Damp musty smell in kitchen cupboards

eyelinerprincess

Some of my kitchen cabinets, particularly the ones attached to the exterior walls, have stunk of a damp musty smell since we've moved in. Has anyone had this before and know of a way to get rid of the smell? I'm fed up of having to wash my plates again before using them.

TimBear

Firstly you need to check where the damp is actually coming from. Is it c oming from outside or perhaps is there a pipe leaking?

Ben84

Finding a direct source of damp would be a great start, but it may just be because they're in the kitchen and humidity gets in and condenses on the colder outside wall at the back. We have some glass fronted cabinets with mirror tiles in the back and it's surprising just how much water appears on the tiles when we're cooking, even though the doors are shut. If this is the case you probably need to start by reducing humidity in the kitchen, for a start always using lids on pans (you'll capture a lot of the steam with just this), then perhaps an extractor hood for the cooker or fan in a window. We've also improved some of our cupboards by fitting air vents in the doors as greater air flow helps them stay dry. Another option we considered was insulation board for the back of the cupboards so water vapour doesn't condense there so much.

Edit because I forgot to ask, is there any mould/mildew visible in there? Dilute bleach cleaning tends to clear it up, but more long term I may paint my cupboards around the house with anti-mould paint inside.

russetred

A dish of bicarbonate of soda will trap moisture and damp smell till you figure out the long term problem.

Fruball

I've got this problem in the larder since I cleared out the whole of the bottom 2 shelves - I put a tub of bicarb in there and the smell has all but gone in 3 days

kazwookie

Is the guttering outside leaking down the walls,?

eyelinerprincess

Can't see any leaking outside, and landlord just had guttering cleaned out a couple of weeks ago. There's no visible mould or mildew. Will try the dish of bicarb atm until I've had the little one.