There is not one homeowner on Earth who wants their guests to take a whiff of their home and wrinkle their nose in disgust. “My house smells musty, but why?” you may ask yourself, slightly embarrassed. Even if you clean your house regularly and take out the garbage, the reality is that occasionally a house smells musty—or stale, or dank, or myriad other things—and there’s no chance that a scented candle can undo the olfactory damage.
Often, if your house truly reeks, the only thing you can do is hire a professional “to actually address the root of the problem,” says Tim Tracy, a national sales trainer for foundation services and water management company Groundworks based in Virginia Beach, Virginia. That means the damp small in your basement or crawl space is more than a malodorous inconvenience. “Black mold is particularly dangerous,” Tracy adds, pointing out that if left untreated, it may lead to health issues caused by mycotoxins.
But because you’re nothing if not a DIY’er, AD rounded up top ways to fight back when your house smells musty—including the causes and what may work as a fix to help things pass the sniff test.
Stinky rugs
Even the most beautiful Berber rug won’t take you on a magic carpet ride when it smells off.
The cause: “Mold, mildew, and other fungal growths feed on dead organic materials, such as cotton and wool,” Tracy says. “The scent you smell is the off-gassing of that material being broken down by mold.”
The fix: If a piece has had water damage, “it’s really difficult to make it not smell again,” Tracy says. But one of the best fixes for a stale rug has been used for literally centuries is the sun. Just haul the rug outdoors on a dazzlingly bright sunny day and let the UV rays evict the dreaded bacteria and fungus.
Stale antique furniture
If your carefully curated wood closet and that antique wardrobe you discovered at Brimfield Flea Market aren’t exactly fresh, that doesn’t mean that your clothes are destined to pick up the antediluvian scents.
The cause: Grand-millenial style? Chic. Grand-musty smells? Not so much. Over the years, mildew may have formed in the wood panels—not something anyone likes having around.
The fix: Lining drawers or cabinets with dryer sheets can work in a pinch, but it may also be worth investing in Murphy Oil Soap wood cleaner. It has five-star rating on Amazon for a good reason, and it has been used for more than a century to give wood goods a new (fresh!) life.
That musty basement smell
Basements already have a bad rap for a place where yucky smells accumulate, so don’t let a dank-scented one stay that way for long.
The cause: “All basements need some type of dehumidification system, because the temperature differential below ground can cause condensation and moisture buildup,” Tracy says.