Q. I would like to know the best way to clean old yellowing hand crocheted table linens. Some are white, some are off-white, and one is linen with a floral embroidery pattern that was hand-stitched.

I would also like to know who carries Clorox® Regular-Bleach in powder form.

A. Old and crocheted linens should be dealt with carefully. I would start with a gentler approach, and work my way up to stronger options. You might consider doing them separately given the variety that you discussed, especially the colored portion.

First, I might try an extended presoak with Clorox2® Stain Fighter and Color Booster, our oxygen bleach with a hydrogen peroxide base. It is available in liquid and powder form, and the presoak directions are on the back label. The subsequent wash (with detergent and Clorox2) should be at least warm, and consider hot as that would be an additional step that might help improve the cleaning. Also be ready to do another similar presoak as your results may not be complete. If this approach is not enough, you probably will need to kick your approach up a notch and consider using liquid bleach. Unfortunately, there is NO powdered version of Clorox® Regular-Bleach available, but that shouldn't hinder you if you choose to pursue a stronger approach.

I also find that a lot of colored items can be bleached. To find out if these items can safely be bleached, I recommend consumers do the quick Bleachability Test (2 tspn Clorox® Regular-Bleach in 1/4 cup water; apply a drop on a hidden area like inside seam, hemline or cuff; wait 1 minute and then blot with towel); no color change means it is safe to use bleach on the item. Check out the Laundry 101 video on my blog (http://www.drlaundryblog.com) for a demonstration of the test.

Want to proceed? I would also consider doing a quick liquid bleach soak (1/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach in gallon of cool water for 5 minutes) then wash immediately in warm or hot water using detergent and 3/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach. To complete the treatment, consider air drying.

Q. I have a white velvet dress with little brown stains on it from just hanging in the closet. It was folded up for awhile with the hanger on it, and I wonder if the spots could be rust from the hanger. Is there a way to see if the stains will come out without hurting the velvet?

A. If the stain is rust on the white velvet, you would need a specific rust remover product. Summit Instant Rust Out and Whink Rust Remover are two such products. These can usually be found in Home Depot/Lowes or hardware stores. A word of caution: ALWAYS read the label directions and pretest the products as they should only be used on whites/colorfast colors (check on hidden color area before using - see label for details).

Q. Can I use bleach when laundering a down comforter? Generally the advice when laundering such items is to use a mild detergent, since the down otherwise may lose its natural oils and dry out quicker. Does the bleach strip the down of its oils? Does bleach cut grease in general? A lot of questions, but I know you’re the right one to ask!

A. All the advice you quote is correct: use a mild detergent to avoid removing too much of the natural oils, and probably a warm water wash for the same reason. Liquid bleach attacks stains and soils and is not particularly good on greasy/oily stains. These require surfactants and solvents to solubilize/dissolve the oils from fabrics. These ingredients are found in detergents, thus the "mild" detergent choice.

First, I want to be sure all parts of the comforter can be bleached. I find that a lot of colored items can safely be bleached. To find out if your items can safely be bleached, I recommend consumers do the quick Bleachability Test (2 tspn. Clorox® Regular-Bleach in 1/4 cup water; apply a drop to the colored portion on a hidden area like inside seam, hemline or cuff; wait 1 minute and then blot with towel); no color change means it is safe to use bleach on the item. Check out the Laundry 101 video on my blog (http://www.drlaundryblog.com/) for a demonstration of the test.

Want to proceed? I would also consider doing a quick liquid bleach soak (1/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach in gallon of cool water for 5 minutes), then wash immediately in warm water using detergent and 3/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach. Check before drying to insure complete removal in case something needs additional treatment. To complete the treatment, consider air drying.

Q. Four pens burst open all over the interior of my dryer. How can I get it clean to do laundry again?

A. Bummer of a problem! Usually in this type of situation one is concerned that the ink has been set into the drum surface/liner by the dryer heat. I would recommend trying to wipe the interior with a suitable solvent like GooGone to dissolve/solubilize the ink and transfer it to another surface like an old towel/rag. Try wiping it on the interior and use another towel/rag to encourage transfer. After completion, do several dryer runs using some old towels to help absorb any soluble ink and some of the solvent/odor. Start drying with air only (no heat), then slowly graduate to low levels, up to cotton cycle.

