Can i get rid of the smell ??

Question

Has anyone stored books or magazines in a garage or shed until they had enough room to bring them indoors. They smell damp or musty or something. How can you get rid of the smell?????

The magazines and books are Star Trek, America car books and a complete set of original Starsky and Hutch magazines.!

Answer 1

burn the books

Answer 2

I know the smell is just awful and do you find it makes you sneeze? I have had the same problem and tried leaving books etc, outside in the fresh air for a period of time (a few hours or until the weather turns nasty). However, the smell never really abaits but I am sure if you find a website that deals in book and mags someone will have an answer. In furture try packing the books away in boxes with pot pourri and brown paper taking care to put the pot pourri in linen bag so that it does not stain the cover of the books, it may help with the smell.

Hope you find the right solution to your problem.

Answer 3

My dad did that with a large number of books, stored in garage then removed to house. They still smell a bit odd - I suppose because the irreversible decomposition process had been accelerated in the damp conditions. Ahem. When they are very thoroughly dried out, they will smell noticeably less, but the whiff probably won't go away altogether. Unless they bring out Febreze for books; unlikely.

Answer 4

If you can put all of these books into a room by themselves, fan the pages open and leave them propped open that way then rent an ozone generator.... that should take care of it. be careful what else you have in the room... overuse of an ozone generator can cause a breakdown of materials like certain foams... such as in weather stripping.

I would start my search at a janitorial or carpet cleaning supply house. Another source may be to actually take your books to a company that specializes in disaster/fire cleanup... they may have a room that is just for the type of de-odorizing you are talking about.... I remember a company like that in St. Louis.

Answer 5

You can leave them in a dry room to see if that helps. But it probably won't. Modern books are printed on high-acid paper, that deteriorates (especially paperbacks) and gives off that used bookstore smell. In 150 years the vast majority of our printed material will be dust.

Answer 6

if you want to remove the odor, you can use baking soda,but in order to remove the odor you need an air tight box like a plastic container large enough to fit the book(s) in.poor the baking soda inside the container and put the book(s) in it,then seal it.leave it in there for a couple of days.and the odor should be gone.the odor is caused by mold.

Answer 7

My great aunt had alot of books in her basement that hadn't seen the light of day since 1913.

The smell was awkward and unwanted, so we simply took them and set them in the sun [make sure its not a humid day]. It worked wonders on the smell and the pages were brighter.

Answer 8

I don,t know about the other two but starsky and hutch comics can be terribly smelly, probably something to do with the shite thats in them.

Answer 9

Try spraying some air freshner in the box where you keep your books /magazines (hope that's not porn ;)

Dried flowes should help as well.

Good Luck!

Answer 10

easy.raw onions put the book etc. into large boxes,pack them so as to allow the smell of the onions to circulate. another tip when painting in the house onions take away the smell of the paint.

Answer 11

Put the books in a bin liner and put half a lemon in there too and seal the bag.
You can do this with any citric fruit or garlic too