Does anyone have any hacks for getting rid of the urine odor in laundry?

I know this is going to sound very old-school but the best product I've ever tried for getting the urine smell out of clothing and bedding is 20 Mule Team Borax powder. It's cheap too. I've tried everything and this is what really works.
If you have one of the newer washing machines that don't actually fill up with water you will have to dissolve it first. I keep an old milk gallon jug. Fill it up and add the powder. Then pour it in with the laundry.
It also works great to clean your washing machine too.

I’ve been through this with my mom when I cared for her for 5 years in my home. Plus, I was a dairy farmer for 25 years and had to find something to help me remove barn stink from literally everything my late husband wore.

First off; use ONLY cold water. Warmer water isn’t good for washing away body wastes of any kind because the heat expands proteins (urine, feces, sweat, saliva, blood, milk) and makes them sticky, leaving behind traces of those proteins, and their smells. Cold water keeps the fibers of whatever you’re washing tight so the proteins have less “hiding” places to stick to, and the soap and cold water together wash them away.
Rinse with cold water and vinegar. Try a cupful per load until you start to notice things are smelling better…. and get rid of anything that still holds onto the smells after a couple of washings. Don’t put anything in the dryer that doesn’t smell better after a washing or two.

The heat from the dryer will set the proteins that don’t wash away, and industrial dryers run extremely hot… so the clothing that was being done in the facility may never smell right again, but you could try to save everything with this method…. Or you may find that some materials never smell right again no matter what. I was able to rescue some of my mom’s clothing with this method, but ended up throwing away about half because facilities ALWAYS use super-hot water and dryers, thinking along the lines of “sanitation”/hotter is better….the stink was well set into some of the items, and just not worth the effort.

Btw: the vinegar smell doesn’t linger for long, and it’s worth putting up with to get to the end result of deodorized clothing.

I add white vinegar in the bleach dispenser and wash with detergent and fabric softener as normal. This removes urine odor and many mild stains.

This is a question that comes up a lot and the people of the forum have a lot of different opinions, I'm linking a site search so you can browse through their answers

https://www.agingcare.com/search?term=urine+laundry

Odoban removes ALL odors. It removed cat urine odor from my garage cement floor. That was full strength. I follow the instructions and use it as a general cleaner, room deodorizer and disinfectant and in my laundry. I use it my my carpet cleaning machine too. You can find gallon size containers at your local big box DIY stores. Spray bottle version can be found at most grocery stores but I make my own using my own spray bottles.

https://odoban.com/

I add a cup of vinegar in the wash and also put it in where the fabric softener goes, so that it will be added to the rinse. It was the only thing that seemed to work pretty good. The store bought antibacterial products just didn't cut that urine odor completely out.

I've never used anything but detergent when washing, but I'm finding that some of the sweat shirts I bought a few years ago stain easily and the stains are hard to remove, even just slight discoloration from skin contact.

I'd like to try vinegar.   What kind do you use?  Plain vinegar?  Distilled white vinegar (which I use to clear drains)?   Thanks for any responses, and I apologise for raising this on someone else's thread, but it seems there are definitely some experienced vinegar users here!

To remove odors, I've washed, and/or rinsed with vinegar. I've also soaked items in vinegar & water before washing.

If you wash with vinegar, don't add detergent: 1 C. vinegar to the washing machine, & go through the whole cycle. You can wash with detergent afterwards.

The link below talks about using vinegar for smelly diapers - but it's good for just about any clothing. It also explains the chemistry of why it works & why vinegar plus detergent in the wash doesn't work.

https://clothdiapersforbeginners.com/washing-cloth-diapers/vinegar-and-cloth-diapers/

good luck!

KisaVal - I had to wash my mother's urine soaked clothes many times. What I did was I washed the clothes as I normally washed other clothes. However, instead of using the dryer, I dried her wet clothes in the sun for at least a day. The sun removed all trace of odor. If you have a patio or backyard where you can hang clothes to dry, you can try this method.

White vinegar, 1 cup as a pre wash works wonders for urine of any kind.