Blankets Review: UHaul blanket

[Nicolene]

I tried the UHaul "furniture wrap" this week instead of my usual towels. I bought this blanket U-Haul: Moving supplies: Furniture Pad for $8 and cut 2 layers for the 2X4 side of my cage.

It is very thin, like my fleece:


and made of recycle demin.

I pinned it to the back of my fleece to make a temporary liner (both blanket layers) like so:



I lined my cage with it and waited for it to start smelling... 3 days average for us with towels (2 layers) but 7 days! with this UHaul blanket. AND to really test it we also happened to have lived through 5 days of record heat (100 degrees).

For full disclosure purposes, we have a handtowel under our pigloos that we change daily, as well as a hay bin with newspaper that is cleaned twice daily. But we also had this with the towels, so it was a controlled experiment

I washed the blanket today, it washed well and dried quikly, it did have that hot piggie smell fresh out of the dryer, like fleece does, but I aired it out over our balcony and it was completely fresh after. It didn't come out misshapen either.

I LOVE this stuff, I am buying another one tomorrow so I can sew 2 liners and be done. Liners are so convenient...

I'd say used mattress pad if you can get it on the cheap, or I would highly recommend this blanket. No more towels for us!

 

[Kipsie]

I washed the blanket today, it washed well and dried quikly, it did have that hot piggie smell fresh out of the dryer,

I hate that.
Especially since we use the property's washing room.
The one everyone uses where we live.

Where do you buy them besides online, and are they better than mattress pads?

 

[CavyLuver516]

So how many layers of the movers blanket did you use for one pad? Did they shrink in the wash at all? Thanks so much for the review!

 

[Nicolene]

If you are on the UHaul website you can input your zipcode and see if your local UHaul carries them, mine did.

They did not shrink at all. The reason I don't have mattress pad is because I couldn't find affordable ones, they have to have cotton filling, so I had to try something else.

I used 2 layers of the blankets, and one layer of fleece, which is still a very thing liner.

 

[Silverbeat]

I line-dry my pig laundry 8-10 months out of the year.. if it's below freezing out I throw them in the dryer. I don't get the "hot pig smell" unless I haven't line-dried in like a month [4 washes].
It also helps to run your pads or fleece and towels through a rinse cycle before you wash it. Not sure if you can do that with a coin-op washer though.

 

[Nicolene]

I can see how pre rinsing would be a good idea, I'll keep that in mind. Once my liners are done I'll have significantly less laundry. I sometimes dry my pig laundry over the balcony (very classy, I know) but the towels are horribly stiff.

 

[Shurrim]

Use sodium bicarbonate with your soap, towels (or anything else) smell fresh and are soft even dried outside.

 

[Nicolene]

Thanks for the advice. Like I said, after I air them out there is no more smell. I do use vinegar, but I may have to try the baking soda. Once my liners are done I'll donate most of my two storage boxes of towels to the humane society, so towels won't be as prevelant around here anymore. I plan on air drying the liners for the most part, though, they wouldn't take long in the dryer either.

 

[Deb's4Pigs]

I put Natures Miracle and I bleach all of it.

 

[cam767]

Thanks for the review and info! It was very helpful. I want to pick some up soon because the towels are annoying me. lol They don't smell but they are just a pain between the washing, drying, and trying to put them back in the cage. I really want to make liners.

 

[danav]

How did these do when you cut them? Did you need to stitch the edges to keep them from unraveling or to keep insides from coming out? Or are they more like felt or fleece in the way they are constructed?

 

[Nicolene]

Yup, like felt or fleece... No fraying or dust of any kind.

 

[C. Cole-Chakotay]

I just ordered one of the U-Haul denim blankets. It sounds really good!

 

[CavyLuver516]

I do use vinegar, but I may have to try the baking soda.

How would you use baking soda? Is it added into the washing cycle? And how much would be needed? Thanks!

 

[Geekerbell]

Thank you so much!! I've been anxiously awaiting your review.

I think I will pick-up one of the U-Haul wraps and make a Halloween liner with it this weekend!

 

[cam767]

I'm so excited. I went to a shop today that had Patriots and Red Sox fleece. I'm going to pick up some Uhaul blankets and make my son and his pigs a couple of liners for Xmas. :shhh: Since the cage is in his room (supposedly his pigs) I figured it was a nice way to introduce his favorite teams in his newly designed room and give him something useful besides toys. Now I just have to deal with the towels for a couple more months. :sarcastic Thanks so much for the great (and cheaper) idea!!!

 

[Nicolene]

Thank you so much!! I've been anxiously awaiting your review.

I was trying to hold out as long as possible.. It was weird not cleaning my cage after 2 days.

Also, I think I have figured out why mattress pads and uhaul blankets work so well, because they are thin they "dry", whereas blankets are thick and just kinda sit there and "stew". I don't know, the thin pad just seemed much dryer than my towels.

 

[lissie]

Do you use anything under the blanket? Like puppy pads or incontinence pads?

 

[Holly&Fred]

I'd be interested to see how these do in the long run. These would be great to replace the traditional liner setup -- and a heckuva lot cheaper too! All I'm waiting on to get started making my liners is an expensive quilting foot for my sewing machine, and with these I probably won't even need that. In short, this is awesome! But I think I'll keep reading to see how everyone's hold up before I go out and buy anything. Thanks for this awesome tip!

 

[Nicolene]

Do you use anything under the blanket? Like puppy pads or incontinence pads?

I do not. I move the pigloos to a new spot every day when I replace the handtowel. I find that in doing this the spot from the day before will be dry by the time I shift things again the next day. When I washed the liners after that first week it was all dry except for where the pigloos were last. That said, I live in California and we don't have humidity issues and wet things do tend to dry easily..