Musty Smelling House

[shmoggon]

Hi all,

I have noticed that there is a musty smell within my property when I leave for a period of time, and come back in.

I've taken out old carpets and replaced them with tiling and laminate flooring. Prior to laying laminate flooring, I've painted the floors with Zinser BIN shellac paint. It should be noted that the property I am staying in, has a suspended timber floor.

I also recently installed a positive input ventilation system, and while that does seem to be working, there is still a smell inside unless I give it a good airing out by opening windows and such, but it is a bit better. I don't want to increase the settings for the PIV however, as it should be on the appropriate settings for the number of rooms.

I was told that an elderly person resided in the property prior to me, and it does have that sort of old person smell.

I have noticed that the smell is at its strongest when its been raining/cold, but I think that's mostly due to not wanting to open any windows

I have cut out some wood flooring just to check what's below, I'm going to take readings before and after raining with a damp meter just to see if it fluctuates. I've not done that yet

I have stuck my head down the hole I've cut out of the particle board flooring, but to be honest, I don't actually think it smells bad, it certainly doesn't smell like the musty smell. However, I did spot some woodlouse, and am aware that these usually like damp areas - is it normal to have woodlouse crawling below in a suspended timber floor?

Thanks,

 

[Wayners]

Filled floor joints boards with caulk or other? Block air off.

 

[Mottie]

Had something similar.

That didn’t cure it, smell still there but the MiL's in a care home now so the house will be sold. Couldn’t normally smell the mustiness when in there but can now when we pay an occasional visit to the house.,

 

[Notch7]

Does the void below the floor get plenty of ventilation, check the vents around the outside, make sure they aren’t covered.

Check there is no damp anywhere, especially at skirting level etc

My sister in law has a flat that always smells like that, I think there is a failure with the damp,proof arrangement somewhere, although there’s no damp anywhere visible….it is very annoying.

 

[shmoggon]

So just an update. The property is around about 50sqm and is a semi-detached bungalow.

I've counted the air bricks, there are 8 - 2 at back, 3 at side and 3 on the front. None of these have been bricked off

However, I put my air quality sensor into the subfloor and the highest recording today was 66%. It was sunny today, and we haven't had any rain since nightfall. So this is quite unexpected to me as I would have expected this to be the the lowest given the amount of ventilation getting in there

Comparatively, bear in mind I have a PIV, the humidity is usually at around 50-60. In the loft it is about 60 or so too.

I am going to wait until it rains and check again, but 70% would be alarming and that's when I tend to notice it being the worst

I am trying to avoid crawling around the subfloor if I can help it, its not the easiest to get into

A few have suggested trying to make it air tight and filling the joints/gaps, will that really resolve it the smell? I've got a few holes where the radiator pipework is larger than necessary, which could be a culprit. There is absolutely 0 damp on skirtings or anything like that

 

[shmoggon]

I'll also put down a spare disposable dehumidifier and see what happens with that