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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.
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.
I am looking for a home remedy to use to eliminate musty odors in my basement.
The best thing to do is probably invest in a dehumidifier, since the smell is being caused by the excess moisture and its ability to create mold, pathogens, etc.
If that's not a possibility, then activated charcoal and vinegar will both neutralize the smell
you can purchase activated charcoal here: www.amazon.com/
and as far as vinegar, just leave an open dish of white vinegar (make sure that it cannot fall over!) for a day or so. This should help dissipate.
There is something called DampRid, which you can put in the basement.
My basement is 90% finished, but I still get a musty smell in it. How can I get rid of it without spending a lot of money?
By Melissa M
I would suggest a dehumidifier. Do you have any windows you could open as well?
You can get dehumidifier bags at any hardware store
Our walk out basement has a cellar smell. The floor is fully carpeted over cement and has been there for about 25 years. The cellar smell/concrete smell appeared about 2 years ago. How do we get rid of this musty concrete/cellar smell?
By Pat M.
Moisture is getting in some where to cause the smell. You are going to have to find the source and repair it. Look for places where the concrete or carpet may be damp.
There is a strong musty smell in my above ground and totally finished basement or lower level.
By Rob
ThriftyFun is one of the longest running frugal living communities on the Internet. These are archives of older discussions.
The basement in our cottage became musty 2 summers ago when we were not available to dump the dehumidifier. Prior to that it was fresh and dry.
Our basement has a damp and musty smell and we were wondering if there is anything that we can do to get rid of the smell?
Could anyone tell me how to get a musty smell out of the basement? I run a dehumidifier daily and I have tried vinegar, baking soda and Lysol but it still smells.
I have a very musty smelly basement. I may have someone staying with us who could live down there.
