I'm living in an old house. I use the basement just to store things. It's got dirt in cold room. I have a dehumidifier that runs all year around when cool or the fall comes the smell comes upstairs. Once the furnace cuts in the basement warms up and the smell leaves. What can I do to stop that old damp smell coming into the porch and main rooms?
Thank you.
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The odor may be coming from mold. I would try activated charcoal in addition to the dehumidifier
Yep, we have that same old house issue, except we get "the smell" in the spring.
We have managed it two ways...the biggest dehumidifier we can afford and run it year round. Dump it daily (we tried having it go into the drain directly but that never seemed to work). Clean it monthly (the water catcher) with vinegar and baking soda and clean the filter weekly (we got one with a "gold" filter that is washable to cut costs.
Use the water to water outside stuff only as I learned the hard way if I use it to water inside plants, the smell sticks to the water (ick).
Then we run an air purifier in front of one of the vents in the center of the house during the smell season. Again, clean the filters on that thing frequently and keep it clean).
That seems to work best for us.
Reducing the amount of cardboard and paper boxes in the cellar also helped (I am trying to downsize and get rid of stuff and what I do need to keep goes in plastic tubs. That has also helped as when I first moved in year ago, everything was in cardboard boxes and the stench was terrible.
The change to plastic helped almost immediately and as we get rid of stuff, the smell has dissipated even more.
Good luck!
You do not say if you are buying or renting this house so some suggestions may be more costly than you wish to put into this house.
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