Musty smell, but no damp

bigmaz

I've lived in my flat for 5 years, and all of a sudden for about 3 weeks, there's a strong musty smell.  It's driving me mad and it's making my clothes smell.  There's no sign of dampness anywhere.  The smell is a bit stronger in the bathroom, I've looked everywhere, under the bath etc, I've had the dehumidifier on for a few days, it's collected water, but no difference in smell, and water may just be from the toilet bowl....  Anyone got any ideas of what to do?

Jonboy_1984

What floor are you on?

Any signs of overflowing or leaking gutters or drains?

If ground floor is outside ground above damp course and are all air-bricks uncovered?

If any flats above might be worth asking them to check under their bathtub etc, as a slow leak there could be a problem)

Mutton_Geoff

Is there a bath or shower you haven't used for a while? Could be the trap has dried out. Run tap for a minute to refill. Next, where does toilet overflow vent to? I had a flat that had a smelly bathroom, the original builders ran a straight pipe out of cistern overflow into the soil pipe then built the whole lot in. Took ages to work that out.

Slinky

We had a musty smell in, of all places, our airing cupboard. It turned out to be a leaking tundish.

wazza99

There's a leak somewhere for sure.

amcc1

The toilet waste pipe might have a leak (possibly behind wooden panels).