My Town House has a musty smell, ALWAYS, I have plug ins, air freshners,I clean almost daily?

Question

We just moved into this town house, and I guess it was vacant for a while, but it stinks and it is driving me CRAZY!! I have candle lit all the time, we mop and sweep almost daily, I use bleach a lot when cleaning the counters. But when you walk in the door, it is not a nice home-like smell. Is there some odor eater candle?spray? Something that can give it a good smell??

No we rent, there is no wallpaper and our landlords are worthless~ I definately should get it checked asap due to my asthma and I know mold is not helping, if that may be the case! Thanks so much for all the helpful tips!

Answer 1

Your relative humidity is probably too high, or was for some time before you took possession of the unit. I suspect the root cause of the odor may be found in your air handling unit, which is the section of the air conditioner that is on the inside. Without proper maintenance, the evaporator coil and blower wheel may become contaminated with mold, and send these spores throughout the home every time the system is operated. Mold releases gasses, called mycotoxins, that are potentially dangerous to your health and may be the source of the offensive odor.

I assume this is a rental property. The owners or managers have an obligation to provide mechanical systems in good working order, and they should attend to this matter very quickly.

The typical response to a bad odor is to mask it with scented products. Unfortunately, the way most of these products work is by disseminating formaldehyde into the air, which deadens the olfactory nerve and your ability to perceive odors is diminished. This is bad business, in that formaldehyde is a known carcinogen. I encourage you to dispose of these products and go after the root cause.

Two products on the market that are non-toxic and are effective at odor removal are Zero Odor and T2.

You can pick up a digital hygrometer at Radio Shack that will give a close reading of your relative humidity, which you want to keep in the range of 50%. Good luck. I hope this info is of some help.

Answer 2

You should try to find out what is causing the stench. You stated that it was a musty odor. Is there a water leak somewhere? If you are renting have your superintendent come by and search for leaks. If it is just a stale smell from sitting, you may just want to prop open your windows for a few days, let it air out. It also could be coming from rank carpet. It really could be anything at this point. If you've gone so far as to use bleach and candles and the problem still exists, this is beyond a normal smell.

Answer 3

Check your air vents and change your filters if they need it. You could also buy a dehumidifer or an air purifier to clean the air of what ever is causing the musty smell.

Sounds like the air freshners are just covering up the odor. Turn them off, and see if you can detect where the odor is coming from. Or a neighbor who's not used to your house. It could be as simple as washing your drapes or curtains because of dust.

Answer 4

I'd have it checked out for mold. Call your local tenancy board or whatever board regulates townhouse rentals. They should be able to tell you how to go about this. In the meantime, I'd give the walls and floors a good cleaning with a cleaner with bleach in it. It may or may not help much. If the mold is on the walls, it will help. But if the mold is actually growing inside the wall material, that's a whole different matter and you'd need professional advice.

Does it have carpet? I'd definitely have those removed. Carpets are notorious odor keepers as are drapes and furniture upholstery.

Answer 5

Okay, without going over the mold/mildew answers again... something I found that works WONDERFULLY is a bag of Zeolite rocks you can get at home depot. Our Downstairs bathroom always had a musty smell to it. You open the cellophane on this netted bag full of rocks and place it near the source of the smell. The Zeolite absorbs the smell. Every six months or so you leave them out in the full sunlight for eight hours to reactivate them. This is 100% natural and safe. I have included a link so you can read a little more about them, but the prices are better at Home Depot. Good Luck!

Answer 6

I would get a home inspector to come in and check for mold, which no only can cause the odor problem, but is also extremely unhealthy. When you can rule out a mold problem, I would examine any carpeting in the home and have it removed. Then, have all the walls repainted and the kitchen and bathroom cabinets thoroughly cleaned with Murphy's Oil Soap or some equivalent. Deodorizers are not only costly, but it's like putting on perfume when you haven't bathed. Good luck.

Answer 7

I bought a second hand secretary desk like that. A musty smell is often mildew, which is very hard to get rid of. I washed it down a few times using various different things. A couple of them worked better than others.... alcohol, and a cleaner with orange oil in it. I still have to make sure that it gets aired out frequently by opening the drawers with the fan on. ohh.. yeah... that was from an expert source too. mildew can't live in air and sun and dryness.

Answer 8

Ok, I am another vote for mold and mildew, which needs to be checked out by the home inspector, but also!
Try putting a non-reactive pot on the stove with about 4 cups of water and 1/4 cup rosemary needles. The smell is very pleasant, and will permeate everything. This is just a quick fix, though. Get that mold found!

Answer 9

If you have carpet you may want to steam clean it. Also, wipe your walls down with Pine Sol or something. Febreeze helps also.
If all else fails, you can go to an industrial cleaning supply store. We have one in MY home town called Pac Specialties (I don't think it's a chain, but maybe you can check the net). They have industrial deodorizers. One in particular (that I unfortunately can't remember the name of) had a bubble gum smell. I found it worked very well.
Another thing you may want to do is call your local Fire Department. They have this spray that they use to remove smoke odors from buildings. It works like crazy.
GOOD LUCK!!

Answer 10

Mold in the vents (bad in the south) and in the carpeting. You need to clean any vents, change any AC filters and have carpet steam cleaned (Preferably replaced). When you vacum, sprinkle down some baking soda first or Arm & Hammer carpet fresh (Pet odor one). Make Febreeze your best friend and open up house (windows ad doors) and let air out as often as you possibly can. Good luck, this is horrible I know! (some landlords will let you replace carpet and take at least half the cost off you rent, not ideal I know but if you intend to stay there would be worth it!)