So that there is a pleasant smell in the closet. How to remove the musty smell of clothes and why does it occur? If you missed and he appeared

No expensive perfumes will drown out the unpleasant smell from clothes. It's one thing if it's a natural body odor: the problem can be solved by washing more often and washing things more thoroughly. If amber appears for other reasons, for example, due to dampness or the aroma of the material from which the cabinet is made, you need to find suitable way getting rid of uncharacteristic smells in the wardrobe.

5 Causes of Bad Smell in Your Closet

A repulsive scent doesn't come from nowhere. There are reasons for its appearance.

  1. storage errors. You can not hang things in the closet that have already been worn at least once. The smells of sweat, deodorant, perfume and street dust will mix, giving the wardrobe a special amber.
  2. The tightness of the air. It is recommended to ventilate the wardrobe once a month, and hang outerwear once every 2–3 months on the balcony.
  3. Wrong cabinet position. For the sake of saving space, you can not place a closet next to the bathroom or kitchen - dampness will appear in it and, as a result, mold.
  4. Long term storage. Things that are not used for months or even years develop an unpleasant odor.
  5. Old age. Rare furniture inherited from the grandmother, it is better to let it perform an aesthetic function: it simply decorates the room. Over the years, the cabinet is saturated with all sorts of smells and releases its musty “aroma”. If there is no choice, then first you need to remove the specific amber, and only then hang clothes in the chiffonier.
  6. Animals. Cats love to mark their territory, including in the closet. Mice also contribute to the appearance of amber.

For bed linen make a separate shelf. Natural fabrics, from which sheets, pillowcases, duvet covers are sewn, are quickly saturated with the specific smells of synthetics.

The smell in the closet often appears due to the lack of access to fresh air.

How to defeat the smell in the chiffonier: universal ways

First, wash your cabinet with soap. Mix 1 tsp. soda with 2 tbsp. l. vinegar. Apply the gruel to a cloth and wipe the surfaces with it. Or wipe the shelves and walls with hydrogen peroxide.

Baking Soda and Vinegar - Faithful Helpers in Eliminating Bad Odors

Charcoal

Place a bowl on the floor with water and mixed in it charcoal. This tool will absorb unpleasant odors, and after a few days there will be no trace of them.

Fragrances and fresheners

You can buy ready-made sprays, sachets or make them yourself. The most elementary option is a sachet with citrus peel or herbal preparations. It is better to make aromatic bags from canvas and not to put them in a chiffonier, but to hang them.

  1. Cut the peel into pieces.
  2. Place the mass in a cotton bag.
  3. Change sachets every 2-3 weeks.

The indisputable advantage of such sachets is that moths will not start in the closet.

The sachet should be packed in canvas

Separately, it should be said about coffee. Leave the jar of grains open so that they absorb unpleasant odors.

In a clean closet, you can put empty perfume bottles. They will last for a while, giving off a scent to clothes. You can soak a handkerchief with toilet water and leave it among things.

  1. Using adhesive tape, we hang bags with fragrant fruit tea in the closet.
  2. We change flavors once a week.
  3. We repeat within a month.

Fruit or berry tea bags perfectly absorb unpleasant odors, saturating the room with pleasant aromas.

Video: how to remove an unpleasant smell from the closet

How to get rid of the smell of moisture

More often than others, the smell of mold appears in the closet, caused by increased level humidity. This is because there is no ventilation in the dressing room.

Air outlet

The air outlet construction is the most effective method dry the closet and ventilate it. But it is only suitable if the cabinet is built-in. Forced ventilation with air vent hides under false ceiling or in a niche specially made for him. The system works in two directions: removes stale air or supplies fresh air.

Household dehumidifier

If expensive things are stored in the wardrobe, then it makes sense to buy household dehumidifier air.

silica gel

If the furniture is not built-in, then you will have to act by other methods. Moisture absorbers should be placed in the wardrobe. Moisture will disappear - there will be no musty smell.