If this is not a strong enough solvent to remove it, you will need to kick it up a notch with acetone or something similar.

A major concern here is removing any absorbed or excess solvent from the dryer walls. Whatever, has been absorbed into the liner can be volatilized when the dryer is used in the future. This may be a fire hazard, and so as much of this needs to be removed to prevent being absorbed into future dried clothes, and/or worse, if there is a short or spark in the dryer/vent area.

Q. First, for laundry, I was wondering: do you have a disinfectant for colors? I have an old box of Clorox2®, but it doesn't say anything about disinfecting my clothes--only making them brighter.

Second, for surfaces, is there any such thing as a Lavender disinfectant? I want something that kills 99.9% of germs and smells purple! (Like lavender, or lilac, or lavender roses, or freesia.)

A. I have some bad news and some good news for you here.

Unfortunately, there currently is NOT a product for disinfecting colored clothes. Our Clorox2® Stain Fighter and Color Booster contains hydrogen peroxide as its active ingredient. It is a much weaker bleach than the sodium hypochlorite found in Clorox® Regular- Bleach and is not capable of meeting EPA disinfecting requirements.

As I have written previously, the best way to reduce germ counts in (colored) laundry is:

• Use the hottest wash water recommended on the care label. You might also do more than one wash on these items to further reduce the bacteria count.


• Consider washing the items of concern separately so that the germs are NOT spread to more items--transfer can occur in the washer and when transferring /handling from the washer to the dryer.


• Use the hottest dryer setting recommended on the care label and dry the items separately to maximize germ reduction. While the dryer isn't capable of completely killing all of the germs, it will help lower the germ count.


• Finally, to prevent further germ spread, I would do a white load using detergent and 3/4 cup Clorox® Regular- Bleach after these items had been washed. Kind of like a mouthwash for your washer.

Also, if that "old" box doesn't say Clorox2® Stain Fighter and Color Booster, you might consider getting a newer one. After 12-15 months, the active ingredient probably has been deactivated.

Now for the surfaces, there are Clorox® Disinfecting Wipes that are Lavender scented, and kill 99.9% of common household germs. Also, the new Decor Canister has a purple version, but I'm not sure if that is lavender scented.

Q. Help! Our male dog leaves yellow/greenish spots on our painted walls. These walls are a cream/whitish flat paint and I don't know what to use that will not take the paint off the wall. We live in an apartment and I need to remove the spots before we move.

A. Not sure if I can help here. If your dog has done this repeatedly in the same area, it may have penetrated the paint and may be in the wallboard. About the only thing I might recommend is making a disinfecting bleach solution (3/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach per gallon of cool water) with a little liquid dishwasher detergent. Use a sponge or cloth to apply the solution to the affected area, wear gloves for extended contact, and rub over the area. Check for potential damage to the painted wall by applying a bit to a separate area and looking for paint transfer to the sponge/cloth. It may take more than one application.

Q. A recent newspaper article recommended oxygen bleach for cleaning carpets, but gave no specific instructions for amounts of power and water to be combined. Your Oxi Magic container gives no instructions for carpet cleaning other than for removing specific, smaller-type stains. Can Oxi Magic be used for cleaning whole rooms of carpet, and if so, mixed at what ratio with water?

A. This is a great question. I worked on the development of Clorox® Oxi Magic™ and usually it was used to pretreat spots on many surfaces including carpet. I have never tried to do a whole carpet, but the directions for both the Colorfast/Bleachability Test and usage are on the website below. The oxygen bleach does provide an extra kick for carpet stain removal, especially on colored drink stains. The powder also contains builders, which are very good to help remove and suspend dirt. For the overall cleaning I might back off and use only 1-2 scoops/gallon to start. If this was too weak, go up a scoop/gallon until you are satisfied with the performance.

So if you choose to go ahead, make sure you do the pretest and let me know how it turns out!

