musty/stale smell in house

hazr123

So I bought a house 7 months ago, it was a repossession and had been empty for around 10 months. When I'd previously looked around, I hadn't noticed any particular smells it was just a bit cold as you would expect. Anyway when we moved it we noticed that most of the paintwork and pvc was yellow, in the living room, hallway and landing. The previous owner had obviously been a heavy smoker. I had 3 days to prepare the house before we moved in, so cleaned it all but didn't have time to re gloss the paintwork. I've since re glossed some of the paintwork, and I'm in the process of finising the rest. We replaced all the carpets except the hallway, stairs and landing, which is being replaced in the next two weeks. I'm not sure if the smell we're experiencing is related to the cigarette smoke residue or something else. Basically everytime I go into my house, I can smell a musty/stale smell for about a minute. Then it goes, and I can't smell it at all after that. However when I leave my house, my hair smells musty, as do my clothes and anything that has been in my house. When my mum stays around, her hair and clothes smell as well. But we're unable to smell the musty smell when we're in the house itself. There are no visible signs of damp and the house is only 7 years old. Anyone have any idea what it could be?! Thanks

vivatifosi

Musty as a word suggests damp to me rather than smoke. Have you checked for little leaks around baths, sink, toilets,hot water tanks, etc?

Also heavy smoker says to me yellow ceiling. Have they been redone?

When you're in the house your nose adjusts. Where does the smell seem to come from? Is it more prevalent in one area than others?

Another possibility is that they had a pet that would wee on the hall carpet.

Has it ever had a good airing?

If it's a repo, check they haven't done something like stick a bit of fish behind a radiator. People have been said to do strange things when they lose their house, but I'd look for something like that when all normal causes have been ruled out.

It's all about eliminating possibles. Have you got a friend with a good sense of smell who can work out where it is coming from?

hazr123

vivatifosi wrote: »

Musty as a word suggests damp to me rather than smoke. Have you checked for little leaks around baths, sink, toilets,hot water tanks, etc?

Also heavy smoker says to me yellow ceiling. Have they been redone?

Hi, no leaks that I can see. When we pulled up the floor in the living room, my father in law commented on a damp earthy smell but couldn't find anything. And then we got a carpet fitted. I've just finished cleaning the ceilings, and will be painting them this week, but they were quite yellow in places.

vivatifosi

Where do you hang your coats? If they smell on departure, could it be from near there?

Have you taken the bath panel off to check for leaks underneath?

hazr123

vivatifosi wrote: »

Where do you hang your coats? If they smell on departure, could it be from near there?

Have you taken the bath panel off to check for leaks underneath?

I hang them up on the front door, and since I've reglossed the front door everything hanging up doesn't smell as much. However if I hang anything up on the staircase (which I haven't reglossed yet) it smells really musty. The hallway is a definate problem, as is the living room I think. But by the time I walk into the living room I can no longer smell it, because my nose has become used to the smell. No I haven't, but I'll have a look today. Although I have a water meter, wouldn't any leaks effect my bills?

vivatifosi

So it sounds like it's coming from part of the hallway. If you have underlay under the carpet, is it possible to lift a bit and push it back down? The reason I asked is,previous owner here had pets that would wee on carpet. They'd obviously cleaned the carpet as nothing showed, but the underlay when we took it up was disgusting and smelly.

If you are replacing soon you can probably deal with then.

In terms of leaks, we had a teeny tiny one, so no noticeable impact on bills, but stunk as it took a while to detect. Hard water and a stuck valve caused that here.

Maybe if fil detected smell with carpet, it really is just stale smoke and taking carpet up will treat.

I'm no DIY expert, but have had problems with smells and leaks here.

maas

hazr123 wrote: »

Basically everytime I go into my house, I can smell a musty/stale smell for about a minute. Then it goes, and I can't smell it at all after that. However when I leave my house, my hair smells musty, as do my clothes and anything that has been in my house. When my mum stays around, her hair and clothes smell as well. But we're unable to smell the musty smell when we're in the house itself.

I had this problem when I moved in my house, the previous owner was a heavy smoker. But there was also damp in the house.

As soon as I opened the front door you were overwhelmed with a stale musty smell.

The reason you no longer notice the smell after a few minutes is that your nose adjusts to it and it becomes normal. Then after a short spell outside in the fresh air and then re-entering the house you'll smell it again (assuming the windows have not been left open). Its the same when you go to a friends house who has a pet dog, you'll smell that 'sweaty dog smell' only when you first enter the house.

It was impossible for me to even narrow down to which room the smell was originating. As part of my sorting the house out, I ripped up ALL the carpers and underlay, took them to the skip. When I came back the house there was no smell. It was the first time I'd opened the front door and no been hit with that stale sweaty odour.

I would suggest removing the hallway carpet as well (and all the underlays).

hazr123

thankyou both for your advice, hopefully the smell will subside once i've removed the hallway carpet next week. Ventilation is an issue in the hallway as well, there's a downstairs toilet off the hallway. No windows in the toilet or hallway as it's a terraced house.

Doozergirl

hazr123 wrote: »

thankyou both for your advice, hopefully the smell will subside once i've removed the hallway carpet next week. Ventilation is an issue in the hallway as well, there's a downstairs toilet off the hallway. No windows in the toilet or hallway as it's a terraced house.

It should have an extractor that comes on with the light. Use it. In a new house, a clean loo shouldn't really be a ventilation thing.

DRP

hazr123 wrote: »

Hi, no leaks that I can see. When we pulled up the floor in the living room, my father in law commented on a damp earthy smell but couldn't find anything. And then we got a carpet fitted. I've just finished cleaning the ceilings, and will be painting them this week, but they were quite yellow in places.

We have exactly the same in our hall - a bad stale damp smell and high humidity. The reasons are/were very high (damp) soil, rubble and muck levels under the floorboards - have you checked this?

Our damp was/is exacerbated by blocked or absent airbricks, high outside ground level, and leaking gutters outside.

hazr123

DRP wrote: »

We have exactly the same in our hall - a bad stale damp smell and high humidity. The reasons are/were very high (damp) soil, rubble and muck levels under the floorboards - have you checked this?

Our damp was/is exacerbated by blocked or absent airbricks, high outside ground level, and leaking gutters outside.

We don't have floorboards, just concrete in the hallway and living room. Could it be the ground causing this smell?