Silica gel is capable of moisture absorption miracles.

activated charcoal and salt

A sorbent option that anyone can make.

  1. Grind 5 activated charcoal tablets.
  2. Mix with 2 tbsp. l. salt.
  3. Pour into bowls or linen bags and arrange in a closet.
  4. Change the sorbent once every 10 days.

If animals have been in the closet

If mice are interested in your wardrobe, then a solution of vinegar (1 tablespoon per 1 liter of water) or a cotton pad soaked in hydrogen peroxide will help get rid of the smell of their stay. Means you need to carefully process all surfaces of the furniture, after sorting things out.

If the cat has marked the cabinet from the inside or outside, you will have to work on removing the smell.

  1. Look for the marks. An ultraviolet flashlight will help with this.
  2. Treat stains with an odor absorber available at pet stores. An alternative remedy would be alcohol, hydrogen peroxide or a solution of citric acid (half a tablespoon per 1 liter of water).
  3. Let the surface dry. Repeat if necessary.

Getting rid of mothball spirit

Naphthalene, although recognized as an excellent remedy for moths, has big disadvantage- disgusting smell. Removing it from the closet is not an easy task. But there are a number of proven methods:


Methods for removing odor from a shoe closet

The smell often appears due to. So you need to start by cleaning boots, shoes, sneakers, etc. To do this, wipe the pair from the inside with an alcohol-containing composition or treat with a special air freshener. Removes unpleasant odors citrus peel, laid out in shoes. After that, treat the surfaces of the cabinet with a weak solution of vinegar or hydrogen peroxide, alcohol. Place a sachet with orange peel, lemon peel, herbs or a container of ground coffee beans in it.

To start the fight against an unpleasant smell in the shoe closet, you should get rid of the ambre of the shoes and sneakers themselves. For example, using tea bags

How to remove odors in a kitchen cabinet or medicine cabinet

Cabinets in the kitchen require regular care, because the remaining handful of sugar, pasta or flour is a fertile environment for the reproduction of insects and the appearance of fungus. Oh oh medicines and there is no need to say - a specific smell appears even from packed blisters with tablets.

  1. Throw away spoiled food or expired medicines.
  2. Wipe the shelves and walls of the cabinet with a weak solution of vinegar (1 tablespoon per 1 liter of water).
  3. Place a container with natural ground coffee in the cabinet.

housekeeping kitchen furniture and cabinet with medicines spend at least 1 time per month.

Smells are a great power. They can delight, surprise, soothe or, conversely, get on your nerves... This gives the fragrance from our wardrobe a rather high status, doesn't it? So today we want to talk about the reasons bad smell in the closet with clothes and how to get rid of it.

Have you ever had a situation where your favorite T-shirt smells unpleasant even after washing? Or when dizzying bursts out of your dressing room - in the very literally- "aroma"? There are also very difficult cases when there is strong smell mustiness, which normal conditions can only be felt in an abandoned house or an old basement. Such amber not only delivers aesthetic displeasure, but can also Negative influence on health. There are quite a few life hacks and tips that will tell you how to remove an unpleasant smell from your closet with clothes. However, before experimenting, you first need to determine the source of the smell.

Causes of smells in the closet with clothes

Stuffiness

Let's be honest: in Russian realities, chiffoniers most often do not have good ventilation. Of course, in this case, there is a musty smell. The problem may be in the room itself: if updated air does not enter the closet, freshness and cleanliness simply have nowhere to come from. Without a regular procedure, a variety of odors from the kitchen, from the bathroom and from pets can get into the clothes storage.

Humidity

Some put clothes that are not completely dry after washing or rain in the closet, relying on the Russian “maybe” - they say, it will dry anyway. This is a fundamentally wrong strategy if you want to keep a piece of furniture safe and sound. After all, sometimes it smoothly flows into dampness, in which the fungus and feel at ease. Mold spores penetrate walls and clothes - as a result, even fresh linen smells like old socks. In addition, mold can spread to the cabinet from the wall to which it is pushed. This is possible if you live in corner apartment or if a room with a closet is located next to the bathroom - a constant source high humidity.

