Help! Funky smell in the closet of our new house!

[Karenn]

We thought we covered all of our bases when we were house hunting, but we missed the fact that the walk in closet in the master bedroom smells yucky! We had the carpets cleaned today, and that didn't help. Any other suggestions? I just can't bear to put my clothes in a closet that smells that way! The carpet cleaning guy described the smell as "musty" or "old." The only way I can think to describe it is yucky! The house is new to us, but was actually built in 1979.

TIA,

[almostamom]

The Queen of Clean recommends a product called "Odorzout" I bought mine at Petsmart, but it says it works on a variety of odors, not just pet odors (ex. mildew, smoke, urine, etc.) It says it's 100% natural and that it's safe for pets and people. Their website is:

www.88stink.com

HTH,
~Linda~
DS 11/04
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/25049.jpg

[jennifer_r]

I'd paint the walls/ceiling of the closet. At first you'll have the "new paint" smell but that will go away and it should smell fresher. Alot of people do that if their house smells of smoke (from the previous homeowners' smoking) and that often helps.

Good luck.

Jennifer

Mom to:
Christopher 12/29/89
Adelaide 8/23/04

[Karenn]

Oh good! I picked up some of this last night when I was buying the paint! Good to know it's not just some random waste of money. (I was in the "I'm desperate to fix this so I'll buy anything that might possibly help!" mode.)

[trumansmom]

When I was in college I lived in an old house that had major mildew problems in our closets. Our shoes would literally grow mold on them. I use to get these small tubs of some sort of crystal stuff. You would stash it in the back of the closet (kind of like baking soda in the refrigerator) and replace it once a month as it absorbed the humidity and liquified. You have to be super careful not to spill it. This may help the smell from returning once you initially get rid of it.

I think I used to buy the stuff at hardware stores. Sorry I can't remember what it's called!

Jeanne
Mom to Truman 11/01 and Eleanor 4/04
Independent Consultant, Do-Re-Me & You!

[alkagift]

If the closet isn't too big, I would seriously consider ripping out the carpet. If the padding is fouled in some way or is moldy, there's nothing you can put on it to get it clean, and the steam cleaning will just add to the problem if it's moldy. Sorry not to have a positive outlook, but I have an older house and so have "discovered" problems like this. The good thing is that if it's just in this area and it's fairly small, it would be inexpensive to replace the carpet and worth not having to battle the smell forever.

FWIW, you should also go over the walls and ceiling with a flashlight (and the light on in the closet) and look for stains--the roof may leak or something in which case you may have a different problem! It might not be the carpet at all!

Allison
Mommy to Matthew Clayton, who is TWO!

[Karenn]

Thanks everyone. That Oderzout worked wonders. When I went back to paint the closet today it was much better!

I don't think mold is the problem- at least it'd better not be! We shelled out a fair amount of money for a mold inspection, and it came back fine. And, I specifically remember him testing the closet. If it is mold, it'll be a lawsuit I'm smelling instead! ;)

If the paint doesn't take care of it, we'll probably just replace the carpet.

[dr mom]

We used a similar product called Damp Rid that came in plastic tubs
(approx size as a tub of margerine), and the moisture collected on the crystals and drained into the bottom of the tub.

[alkagift]

Oh good, I'm glad you got the mold inspection. That's something that really didn't exist when we bought our house, at least not as a routine thing, and I wish I'd known about it. Certainly we don't have problems now, but we've worked really hard to get it fixed.

Good for you on solving the problem!

Allison
Mommy to Matthew, who is TWO!