Basement smells?

[downtoearth]

So our basement smells like... a basement.  Nothing is wet (checked all floors/walls even in storage area) or open, but we do have a floor drain in a back room.  It sort of smells like a mild musty/old lady smell especially compared to the fresh scents of the main floor after the windows have been open all night.  We have carpet in one room, but the rest are linoleum from the 1950's. 

Is there anything I can do to keep it smelling more fresh, besides tear out the carpet.  I really don't think it's the carpet b/c the rooms without smell the same.  Our basement has 2 bedrooms, one family/TV room, one bathroom, two storage rooms.  Any quick fix or long term suggestions?

[Deleted]

Dehumidifer. Stat. My new house had that smell too until we installed one and it's all gone. Stuff may not be wet in the basement but the air probably is.

Also, do the window open? I try to keep ours open as much as I can.

[downtoearth]

Jul 24, 2014 15:04:55 GMT -5 @justdairy said:

Dehumidifer. Stat. My new house had that smell too until we installed one and it's all gone. Stuff may not be wet in the basement but the air probably is.

Also, do the window open? I try to keep ours open as much as I can.

Good to know - it wasn't like that in the winter, so I'm guessing it probably is a spring/summer humidity issue. 

Do you have a dehumidifier recommendation?  I think you have bedrooms and a family room in the basement, right?

[pitterwoo]

I'll second the dehumidifier. Also, no matter how you characterize it [old, stuffy, musty, etc] if you smell it, it means there is mold. Either it's damp now or it was damp and those suckers are just waiting for it to be damp again.

[Deleted]

Jul 24, 2014 15:22:42 GMT -5 downtoearth said:

Jul 24, 2014 15:04:55 GMT -5 @justdairy said:

Dehumidifer. Stat. My new house had that smell too until we installed one and it's all gone. Stuff may not be wet in the basement but the air probably is.

Also, do the window open? I try to keep ours open as much as I can.

Good to know - it wasn't like that in the winter, so I'm guessing it probably is a spring/summer humidity issue. 

Do you have a dehumidifier recommendation?  I think you have bedrooms and a family room in the basement, right?

Ha. Nope. I have the middle of the road one they sell at Menard's. It's totally fine, works great, does what it's supposed to. I think it's one of those products that are all the same. My only advice is unless you have a drain near by get one with a big resevoir or you'll be emptying it constantly. (I do ours once a day when I put DS to bed, so not bad at all).

[devonpow]

We have a pretty large finished basement and a Santa Fe brand dehumidifier. The house inspector told is that was the best brand - not sure if he is right, but this far it's very effective

[kaylie]

I read a bunch of reviews online and went with a Fridgidaire dehumidifier. Works great and still going strong after two years of continuous use.

[simpsongal]

Do any of you have a dehumidifier hooked into the system or drain? We have to empty ours every day or every other day - it's just such a chore.

[Miss Phryne Fisher]

Pour a bucket of water down your floor drain. You might be getting a smell from it being dry in there, with gases and such. When water sits above the trap like it is supposed to, you won't get the smells. When a public bathroom has a worse than normal bathroom smell, it is usually from the drain in the floor.

Oh and dehumidifier. But I would try the water in the drain first.

[Deleted]

Jul 25, 2014 8:37:17 GMT -5 simpsongal said:

Do any of you have a dehumidifier hooked into the system or drain? We have to empty ours every day or every other day - it's just such a chore.

I don't because our drain is in a room where the dehumidifier wouldn't be effective. It's in a closed off mudroom area. 

The rest of the free world here however has theirs drained. It's really easy...just read the directions on the back and stick the hose in the drain.

[kaylie]

Jul 25, 2014 8:37:17 GMT -5 simpsongal said:

Do any of you have a dehumidifier hooked into the system or drain? We have to empty ours every day or every other day - it's just such a chore.

H drilled a hole in the wall between the finished part of our basement and the unfinished part. We drain ours into the french drain in the unfinished part. It's worked out well, all we have to do is wash the filter regularly.

[nomad100]

We have a Frigidare that is going on 8 years old and it is going strong. It makes all the difference in the world.

We have it draining to a drain now but the first 3 years, we had to dump it manually (which was kindof a pain).

[Deleted]

Our sump pump sprang a leak (pipe cracked) unbeknownst to us for several weeks, so the carpet got wet in one corner of the room. Now the pipe is repaired, but it smells damp and musty down there, so I'll be getting a dehumidifier to try to rectify that. It never used to smell like this, so I hope it goes away.

[imojoebunny]

If you can't use the floor drain, you might be able to use the furnace drain, if it is in a good spot. I drain two of ours into the furnace pump, where the furnace drains, and they are pumped out by the pump. One of our houses has a gravity drain on the furnace, and I can't dump it into there (too high up), so I am buying a pump like you use for an HVAC, and making another hole to outside to pump the water from the dehumidifyer. Ours only fills up every 3-4 days, but it is still kind of like having a pet, so I look forward to getting it set up.

[magdala]

Jul 25, 2014 8:37:17 GMT -5 simpsongal said:

Do any of you have a dehumidifier hooked into the system or drain? We have to empty ours every day or every other day - it's just such a chore.

Yes.  We had to move the washer and dryer so we installed a new washer and dryer drain and use the old drain for the dehumidifier.  It is so nice not to have to empty the dehumidifier every day.  To make the drain work, we had to install a heavy duty shelf above the drain and place the dehumidifier on that shelf.  It needed to be above the drain in order for it to work properly.   

[dragonfly08]

Another vote for a dehumidifier. Ours makes a *huge* difference. And, thank goodness DH is handy, because he ran a drain line for it...before that was finished, we had to empty it twice a day in the summer.

[downtoearth]

We are still planning to get a dehumidifier, but I opened a couple windows for one night and the difference is amazing - odor is gone already. Crazy that something so simple worked in the short term?!