Dust

Imagine what happens if you forget to clean your bedside table for a few weeks? It will quickly turn into a breeding ground for bacteria or even mold spores. Clothes and a closet in this sense are no different from a bedside table. What's more, the fabric is an easy target for a variety of contaminants and odors.

bacteria

Another reason for an unpleasant odor is the placement of clean items along with worn items in the same closet. Even if you've only worn an item of clothing once, harmful microorganisms, street dust and other contaminants can tarnish your wardrobe's clean reputation.

Tobacco smoke

The smell of quality tobacco, of course, is pleasant to some people, but in the dressing room it is absolutely useless. The problem of unpleasant smell in the closet is especially relevant in the family of smokers. And if the smoker himself may not notice anything, then for non-smoking households, the smell of tobacco can be a real torture. If you hung a shirt smelling of tobacco smoke in a wardrobe, be sure that all other things will be saturated with it the next day.

Old clothes

People suffering from Plushkin's syndrome will definitely find their favorite things that they have not worn for a long time, but carefully store, cherishing the hope of someday wearing them again. While hope is smoldering, things are also smoldering, acquiring a smell, like from a “grandmother's closet”, even if they are washed - everything has its own expiration date.

We work in stages: ways to deal with unpleasant odors

The source of the stench has been found. What to do next?

First of all, it should be noted that the use of purchased sprays and air fresheners is strongly discouraged. These products tend to contain chemical fragrances that only temporarily mask the stale smell, rather than fixing the problem itself. Scientists also believe that synthetic fragrances cause allergic reactions, exacerbate asthma, and can cause long-term health problems.

Work on getting rid of unpleasant odors is usually carried out in several stages. Let's look at each of them.

The first and most effective step in eliminating a bad smell is to conduct a complete audit. Take out all the things from the closet, sort them out - perhaps something needs to be thrown away, and something needs to be sent to the laundry. Out-of-season wardrobe should be vacuum-packed.

In the meantime, you need to thoroughly rinse the cabinet itself. About the benefits wet cleaning everyone in the apartment knows - the same applies to the storage of your clothes. Wipe dust off shelves, walls, drawers, process inner surface cleaning disinfectant.

If your wardrobe smells musty, regular airing can usually fix it. It is also very important to ventilate the room if the cabinet is new: very often newly purchased furniture has a specific smell. However, when ventilating, it is better not to open the windows: along with the street air, various pollutants and allergens enter the room. That's why the best option– use with a multi-stage air filtration system and with the function of inactivating microorganisms.

Activated charcoal contains a large number of pores and absorbs pollutants well. It is commonly used in adsorption filters, but its absorbency makes it useful for extracting bad smells from a wardrobe. Place Activated carbon into a bag that can let air through, and gradually the smell will go away.

Folk Tip: Fill a bowl with white or apple cider vinegar, then place it on the cabinet floor. Close the doors and leave the bowl overnight. For additional odor removal, add half a cup of vinegar to a bucket of warm water and wipe the cabinet walls. The smell of vinegar may confuse someone, but you should not worry: vinegar disappears very quickly.

How to get rid of the smell of mold and dampness in the closet

Salt, tea bags or baking soda. good remedy to prevent high humidity is silica gel - we often find small bags with it in boxes with new shoes.

You and I already know that the smell of dampness in the closet with clothes often appears due to. Therefore, it is necessary to wipe the furniture product with an antifungal compound. It is also worth processing the clothes themselves - at least wash them, dry them thoroughly and iron them.

If bacteria have settled in the chiffonier, in addition to the procedures indicated above, you can resort to using a steam generator, which needs to process both the clothes and the wardrobe itself: harmful microorganisms do not like high temperatures.

