Musty smell in cupboards

*flutterby*

Please help,

For a few weeks I have had to put up with a damp smell in my fitted wardrobes... It it getting me really down, I am incredibly houseproud...

My partner and I have searched high and low to find where it's coming from but have no ideas... We've taken out all our clothes and rewashed them, we've pretty much given up trying to find the origin...

Please can anyone suggest how I can get rid of the smell? I have tried the neutrolising gel tub things and these smell putrid so I have thrown it away...

Any other ideas? Thanks in advance...

Ps, hope this is the right place for this thread

Zed42

You could always try a tub of bicarb of soda.

Whilst it obviously won't get rid of the source of the problem, bicarb does absorb odours for you ....

Good luck.

rainbowrisin

Gosh, that's a toughie. For shear odour eating ability I recommend neutradol powder - I would sprinkle a pile in the floor of the wardrobe, then vac it up after an hour or two. It does seem to lift odour better than anything else.
Fabreeze also works well on upholstery IMHO, so no reason why it shouldn't work well on a hard surface if you wiped it off after a couple of hours.
It may be worth clearing the wardrobe, whacking the central heating on full in the bedroom for a few hours and leaving the wardrobe doors open to see if the dampness will dry and not smell as awful.
At the risk of being stoned to death by the other Old Stylers, I would really recommend shop bought products - I'm basing my odour eating answer on the past few months of "wee" odours as we have been potty training - I used to think white vinegar was infallible until I met littlie wee...:eek:
Good luck.

jiblets1

Similar thing can be said for talcum powder. It absorbs any moisture. You leave it a day or so before vacuuming it up.

Got a big pile of dog pee off my mother's mattress like this!!(without having to confess letting the dog up there)

Woo!!!

*flutterby*

Thanks for all the help so far... There is def no moisture anywhere we can see or get to...
My house is less than 20 years old, it's an internal wall and no signs of damp anywhere... Just this smell *Boohoo*

rainbowrisin

Hmmmmm...any chance the wardrobe is possessed:D :eek:
It starts with a smell of damp, and before you know it there's ectoplasm running down yer coat hangers;)

abbecer

Rainbowrisin, you have just got the same daft sense of humour as me. I looovvvveeee it!!!!

Rebecca x

nabowla

Is there a bathroom/en suite on the other side of the internal wall or close by? I don't want to frighten you but a close friend had a very similar problem with an odd damp smell in her hall. It turned out that the taps hadn't been fitted properly in her bathroom, water was escaping down behind the bath, under the lino, up behind the plaster on the walls etc. The damage built up for months before being discovered and she's had to have the bathroom ripped out and half the hall replastered. Luckily she's still renting so the landlord had to pay!

If you can, I'd lift a corner of the carpet in the wardrobe to check that there's no damp underneath. This should be fairly easy and no-one will notice if you don't tack the carpet down perfectly afterwards. If that doesn't work, I think I'd be tempted to get a professional in to check things over if you can possibly afford it. Yes, it's spending money, but after my friend's horror story I think I'd want things checked ASAP, before water damage causes major problems.

stuart264

I had exactly the same unidentifiable damp smell in a cupboard in flat I rented and couldnt get rid of it.....until the morning I sat down on the loo and it went sideways..turned out that the coupler under the shower cubicle had been leaking since the property was built and the whole bathroom had to be ripped out and the floor replaced luckily for me the landlord footed the bill and the firm I worked for had a shower in the building so not having a bathroom for 3 days wasnt too bad.

Failing that the damp has to come from somewhere, may I point your attention towards smaller members of the household or beloved family pets with an innocent expression, failing that larger members of the household who have got befuddled through having one too many.

rickshaw500

can anyone help me, i have a wardrobe that has been against a damp wall and now everything in it smells musty. does anyone know how to get rid of this smell.

code-a-holic

I had this problem too. I washed everything in the machine then hung a room fresher from a website called maggies candles in it. Now i smell jasmine and echniea every time i open the wardrobe!