’m curious what other people will say. With 4 kids, 2 of whom have significant challenges, if I threw away every towel that had vomit or poop on it, my towels would basically be disposable.
This is my normal procedure for “contaminated“ towels:
Washer load on the disinfectant setting, with a double rinse.
Repeat step one.
Dryer load on the disinfectant/antibacterial settings, which is just the very highest heat for a really long time.
If they were particularly bad, I will do a washer tub “clean” load with bleach after my 2 washes of the towels.
We had the same thing happen a few months ago. It was in the old “kids’ bathroom,” so we didn’t discover it for a few days. The vinyl flooring was buckled like sea waves - the subflooring was warped. And it did discolor the wall paint downstairs, ugh. Fortunately my husband is good at repairs so he got everything fixed. The old flooring was in worse shape than we realized, so it turned out to be a good thing.
I would just wash them. Your toilet water was clean. And if it has a bit of human waste in it, it doesn’t matter. They will wash out fine, unless they are stained from the ring breaking between the toilet and the seal.
Am I the odd one out here? I mean, we washed and used all the washcloths from cleaning our kids’ bottoms when they were little. I’m not seeing that this is a big issue.
I agree with the others. Wash and dry on the sanitize setting.
If it makes you more comfortable, use a product like Clorox Laundry Sanitizer. I use that when our older cat decides a bath mat is just another litter box ( Which is why we try to keep all bathroom doors closed at all times! ugh)
You can use Lysol laundry disinfectant and let the towels soak for at least 15 minutes and then do a full wash/extra rinse. That way there is no residue. The bottle says to use after washing, in rinse but that’s for convenience, not necessary. Also you can wash with bleach. Chances are the towel will not bleach significantly. I have bleached colorful washcloths before and I was surprised how little they faded. Does your machine have on board heater? The sanitize cycle goes up to about 68C if you use xtra soil. But the allergen cycle goes even higher (low 70sC) because it uses steam. In my house nothing gets thrown.
Probably fantastic fertilizer and no doubt all the bacteria would be long dead. And if it has fermented, you could be on to the latest trendy aperitif!
Non issue for me. I’d just throw them in the regular wash. It’s clean water unless someone just peed or pooped in the toilet. And if they did it’s basically like dirty underwear. You do know that your underwear comes in contact with little bits of pee and poop all the time even if you are fastidious and have a bidet or shower after every time you go to the bathroom. Just the nature of being a human. Plus you use towels to dry off your parts. Soak em in Oxy clean and wash on hot if it makes you feel better. If there are visible stains from the wax ring or mildew or something then the Oxy clean will help.
Nothing really to add to what everybody else said about just washing and/or sanitizing the towels and reusing them. Before disposable diapers people washed and reused those poopy diapers for millennia even before there was bleach and washing machines and dryers.
Laundry stripping was a popular “thing” during the pandemic and this might be a good occasion to partake. Google for the recipe and directions - Canadian company GoCleanCo was at least partially popular for popularizing. It helps to have a top loader so you can do it right in the machine.
Lysol makes a laundry additive that is a disinfectant. Bought for my college kid to use in communal washing machine during Covid. Doubt it was ever used, but it does exist!
Absent that, I would wash once on the hottest possible water with a double rinse, beach if white, and then wash again on sanitize. On my machine sanitize is steam or part steam so not sure how much it would actually clean.
And it did discolor the wall paint downstairs, ugh. Fortunately my husband is good at repairs so he got everything fixed. The old flooring was in worse shape than we realized, so it turned out to be a good thing.
Which is why we try to keep all bathroom doors closed at all times! ugh)