However, mold will always return until the cause is removed and air humidity is restored to normal levels. Check the wall against which the cabinet is attached. If the fungus is on the wall, it is necessary to insulate it in the bathroom, and indeed throughout the house. If your closet contains expensive items made of delicate materials, it may be worth getting a dehumidifier.

It is worth clarifying that in the fight against mold you need to be extremely careful. If the mold looks really creepy, then it’s better not to risk your belongings and health and replace the closet.

How to eliminate the smell of tobacco in the closet with clothes

To get rid of tobacco smoke, you should treat the cabinet with a weak vinegar solution. You can also use people's council: place a damp towel in an empty closet, after half an hour or an hour wash it and hang it up again. After a few such procedures, the smell of tobacco should disappear.

Over time, any furniture begins to exude aromas that may not always seem pleasant. How to get rid of the smell old furniture, without resorting to such drastic measures as changing the situation in the apartment, many housewives are interested.

There are many simple means for the care of interior items, after the application of which the smell of mustiness will cease to emanate from the furniture. Most often, old furniture smells due to the development of colonies of bacteria or fungus in it. This is due to the fact that a chest of drawers, wardrobe or sofa for a long time were in a poorly ventilated room with a high level of humidity. If the activity of microorganisms did not lead to destructive consequences for objects, then the situation can be corrected using self-prepared antiseptics.

After using them, it remains to follow a few simple rules:

  1. Regular ventilation of the room will help prevent reappearance unpleasant odours.
  2. Periodically open the doors of cabinets, tables, chests of drawers, etc.
  3. It is necessary to ensure free circulation of air around the interior items.
  4. Of course, it is better to eliminate the cause of the increase in the level of humidity in the room, but for this it is necessary to set the furniture away from the walls.
  5. Do not allow furniture to accumulate dust, which can also be a source of odor. Furniture needs regular cleaning.

Returning to the topic of home antiseptics, one cannot fail to mention chlorine-based formulations intended for bleaching. Bleach (for example, "Whiteness") can be dissolved in water in a ratio of 1:5. It is recommended that they be processed in inconspicuous places, since chlorine compounds contribute to the fading of the lining. Chlorinated products are unlikely to be used on upholstered furniture, the upholstery of which may lose original color.

Nevertheless, their treatment quite effectively frees surfaces from microorganisms and the odor that accompanies them, but you should not fully rely on the miraculous properties of chlorinated compounds. impregnate them solid wood not worth it. Chlorine vapors will not penetrate into the deep layers of the processed material, and the water that has got into them can provoke a more active development of microflora.

Advice! You can get rid of the smell of old furniture coming from the depths of the closet by applying vinegar.

It is better to use an apple one, but an ordinary dining room does a good job with its duties. 1 st. l. vinegar diluted in ½ cup of water. A sponge soaked in liquid or a piece soft tissue wipe all surfaces, joints and corners of the interior. After that, the furniture is again wiped with a dry cloth. Vinegar penetrates well into the depth of the material, destroying the microflora in the bud, but you should not wipe the furniture with too wet rags.

The vinegar treatment procedure can be carried out again after 7-10 days.

An aqueous solution of potassium permanganate acts like vinegar. The composition for processing should be pale pink. More saturated is able to color the surface.

Removing odor from upholstered furniture

For upholstered furniture it is better to cook detergent based:

  • water (2 cups);
  • liquid soap (20 ml);
  • citric acid (1 tsp);
  • vinegar (1 tsp).

The composition must be mixed until the formation thick foam. It is applied to the upholstery with a sponge and left for 2-3 hours. It is desirable that the piece of furniture is in a well-ventilated room. The dried foam is removed from the upholstery with a brush.

If possible, you can put lemon peels, orange peels, etc. under the upholstery.

Destroying odor with sorbents

Citrus peels are active sorbents. How to get rid of the smell of old furniture with their help?

Advice! You can spread the peel of a lemon, grapefruit, orange or lime in the corners of shelves and drawers.

Ground coffee can act as an odor absorber (it is better to place it in a linen bag), crushed activated carbon, table and sea salt, lemon acid, powder of drinking soda (loose sorbent is placed in bowls).

