Smell on clothes from damp house

Bluellama

I live in a 200-year-old rented cottage in the Scottish Highlands, which, not surprisingly, has damp problems. We have at least one dehumidifier running most of the time which keeps it more or less under control, but I've noticed that my clothes smell funny, and I think it's related to the damp. I don't notice the smell much when I'm in the house - the main time I notice it is when I go and stay somewhere else. Then I notice that everything in my suitcase has this same smell. It's not that stale 'charity shop' smell of clothes that haven't been worn/washed for ages, and it's not that slightly mouldy smell when you've washed your clothes and they've taken too long to dry. It's just a kind of damp, musty smell - I think it's what the house itself smells like, thought I don't notice that - I guess it's a kind of nose blindness. I hate the thought that to anyone who isn't used to the smell of my house, my clothes must smell like that all the time. Has anyone got any tips for stopping my clothes smelling like this? NB it's not really an option at the moment to have anything major done about the house's damp problem at the moment - our landlady is elderly and recently widowed, and wouldn't be able to take on any major work on the house . And it's definitely not some kind of exploitative landlord situation - in fact she halved our rent because of the Covid crisis. So basically what I need is a way to work around the problem rather than fixing it at its source. Any advice much appreciated!

[Deleted User]

Could you ensure the house is kept as warm as possible, that might prevent it a bit....

theoretica

Can you ask someone if they smell anything musty on your clothes?  Then you would know. 

For the cottage - airing it out regularly might help, and storing clothes less tightly packed.

MovingForwards

A way of hiding it is the scented liners and hanging scented sachets in wardrobes. 

Also making sure there is adequate air movement round your clothes, even if that means getting some storage bags (the vacuum packed ones and put a nice scented sachet in before taking the air out).

Cheaper way is getting a bag of baking soda and adding a few drops of essential oil. That removes the smell and adds a nice fresh smell, depending on which flavour oil you pick.

Have you got any air moisture remover tubs in the wardrobe? Poundshop type places for those, they do make a difference, but need to be emptied / replaced.

Air your home as much as possible, try and keep it warm too, which I appreciate is hard to do in winter.

When did you last give everything a good clean, just in case? Perhaps something to do in spring.

theonlywayisup

Bluellama said:

I notice that everything in my suitcase has this same smell. 

Could it be a problem with your suitcase?

lemontarts

MovingForwards said:

A way of hiding it is the scented liners and hanging scented sachets in wardrobes. 

Also making sure there is adequate air movement round your clothes, even if that means getting some storage bags (the vacuum packed ones and put a nice scented sachet in before taking the air out).

Cheaper way is getting a bag of baking soda and adding a few drops of essential oil. That removes the smell and adds a nice fresh smell, depending on which flavour oil you pick.

Have you got any air moisture remover tubs in the wardrobe? Poundshop type places for those, they do make a difference, but need to be emptied / replaced.

Air your home as much as possible, try and keep it warm too, which I appreciate is hard to do in winter.

When did you last give everything a good clean, just in case? Perhaps something to do in spring.

I agree with the baking soda idea! I've tried this out quite a few times and it helps to get rid of any odd smells in the house

hopperdennis

Maybe a silly question but how do you air a 200+ year home? Surely it naturally gets ventilation, and that in itself maybe is where the dampness stems from (holes, leakes etc)

Apodemus

hopperdennis said:

Maybe a silly question but how do you air a 200+ year home?

You open the windows?

we are also in an old house in Highland Scotland and part of the problem is that the relative humidity outside is pretty high most of the time, summer and winter (except during rare dry spells in summer and the odd dry, cold snap in winter when it drops dramatically).   To properly air the place you need to make sure that you are warming the interior air as well as venting it to the outside. In my house, having the wood burner on does both tasks pretty well, as it sucks huge amounts of air through the house. We also have a diesel Rayburn in the kitchen which achieves the same thing at the other end of the house. All this results in the house being drier in winter than it is in summer.

twopenny

When I was living in an old house the advice was to open the windows for a time every day as well as heating it during winter and I didn't have a problem.

In a new bungalow now and I'm having the same problem with the wardrobe even though it's drier and warmer than my previous place.

I'm wondering if it's to do with not using my clothes so much during this time so they aren't getting rotated for washing the same as when I was out every day.

Open the window, open the wardrobe/drawers a little. I'd go for the scented liners and essential oil route. Lots of lavender around at the moment which is the long used way of freshening things during the winter.

Add a tumble drier sheet to your suitcase and any stored clothes will make a difference. You could even give a blast through a fan heater with one of these scented sheets nearby or essential oils. Make sure they're good ones though. The cheap stuff tends to smell funny if it's left.