Musty & dead or two different smells. I get both here! Being on the coast in a very old house built out of huge wood timbers really soak up the moisture and then with the use of the double jacuzzi tubs, the moisture in the room is a lot.. We also get some dead smell sometimes which usually come from under the floor. Magic Zymes works ok, but if it's really a dead smell, it's not going to do the trick. We've got 2 machines that we tackle the problems with. The first is a dehumidifier. We rotate it from room to room as soon as someone checks out and the room smells moist. We'll take it out about 1/2 hour before check in and it really solves the problem. The other machine is an ionizer. It's expensive, but for the dead smell, it really works. No one can be in the room though. It creates a bleachy sort of smell but will permeate through our hardwood floors. It will also take out any kind of perfume or smoke smell.
I've also gone to using an electric wax warmer in the living room. Some people are affected by smells, but in general, most people make a comment about how good it smells when I show them around. I use food fragrances like 'baked apples' or 'vanilla cookies', etc.
These old houses certainly can be an odor challenge!.
Breakfast Diva said:
Musty & dead or two different smells.
But not everyone smells things the same way. The smell here is eau de damp basement. We've got the dehumidifier running all the time right now. (Usually just for 4 hours on a timer.) It's just one room and it's because of the water pipes coming up from the basement. Also, secondary problem occurs when the gutters are full of leaf mold. Just the one room.
The PO's put those pods under the bed that absorb odor. Didn't work. We ventilated the storage area behind the room. Didn't work. Rerouted the downspouts from the gutters. Nope. It wasn't until we completely cleared the gutters that the smell went away. It took us three YEARS to figure this out. I hated renting that room when it was humid. Luckily, this summer hasn't been bad. It poured buckets this past weekend and has been damp ever since. Drying out today. Yippee! (Door to room is open, windows are open, vent fan is running. Will leave that door open until the room rents. And cross my fingers.)
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