Mold can appear anywhere in the house and provoke the development of dangerous diseases. One of the favorite places is the closet, because not completely dried clothes placed in storage can cause the formation of a fungus. That is why it is useful to know how to get rid of the smell of mold in the closet.

How to remove mildew smell from closet?

First of all, the development of the fungus occurs due to insufficient ventilation. Very often, the fungus appears in the closet, both on clothes and on shelves. It is formed first, as a rule, on the surface rear wall, after which it gradually moves to the shelves on which linen is stored.

Secondly, it is possible that the cabinet is located next to the wall, which periodically dampens and dampness spreads from it to the cabinet and its contents. In any case, you need to start acting as soon as you notice the appearance of the fungus. If you do not immediately remove the smell of mold in the closet, not only clothes will suffer, but furniture will eventually suffer.

What do we have to do?

First, the reason that provoked the appearance of mold in the closet on the shelves is determined. If it was wet clothing placed in storage, it is taken out, well ventilated. After that, it is processed with a special antiseptic (can be purchased at any hardware store), stretched, and necessarily ironed.

Not all housewives know how to get rid of the smell of mold in the closet on their own and simply ventilate the wardrobe, hoping that this will be enough. But over time, the fungus reappears. To eliminate the cause, all surfaces of the cabinet on which plaque is found are treated with hydrogen peroxide. Then soda is taken, previously dissolved in hot water, and is used to wipe all the shelves and walls in the cabinet.


You don’t need to do anything further, you just need to open the cabinet doors and leave for several hours until the surfaces dry. If an unpleasant smell of mold remains, they are treated with vinegar essence and dried again.

The next day, the napkin is moistened with ammonia and the inside of the cabinet is wiped with this product. So that an unpleasant aroma does not appear in it for a long time, it is recommended to hang a sachet with orange or lemon peel inside, you can use lavender sprigs or ground coffee for this purpose.

How to remove mildew smell from clothes?



You can use a solution of water with ammonia (using a ratio of 16:1). The sponge is wetted in the composition, then the place of contamination is treated, then the product is dried and washed.

Not only time-tested folk methods, but no less effective modern facilities- special antiseptics, flavorings, which are not difficult to purchase.

Video on how to remove mold

The story tells about folk remedies that help in getting rid of the fungus. They are available in every home and help to easily cope with the problem.


It is important to remember that it will not be enough just to remove mold spots or an unpleasant odor from clothes, you still need to accurately determine the cause that provoked the formation of the fungus. Only after its removal, you can not worry that the mold will reappear.

Sometimes even the most tidy housewives and cleaners face such a household nuisance - how to remove the smell from the closet with clothes that appears as soon as its doors are opened and remains in the room and on things for a long time? It would seem that such a trifle, not a disaster at all.

It is enough just to sprinkle clothes with perfume and deodorant, leave the wardrobe doors open - and the problem is solved. But in reality, not everything is so simple, and the smell has not disappeared anywhere for a week now.

You can already get used to it and just ignore it. But meanwhile, an unpleasant smell in the closet with clothes can spoil the impression of guests and relatives from the owners of the house and scare away colleagues at work. It's annoying and annoying. And besides, the reasons for the musty smell can threaten the health of the residents of the house.

If it's all about the fungus that has settled on the shelves of the closet or in clothes, then everything is much more serious. Mold causes allergies chronic fatigue, insomnia, persistent headaches, diseases of the respiratory and digestive tract. Therefore, it is imperative to find out how to get rid of mustiness and dampness and prevent such troubles from happening again.

It's just that it will never smell so unpleasant in the closet - there are reasons for everything. Sources can be:

  • high humidity and dampness in the room where the cabinet is located;
  • the habit of putting already worn things on the shelves along with just washed ones;
  • under-dried or poorly washed things put on the shelves;
  • poor-quality material from which furniture is made or clothes are sewn.

