Hello Lounge, I need laundry help

So in the recent couple weeks pieces of clothing from my laundry loads and from other family members wash loads are starting to get holes in the fabric. The holes look like a hole in a old worn sock. BUT these are not old clothes some of my clothes are only a few months old. Last night I had a dress jacket that I wear to work get a big hole in the back. Now the only thing I can think of that is causing this is the detergent. My mother has gone cheap and is using extra detergent. I dont know if its effected her clothes. So anyway I washed these clothes in arm and hammer last night cause ive used that in the past and its been fine. But like I said my dress jacket got ruined and a normal cotton old navy tee got ruined. I know the tee was washed previously with the Extra so it could probably have just had residue left in it that cause the whole, same with the jacket. Can this be the detergent?

I will be changing the cycles to a gentle and only air drying in case the dryer in the problem. Anyone have issues like this?

Well I have never had that sort of a problem but I have studied engineering so I can give you some tips on how to go about figuring out what the problem is.

First things first - washer or dryer.

How to find out - isolate!

When you are putting in your next load of laundry check all of your clothing before you put it in to determine what is damaged and what is not. As you are moving the clothing to the dryer check all of your clothing to see if any new holes have appeared. Do this again when you are removing your clothing from the dryer. The problem could be one or both.

Once you know which one(s) are causing the problem I have 2 paths I would suggest. Call the manufacturer of the bad boy and ask about similar complaints and problems with the model. Call up someone who either repairs this sort of machine or who sells them (ideally both). Ask them if they have heard of similar problems (I'd bet my money they have) and what fixes for these problems have been in the past. I have a feeling you could start off by calling someone who deals with washers and dryers and get a pretty good idea on how to narrow down the problem quickly.

If you're worried about the detergent then trying different ones was a good idea. I would suggest calling the detergent manufacturer as well to see what they have to say about it.

Finally you could search online to see if people have had similar problems in some sort of laundry enthusiast forum out there.

My guess? You've got something in your washer that is tearing your clothes a little each time they get pushed around. Perhaps a little metal thing that has come a bit loose.

- Dave

I had that happen to me when I was overfilling the dryer - clothes were jammed up against the door and were catching on something.

Open zippers and decorative items on clothes can cause damage to other clothes. I highly doubt the detergent is causing small holes like you have described. I think the clothes are catching on something.

I will look to see if there is something in either that it could be catching. But these holes are more like the fabric is deteriorating. It first happened with a tank top of mine I put it on as an under shirt and later in the day I was wondering what the white powder was on my pants and then later realized it was from my shirt falling a part. Anyway it continued with other newer shirts and a pair of paints. I think I will try just washing and then hanging up to see if anything eles gets ruined.  I already told myself all dress clothes from now on go to the dry cleaners.

edit: maybe i can post a picture of what the holes look like later when I hav a chance. I wanna say it might be mothes but i have cedar in my drawers so thats not really the case plus I havnt seem and moths or larva or even the silver fish that people have mentioned.

But these holes are more like the fabric is deteriorating.

I had this happen to a couple of shirts. It wasn't the detergent. I had used a spotting solution, Oxyclean of some kind. I had sprayed it and left it and then washed it a few days later. Some of those sprays should not be left on your clothes very long before washing.

I've seen bleach cause these kinds of holes as well.

That happened when our dryer went on the fritz.  It dried clothes fine, just "burned" holes in them. 

bleach is a corrosive culprit, also battery acid from the clothes worn by one servicing a battery while playing under the hood, or on the motorcycle, atv, etc. then washed with other clothes.

 the deterioration is after every subsequent wash, only a baking soda solution neutralizes the acid, but usually if you see the holes it's too late for remedies.

Mostly this damage is seen in mechanics clothes washed with family threads.

moonikins thats exactly what its like but we dont have any spot remover and i havent had to pretreat any clothes lately. Maybe it is the dryer. I did notice that my clothers were a little warmer then usual and I put them in for about 10 min less than normal. Maybe a setting is off some where. I still need to do wash so I will try things out tonight.

ya know dummy me. Ive also been trying to save water and have been setting the washer to large instead of x-large. I will switch back to that even though it will bother me.

