Fleece Why does uhaul pads need to be washed and dried several times before use

to pre shrink and because it turns the water blue the first couple of times you wash it. I only wash it once though.

They're made of 100% cotton and they'll lint up a lot, too, after the first washings. I made some fleece pads with a prewashed uhaul lining that shrunk after I sewed them together so those fleece pads were sort of baggy. If you don't sew them into something, it might not be a big deal if they get a little smaller after being washed. Each pad is different. I've had some that stayed intact and washed nicely. Others shrunk more and ended up with more lint. I wash them on gentle the first washings. HE washers seem gentler on them than traditional washers that agitate the fabric.

piggydaddy1 said:

I'm a little confused as to why uhaul pads need to be washed and dried
several times before use. I understand why its done with fleece, but not sure why with uhaul pads.

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They don't. If you are using them to sew something yourself, you'll want to wash and dry them first to get the shrinkage out of the way. If you are using them with Fleece Flippers™, they'll just be a bit bunchy underneath until they've shrunk a bit because they are cut large to allow for the shrinkage. But, aside from aesthetics, it doesn't matter. They are nicely absorbent brand new as well as after washing.

If you have the time available to wash it, and you care about how your coroplast looks, I would. All of our towels fell apart in the wash one day, so we made an impromptu trip to pick up a uhaul pad and my boyfriend stuck it right into the cage. My coroplast now has large stained splotches of grayish blue ink all over it.

Definitely true about the HE washer being easier on them. The first one I bought and washed with my old agitating W/D is really color faded and shrunk up. The ones that were only in my new HE washer are so much nicer.

sabrinaxceleste said:

If you have the time available to wash it, and you care about how your coroplast looks, I would. All of our towels fell apart in the wash one day, so we made an impromptu trip to pick up a uhaul pad and my boyfriend stuck it right into the cage. My coroplast now has large stained splotches of grayish blue ink all over it.

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Haven't heard that one before. Did you just use straight uhaul without fleece over it as a towel replacement? It actually stained the plastic? Still not really an issue if you are using Flippers as I don't think the flipper coroplast panels matter that much on the off chance of that happening and there are two layers of Uhaul and the panels aren't part of the cage. But still, interesting.

I don't think you need to wash them several times, but at least once should do the trick.

You need to wash it so it'll shrink to the size it'll stay at before you cut it up and use it somewhere it the cage. However mine also needed to be washed to wick it, just like you need to wick fleece. I tried using my uhaul without washing and it just puddled. I figured this was because of the fleece not being wicked enough, which it was, but then I tested some water on just the uhaul and it still puddled. On either side.

I feel maybe this is because of all the lint in it blocking the moisture? Maybe they make it a bit different now? I'm not sure, but I do know it didn't absorb before I washed it. Also I bought two uhaul pads and it was the same thing for both of them.

CavySpirit said:

Haven't heard that one before. Did you just use straight uhaul without fleece over it as a towel replacement? It actually stained the plastic? Still not really an issue if you are using Flippers as I don't think the flipper coroplast panels matter that much on the off chance of that happening and there are two layers of Uhaul and the panels aren't part of the cage. But still, interesting.

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If I recall, it was a two-layer of the new uhaul pad with fleece over it. But yep, it turned a nice chunk of my coroplast inky-colored. Haven't been able to get the coloring to go away yet so I assume it's here to stay.