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YAHomeImprovementT: Musty smell in basement

Saint Nick

Saint Nick

Lifer
My girlfriend's basement has gotten water in it a few times and is now blessed with a musty stench. I heard this is caused by mold and is harmful to your health?

I was wondering if this is true. If so, we need to fix her basement and was looking for suggestions on how to go about doing this.
 
Is this a sexual innuendo? 😉

But really, start off with a dehumidifier or two. See where that gets you.

You could have a mold problem in the basement... is it a finished basement or a basement used mostly for storage? Exactly how much water was there? Was it flodded, or was there just a leak that went straight to a drain? Heavy condensation?

 
before you fix the mold issue, you need to fix the cause of the leak. hopefully it's just a clogged gutter and not a foundation issue. also make sure water is flowing away from the house when it rains.
 
Originally posted by: Injury
Is this a sexual innuendo? 😉

But really, start off with a dehumidifier or two. See where that gets you.

You could have a mold problem in the basement... is it a finished basement or a basement used mostly for storage? Exactly how much water was there? Was it flodded, or was there just a leak that went straight to a drain? Heavy condensation?
Click to expand...



Yikes, I guess it could be an innuendo :laugh:

The basement is finished. There is a room down there that was flooded with probably half an inch of water above the carpet, and so, the carpet in the basement is at least half soaked. I have no idea if there is a drain or where there is. There has been a dehumidifier down there, but it doesn't seem to be helping very well.
 
we had a flood in the basement when the sump pump died.

it has the musky smell. so i got a dehumidifier and it cleared it out. Also had a little amount of mold wich we cleaned up with soem bleech/water mixture.
 
Originally posted by: rdubbz420
before you fix the mold issue, you need to fix the cause of the leak. hopefully it's just a clogged gutter and not a foundation issue. also make sure water is flowing away from the house when it rains.
Click to expand...

They cleaned the gutters out the night after the flooding occured, and apparently they were pretty bad. Once it rains heavy again, I guess we'll find out. But the smell has been around a while.
 
Originally posted by: waggy
we had a flood in the basement when the sump pump died.

it has the musky smell. so i got a dehumidifier and it cleared it out. Also had a little amount of mold wich we cleaned up with soem bleech/water mixture.
Click to expand...

Is the mold located under the carpet?
 
I have done this with 2 different houses;

1: Remove anything that got wet; i.e. carpet, furniture, and drywall.
2: have a French drain & sump pump system professionaly installed
3: Rebuild
4: Use a dehumidifier
5: Enjoy
 
Originally posted by: NightDarker
Originally posted by: Injury
Is this a sexual innuendo? 😉

But really, start off with a dehumidifier or two. See where that gets you.

You could have a mold problem in the basement... is it a finished basement or a basement used mostly for storage? Exactly how much water was there? Was it flodded, or was there just a leak that went straight to a drain? Heavy condensation?
Click to expand...



Yikes, I guess it could be an innuendo :laugh:

The basement is finished. There is a room down there that was flooded with probably half an inch of water above the carpet, and so, the carpet in the basement is at least half soaked. I have no idea if there is a drain or where there is. There has been a dehumidifier down there, but it doesn't seem to be helping very well.
Click to expand...

Yikes, that carpet should go! If there was an inch of water ABOVE the carpet, then the entire carpet and the padding below was soaked and will probably stay moist in a basement, considering the concrete below it probably stays pretty chilled and the carpet is probably holding the moisture in.
 
Originally posted by: NightDarker
Originally posted by: waggy
we had a flood in the basement when the sump pump died.

it has the musky smell. so i got a dehumidifier and it cleared it out. Also had a little amount of mold wich we cleaned up with soem bleech/water mixture.
Click to expand...

Is the mold located under the carpet?
Click to expand...

nope no carpet. just the cheap wood panneling i had. tore that out and burned it heh. the frame for the wall had some. it cleaned up great with bleech and water
 
It sounds like we have a lot of clean up work to do in the basement, huh?

So the carpet and the padding need to go. What about the walls?
 
Originally posted by: NightDarker
It sounds like we have a lot of clean up work to do in the basement, huh?

So the carpet and the padding need to go. What about the walls?
Click to expand...


I'd ditch anything that got wet that clearly hasn't dried. Wood framing, as Waggy said, could just be scrubbed with a bleach spray. Some of it can be saved, but depending on how much work that is you may opt to just try and clean some of it up.

Soaked carpet is going to be your big offender though and if your only goal is to get rid of the musty smell then that' probably your way to go.

Just think of how bad a towel or something smells if you get it wet then wad it up and cram it in the corner of a room or something. The carpet is the same way.
 
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