Is bleach dangerous?

[mm]

How dangerous is bleach to fabrics or leather?

A friend is recommending spraying a 50/50 solution of bleach and water on auto carpet to get rid of mouse urine smell, etc.

He says he thinks it will only fade cotton. Is that true?

What about polyester carpet,

and the cloth or leather seat covers? Do you think the seat covers might bet oversray, or the vinyl border of seats?

Won't bleach put holes in fabric, especially if it's not rinsed well.

His second suggestion was to start with a 25/75 weak solution, and move up to a 50/50 solution.

Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let me know if you have posted also.

[Phisherman]

Household bleach can weaken and/or damage fabrics or leather. Leather treatments or cleaning is best left to a professional.

No. Bleach can fade many fabrics, even colorfast. As a general rule household bleach should not be used on color fabrics.

Perhaps.

It could.

Both of these are rather strong, considering the typical application is 1 cup household bleach to an entire laundry load. Personally, I would not use a bleach spray on carpet or leather goods. To rid urine odor you can use an enzyme cleaner available in the pet store/department.

[Nan]

I'm in agreement with Phisherman. What your friend is suggesting has great potential to damage your car's interior. You'd be better served having it professionally detailed by someone trained in leather cleaning.

Nan

[mm]

I posted your warnings, about what not to do for mouse urine. Today he replied:

Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let me know if you have posted also.

[Nan]

Thanks for posting his response. I'm glad he found a solution :-)

Nan

[Muvin Gruvin]

transferred bleach solution from one bottle to another. The bottle from Costco is so huge and heavy. Not much room to store in my narrow laundry room. So I poured some of it into a smaller bleach bottle (same brand bottle too) I can fit that smaller bottle in the space next to the dryer. Had not used it for many months. To my dismay when picking up that bottle it left a yellowed stain on the vinyl floor. Don't think there is anything that can save the vinyl. Luckily it is out of sight. My daughter also had an experience with liquid soap stored on top of her dryer or washing machine.....it caused the paint to peel. Luckily the machine was new and under warranty and they replaced it. She now has something under the soap bottle like a folded bath towel or glass pyrex baking dish.

[Phisherman]

I just bought a new gallon of household bleach and I noticed that the plastic container is much thinner than containers in the past. I recommend storing bleach in a cool dark location, preferably on a tray. Bleach is highly reactive and decomposes fairly quickly, so it is better to buy in quantities that can be used in a month or two.

[sawney beane]

Vinyl flooring doesn't stand up to a pH above 9. Bleach is about 12.6.

According to Clorox, the shelf life of their 6% bleach is six months. Their 5.25% bleach lasts three months. The last three digits of the code tell what day of the year the bottle was produced. The digit before that is the year.

[jww]

i moved into a flat in japan with a smelly carpet (the previous owner had a dog) it was suggested to sprinkle bicarbonate of soda powder into the carpet. we could not believe it would do anything but went ahead with it.

it did seem to work though.

grind it in and leave for a while, then hoover it out. it didnt seem to do any damage and the smell was largely reduced.

[mm]

Interesting. If I hadn't used a lot of bleach to kill the moss on my wood fence, I would still be using a bottle from 25 years ago.

Remove NOPSAM to email me..