Q. I have been having a problem with gray spots on my whites and light colors for years and cannot figure out the cause. I have changed washers, had my water checked, have different pipes installed, and always separate colors from whites, but I still get gray spots. They almost look like redeposited dirt. I thought it could be a hair product, but the spots are not always in the same area. They are all over. The spots are not on the clothes until after I wash them, and then I cannot remove the stains. I have tried using bleach and color catcher sheets and that has not worked either. Have you ever heard of this problem?

A. This a tough one without seeing the specific items. I admire all the legwork and changes that you've tried. All were potential problems and eliminating them is definitely a plus for you. Also, you have good laundry practices with the sorting, etc.

I agree that it has to be something that is being redeposited. So a couple of thoughts:

• If you are using a powdered detergent, it may not be completely dissolved. Try starting the load with hot water when the powder is added; swirl the agitator to encourage the powder to dissolve; then switch to the final wash temperature before adding the clothes.


• If you have greasy/oily clothes and underuse detergent, the removed soils are not suspended in the wash water but can attach to the washer and then can be redispersed.

lf you are using fabric softener, it can also react with carried over detergent forming a paste-like substance that can deposit on clothes. This can be removed by treating with bar soap (wet; rub in) and then rewashing.

Q. Can bleach go “bad”? I stocked up on bleach last year, and purchased the new gel spill-proof type. It has been under lock and key in my classroom, so I know it has not been diluted by anyone. When I go to use it in the laundry, it does not have the strong scent associated with bleach (chlorine), and it does not seem to be particularly effective in whitening the wash. I have experienced this same problem in the past with your regular liquid chlorine bleach as well. Also, when I put a small amount of bleach into a spray bottle and add water to spray the counters in the classroom, I discover that the bleach seems to have had a corrosive effect on the cap to the spray bottle. The screw cap and spray mechanism break. Is this also to be expected?

A. This is a great question. I assume the product you are referencing is Clorox® Plus™ Splash-less Liquid Gel.

Some quick background: The sodium hypochlorite active in liquid bleach is slowly degrading to salt and water in the bottle. The major factor determining the rate of decomposition is temperature. The higher the temperature the faster the active is lost. We even compensate for this by adding more bleach during our summer production. Generally, we say that under average storage (~70F) conditions, bleach should maintain its intended active level for ~6 months from manufacturing, and then start decreasing in strength. Very good performance should be available for about a year.

So to help explain your questions on lack of bleach notes and lower performance: I suspect that the product age is a major concern and that your bleach is actually 15-17 months old (1 year in storage plus 3-5 months to get it through the distribution channels and sold at the store). In addition, this product has a lower bleach level than our Clorox® Regular- Bleach, so the decreased performance is more likely to be seen. As for the lack of bleach notes, the ingredients used to make the product thick also tend to suppress any smells. This plus the lower bleach active and being diluted in the washer would lead to reduced bleach notes.

Finally, your observation that the cap and sprayer mechanism are corroded from the bleach solution are correct. Anytime we are using metal parts in any of our products they are tested for product compatibility. For our Clorox® CleanUp Bleach Cleaner Spray, we use specially treated metal parts to avoid this reaction. In the future, you might want to find and use an old CleanUp bottle for this purpose.

Q. Red ink from a red label spread onto an off-white sweater. Do you have any ideas how to make the sweater off-white again?

A. This may depend on whether you have dried the item and the fiber composition of the sweater.

I would like to find out if the sweater can safely be bleached. I recommend consumers do the quick Bleachability Test (2 tspn Clorox® Regular-Bleach in 1/4 cup water; apply a drop on a hidden colored area like inside seam, hemline or cuff; wait 1 minute and then blot with towel). No color change means it is safe to use bleach on the item. Any color change could also show you the amount of change in color that likely will occur if you proceed with the liquid bleach usage. You can see a demo on my blog (http://www.drlaundryblog.com) in the video Laundry 101.

Want to proceed? I would do a quick liquid bleach soak (1/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach in gallon of cool water for 5 minutes) then wash immediately in the warmest water recommended on the care label using detergent and 3/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach.