Can Storing Bath Towels in the Bathroom Give Them a Musty Smell?

Wet Towels

• Placing wet towels in a laundry basket or throwing them onto the floor can cause a musty smell to form. When the wet towels are placed into the basket or onto the floor, they have a difficult time drying completely. Throwing other clothes on top of the wet towels gives mold and mildew a moist, dark and warm location to thrive. Instead of throwing your wet towels into the laundry basket, hang them to dry on a towel rack.

Improper Ventilation

• Moist or humid bathrooms create a breeding ground for mold and bacteria. Leaving bath towels stacked in the bathroom allows excess moisture in the air to stick to the towels. Turning on the ventilation fan or cracking a window open when you take a shower allows the water moisture to escape effectively. If you cannot ventilate the bathroom, store the bath towels in a nearby closet or in a closed location so the water moisture cannot land on the towels.

Removing Mold

• Before you can remove the musty smell, the mold needs to be killed. Inspect the towels when you notice a musty smell. Take the foul-smelling towels outdoors and hang them in the sunlight to dry, if possible. After the towels are dry, scrub the fabric with a stiff brush. Kill the mold by soaking the mold spots with all-fabric bleach. Once the towels soak for 30 minutes, launder them with the hottest water possible.

Freshening Towels

• When you cannot locate the mold on towels, bacteria may be the culprit. The musty-smelling towels will need to be laundered carefully to remove the foul smell completely. Load the towels into the washer and set the machine to use the hottest water possible. Avoid packing the machine with too many towels, because this can prevent the water from moving around freely. Add 1 cup of distilled white vinegar to the rinse cycle to remove the musty smell. After you wash the towels, immediately dry them to prevent the musty smell from returning.