Sometimes the only thing that has been dry-cleaned is the cause. The smell of some chemical cleaners is absorbed into the fabric fibers for a long time and provokes such an unpleasant phenomenon. In any case, the odor will not disappear on its own, work will have to be done to remove it, and the sooner action is taken, the better. You need to act consistently.

Dampness in the closet - how to deal with it

Dampness in the closet is a sure way to the formation of mold on its walls and shelves. Where does it come from? The reasons are as follows:

  • storage on shelves and hangers of wet clothes;
  • initially poorly processed, not properly dried wood from which the cabinet is made;
  • furniture tightly pushed against the wall - this does not allow air to circulate and prevents natural ventilation;
  • ill-conceived cabinet location - if it is pushed against the wall that adjoins the bathroom or kitchen, or to a poorly sealed window, sooner or later it will begin to dampen.

What can be done? First, take everything out of the closet and inspect for signs of mold on the walls and shelves. If such are found, you should immediately start removing them, and then treat the furniture with an antifungal agent. It is better to replace the closet altogether, it is no longer safe to store clothes in it.

If there is no mold, then you should think about rearranging the cabinet. Only completely dried clothes should be put into it, and for prevention, special balls and sachets that absorb from the air should be placed on the shelves. excessive moisture. You can buy these in a building supermarket.

If the reason is improper storage of things

Some people neglect cleaning their closets or simply don't have the time for it. You can't do that. You need to clean the closet in the same way as in the whole house. How to do it right?

  1. First, take out all the things and sort them out. Perhaps in a hurry to clean linen got stale and was left there for long time. Therefore, all clothes must be disassembled and thoroughly ventilated, and if necessary, rewashed. Sometimes the cause of an unpleasant odor is a cookie or other product forgotten in your pocket. This often happens with teenagers. Therefore, check their things as often as possible, a banana peel or the remains of a sandwich in your pockets can cause a real disaster.
  2. While the clothes are airing, you should arm yourself with a damp cloth and wipe all the shelves inside the closet to remove dust and small debris. You can soak it in a solution of water and vinegar. Now the closet should also be ventilated.
  3. If after that musty smell still remained, users recommend soaking a towel in water, wringing it out, hanging it in a closet and closing the doors. After a few hours, the towel is removed and washed, and the closet is aired again for at least 5 hours.

Clean in a clean closet only clean things, and absolutely dry. At the same time, it must be remembered that underwear and outerwear should be stored on separate shelves. How often to audit and clean the closet? Once a season is enough.

At the same time, you can find out if it's time to update your wardrobe, what things are no longer worn, and get rid of them without regret.

What else you need to know and do

It has already been said above that an unpleasant smell in the closet never appears just like that and will not disappear by itself. Therefore, it makes no sense to ignore this phenomenon and mask the smell with deodorants, air fresheners and other fragrances. By the way, clothes that, after washing, retained the scent of perfume or toilet water, can also cause an unpleasant smell in the closet if it is not removed for a long time.

Aromatization of the cabinet and things will be appropriate only after general cleaning, then you can use the following tools to choose from:

  • twigs fragrant plants- mint, lavender, lemongrass, any coniferous tree. This is an excellent prevention of not only an unpleasant odor, but also the appearance of moths and clothes mites;
  • sachets purchased at the store or made by hand. Any filler can be put into linen bags - cinnamon, cloves, anise, rose petals;
  • spread toilet soap bars between piles of clothes with pleasant aroma. Our grandmothers did this when it was impossible to get aroma sachets in stores, but we wanted clothes to smell pleasant. Suitable soap with the smell of roses, lily of the valley, pine needles, any scent that you like.

Now there are special fresheners and flavors for wardrobes car fresheners. You can buy one and hang it on the crossbeams. Then from the closet, when you open it next time, it smells not of mustiness, but of a sea breeze, fruity or floral aroma.

Remember that any of the selected flavors lose their properties over time. Both natural and artificial fresheners in the closet should be changed every 3-4 months.