Musty smell in hallway, advice please.

fantasyvsreality

Hi all. I started a thread on here recently about the damp smell In my house, and had some helpful responses. I purchased my house last June. This month I changed my carpets, and have had new windows throughout, all with trickle vents. I was so hopeful this would solve the problem. Alas no. When I enter my home I have a strong smell of damp which quickly disappears but my clothes all smell musty. The house has been redecorated throughout with no damp found on the walls (no damp was found in the survey either). The smell persists and is even worse in the wet weather.

Recently I noticed something. My house sits side on to a hill so there are concrete steps leading the the front door. The DPC line starts to run pretty low once you get to the bit outside my front door (see attached photos). On inspection I found there was a lot of moss growing which I removed (around the DPC plastic). As you can see from the photos the area around and above the DPC line at this point looks darker and if you put your nose in the air brick the exact smell I encounter when I enter the house is there. I’m really interested in what people think before I get a damp specialist out to look. I have cavity wall insulation - could this have got damp in this area? I was told by the carpet fitters that the radiator had leaked in the room directly above this damp area, and had rotted the underlay. I’m not sure if this is just a coincidence as the smell was a problem way back before I the radiator issue was picked up and I would have expected it to have lessened now as I have new carpets and the radiator has since been isolated. Again just really appreciate reading other peoples thoughts on this. Thanks!

The first picture shows the air brick right by my front door. The one which has the musty smell and sits outside of the room with the radiator leak. The second picture a close up of that airbrick. The third picture shows the next airbrick along which is dry with no smell. It is higher up because it's sits close to the start of the steps to my bungalow. 

FreeBear

That paving is way too high. Ideally, it wants to be 150mm below the DPC, although you can get away with 75mm.

I have 75mm clearance, but also have a gravel filled trench some 150-200mm wide between paving & wall. This reduces rain splashing up against the wall.

With cavity wall insulation, you need to check that the air bricks have not been blocked. Modern builds have a short length of ducting to bridge the cavity. Older houses don't, so loose fill cavity insulation falls down blocking the air bricks.

stuart45

If you've got timber floors, rotten wood can have a musty smell.

markin

The floorboards and joists should be checked for rot at the door and the rad.

coffeehound

it looks like water is splashing down on the top step, wetting the brickwork above the DPC -- gutter problem perhaps?

fantasyvsreality

Got a damp specialist coming out next week to have a look. Thanks all. Praying that I won't have to have the new carpets lifted to inspect the subfloor. Does anyone know if carpet can be put back after being pulled up? My partner seemed to think it can't be refitted. 

@coffeehound Yes, this part of the house gets hammered by rain which when heavy does splash up against the top step. No guttering here as it is the side of the house, so roof is side on. I noticed the pointing under the DPC is very soft and not as "full" as above. Fingers crossed it doesn't cost a fortune to fix.

Albermarle

. Does anyone know if carpet can be put back after being pulled up? My partner seemed to think it can't be refitted. 

Normally should not be an issue. To do it perfectly you might need a carpet fitter, rather than just put it back yourself. It depends how much has to be lifted up .

Grenage

fantasyvsreality said:

Got a damp specialist coming out next week to have a look. Thanks all. Praying that I won't have to have the new carpets lifted to inspect the subfloor. Does anyone know if carpet can be put back after being pulled up? My partner seemed to think it can't be refitted. 

@coffeehound Yes, this part of the house gets hammered by rain which when heavy does splash up against the top step. No guttering here as it is the side of the house, so roof is side on. I noticed the pointing under the DPC is very soft and not as "full" as above. Fingers crossed it doesn't cost a fortune to fix.

Carpets going back down will be fine, ideally with a kicker.  The longer a carpet has been down the easier it generally is to do.

coffeehound

Does the top surface slope towards the wall?  Is there a little river coming under the gate when there's a deluge?  Poorly routed TV aerial cable above?  It looks like there's a lot of water pooling there for some reason . .

rob7475

fantasyvsreality said:

Got a damp specialist coming out next week to have a look. Thanks all. Praying that I won't have to have the new carpets lifted to inspect the subfloor. Does anyone know if carpet can be put back after being pulled up? My partner seemed to think it can't be refitted. 

@coffeehound Yes, this part of the house gets hammered by rain which when heavy does splash up against the top step. No guttering here as it is the side of the house, so roof is side on. I noticed the pointing under the DPC is very soft and not as "full" as above. Fingers crossed it doesn't cost a fortune to fix.

Be careful with damp "specialists". A lot of them are nothing more than sales people who will scare you into paying for work that you don't need.

A good trusted builder should be able to help you identify any issues

fantasyvsreality

@rob7475 yes, I am worried about the "damp specialist" confusing things further, and me ending up paying for work that doesn't make a difference. I'm so fed up with the smell, with all the rain lately it is worse than ever. My clothes smell of it, I smell it on my work uniform and when I take clothes to my partners house. The house looks immaculate inside, all newly painted, new carpets and windows and yet it smells so musty when you arrive home