Edit: bagga i think you maybe right also. My b'f works with alcohol chemicals all day for automotive body work so that maybe rubbing off on my clothes. My brother is also a welder/mechanic and some of his clothes have gotten these holes in them. hmmm lots of investigating.

My guess is that it is your detergent.  I know that does not seem possible, but they all have some very strong stain lifters in them these days.

My hubby does the wash and I know for a fact that he dumps the detergent in right ontop of the clothes and we get those little holes all the time.

Try diluting the detergent before putting it into the wash. 

yea i was first thinking it was the cheap detergent that my mom just switched to. Like these holes have been appearing for a month or so and it seems consistant with the purchase of the detergent. I guess anything that was already washed with it is sort of doomed and anything that is new and  I wash with the new detergent should be good. Im still not taking chances w. my new dress clothes, those are going to the dry cleaners.

Sorry about your clothes.  That's really frustrating.  Although my problem is not exactly the same, my clothes often come out of the laundry with mysterious GREASE SPOTS on them!  Anyone else have this issue and what did you do to correct it?  I separate my laundry and to my knowledge there is nothing "tainted" in the wash that could create grease spots in my clothing.  It makes no sense.

carefully run your fingers around the base of the agitator.  There could be something stuck in there.

Original Post by oddfunk:

Sorry about your clothes.  That's really frustrating.  Although my problem is not exactly the same, my clothes often come out of the laundry with mysterious GREASE SPOTS on them!  Anyone else have this issue and what did you do to correct it?  I separate my laundry and to my knowledge there is nothing "tainted" in the wash that could create grease spots in my clothing.  It makes no sense.

Are these small little grease spots? If so, are you using fabric sheets in the dryer? If so, you probably need to thoroughly clean the inside of the dryer with something like 409 or Fantastic. Rinse thoroughly and then run some damp towels through the dryer. The cheaper dryer sheets will build up a residue in your dryer faster than the better ones. All dryer sheets can leave these spots on clothes. If you have a liquid softner dispenser, only use liquid.

To get these spots out, treat the spots with liquid dish soap or shampoo. Both are designed to break down grease and neither will hurt your clothes. Dawn is the best grease fighter. I did have Dawn leave a slightly blue stain in a white shirt once when I left the grease spot soaking in it, but after a few washings it came out. Shampoo meant for oily hair is excellent at getting greasy spots out of clothes.

^ i need to keep that in mind for grease spots. I used to use liquid lighter fluid. That usually did the trick. From what I remember never hurt my clothes but id rather use something like shampoo than that.

I was lazy last night and didnt touch my wash. So probably tonight.

Original Post by moonikins:

Original Post by oddfunk:

Sorry about your clothes.  That's really frustrating.  Although my problem is not exactly the same, my clothes often come out of the laundry with mysterious GREASE SPOTS on them!  Anyone else have this issue and what did you do to correct it?  I separate my laundry and to my knowledge there is nothing "tainted" in the wash that could create grease spots in my clothing.  It makes no sense.

Are these small little grease spots? If so, are you using fabric sheets in the dryer? If so, you probably need to thoroughly clean the inside of the dryer with something like 409 or Fantastic. Rinse thoroughly and then run some damp towels through the dryer. The cheaper dryer sheets will build up a residue in your dryer faster than the better ones. All dryer sheets can leave these spots on clothes. If you have a liquid softner dispenser, only use liquid.

To get these spots out, treat the spots with liquid dish soap or shampoo. Both are designed to bread down grease and neither will hurt your clothes. Dawn is the best grease fighter. I did have Dawn leave a slightly blue stain in a white shirt once when I left the grease spot soaking in it, but after a few washings it came out. Shampoo meant for oily hair is excellent at getting greasy spots out of clothes.

Thank you so much and that's got to be the culprit.  I do use cheapie dryer sheets (store brand) and my dryer doesn't have a liquid dispenser.  I will take your advice and use some Dawn on this t-shirt that just recently came out with about 10 small grease spots!  Thanks again.