Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: It isn't just salt water. They tested the flood waters. Some had sewage in it.

Haha. I'm the OP. Tell this to my 83y.o. FIL who says we can just wash all the "wet" clothes and pillows.
After a lot of arguments and trying to convince him to throw stuff away, I've just started bagging up things behind his back.
We have much bigger issues than pots and pans, but I just wanted to think about something little for a minute.
Thanks for the well-wishes, everyone!

I think you just have to tell him bedding and clothes need to be thrown away "by order of the Board of Health: or whatever. I'm sure that's recommended for sewage contaminated waters.
But hard surfaces can be sanitized but a combination of bleach and boiling 10 minutes.

OP again. This won't work for my FIL. I've even tried to appeal to his cheapskate-ness by telling him insurance will give us money for all this stuff. There is just no convincing him. He has a severe case of Old.
I think we'll keep the pots and pans. I just want to be able to keep SOMETHING, when everything else I touch has to get thrown away. The pile of trash in our front yard is growing like "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation."

You are nuts. Clothes and sheets can be washed. If you are a germaphobe, own it. But for Gods sake don't try to convince him that he is old and crazy. He was just born before people could afford to indulge their every squeamish thought.

I would keep anything I could wash well in very hot, soapy water. Pots, pans, clothes, sheets, yes. Upholstered items, pillows, rugs, no. (Maybe rugs could be steam cleaned in some way, I don't know...)

Sorry you're dealing with this, OP.

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't keep pillows or other bedding, but why not clothes? Just run them in really hot water, maybe for several cycles?

I had always read that soft surfaces like bedding, sheets and clothes that had been contaminated with sewage needed to be thrown away, but this seems to say otherwise:

http://emergency.cdc.gov/disasters/floods/cleanupwater.asp

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't keep pillows or other bedding, but why not clothes? Just run them in really hot water, maybe for several cycles?

Not sure I understand either. I completely get couches, pillows, mattresses, comforters, down or otherwise filled things, etc. But what is the problem with cotton sheets washed with soap in hot water and dried on high for an hour or more? Boil them even. Would I need to replace my crystal, china and silver as well? Would I need to replace my dining room table and chairs or just the seat cushions?

I personally would want to throw most everything away and start over, but I would start to balk at some stuff.

OP - really sorry you are going through this.

I don't understand. After you have thoroughly cleaned, and then sterilized, and then rinsed, something, what is the deal?

Does it somehow retain the impurity, like a religious thing?

I wouldn't keep pillows or other bedding, but why not clothes? Just run them in really hot water, maybe for several cycles?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: It isn't just salt water. They tested the flood waters. Some had sewage in it.

Haha. I'm the OP. Tell this to my 83y.o. FIL who says we can just wash all the "wet" clothes and pillows.
After a lot of arguments and trying to convince him to throw stuff away, I've just started bagging up things behind his back.
We have much bigger issues than pots and pans, but I just wanted to think about something little for a minute.
Thanks for the well-wishes, everyone!

I think you just have to tell him bedding and clothes need to be thrown away "by order of the Board of Health: or whatever. I'm sure that's recommended for sewage contaminated waters.
But hard surfaces can be sanitized but a combination of bleach and boiling 10 minutes.

OP again. This won't work for my FIL. I've even tried to appeal to his cheapskate-ness by telling him insurance will give us money for all this stuff. There is just no convincing him. He has a severe case of Old.
I think we'll keep the pots and pans. I just want to be able to keep SOMETHING, when everything else I touch has to get thrown away. The pile of trash in our front yard is growing like "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation."

No way I would throw out all-metal pots in this situation. As others have said, wash thoroughly (I would use the stiffest brush possible that will not scratch them up, to make sure you get into all the nooks and crannies, especially around any rivets), soak in bleach, rinse well, and bake them if you want some extra germ-killing.

Um, there's poop everywhere, folks. This is why the stomach bug travels so fast. You have to actually ingest it to get the virus.

Wash, bleach, move on with life.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, then.

So your pot falls in a used toilet...do you wash it out really really really good, and then use it again? Do you tell your friends coming over for dinner about the pot? But, now it's clean? Yuck.

Uh, yeah. Yes you do. After you wash and disinfect it, it IS clean.

I wonder if this pp that wants to throw everything away threw away any baby onesies that got poop on them.

Anonymous wrote:Ok, then.

So your pot falls in a used toilet...do you wash it out really really really good, and then use it again? Do you tell your friends coming over for dinner about the pot? But, now it's clean? Yuck.

Uh, yeah. Yes you do. After you wash and disinfect it, it IS clean.

I'm so sorry you had flooding, OP. I'm glad you and your family are safe. Do what you can afford to do. If it's not a financial hardship and it would make you feel better with new pots, then get new ones. If it's a bother because of what you're dealing with, then wash them well.

Best of luck to you and your family!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, then.

So your pot falls in a used toilet...do you wash it out really really really good, and then use it again? Do you tell your friends coming over for dinner about the pot? But, now it's clean? Yuck.

Well, if my HAND touched the inside of a used toilet..or my HAND touched some poop (it happens if you are changing a diaper) would I throw it out?

No. And guess what? I wouldn't even soak it in a bleach solution or boil it 10 minutes to sterilze.

I would wash the hand well. Then I would continue to use the hand. I would shake hands with friends coming ove to dinner and I would never tell them that the hand they were shaking, the hand that touched the food they were eating... had once touched feces.

Love it. I would keep the pots and pans.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, then.

So your pot falls in a used toilet...do you wash it out really really really good, and then use it again? Do you tell your friends coming over for dinner about the pot? But, now it's clean? Yuck.

Well, if my HAND touched the inside of a used toilet..or my HAND touched some poop (it happens if you are changing a diaper) would I throw it out?

No. And guess what? I wouldn't even soak it in a bleach solution or boil it 10 minutes to sterilze.

I would wash the hand well. Then I would continue to use the hand. I would shake hands with friends coming ove to dinner and I would never tell them that the hand they were shaking, the hand that touched the food they were eating... had once touched feces.

+1000

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: It isn't just salt water. They tested the flood waters. Some had sewage in it.

Haha. I'm the OP. Tell this to my 83y.o. FIL who says we can just wash all the "wet" clothes and pillows.
After a lot of arguments and trying to convince him to throw stuff away, I've just started bagging up things behind his back.
We have much bigger issues than pots and pans, but I just wanted to think about something little for a minute.

Thanks for the well-wishes, everyone!

I think you just have to tell him bedding and clothes need to be thrown away "by order of the Board of Health: or whatever. I'm sure that's recommended for sewage contaminated waters.

But hard surfaces can be sanitized but a combination of bleach and boiling 10 minutes.