Musty smelling house

[Exerciseforfun]

I feel as though my house always smells a bit musty. I could be wrong but for example when we came back from holiday I could notice a smell. It doesn't stink but I don't feel that it smells neutral or nice.

We have leather sofas (wiped down weekly), wooden floor downstairs (mopped weekly.. bedding and towels are washed weekly. I dust weekly and do skirtings and behind furniture fairly regularly. Kitchen gets a good clean each week job, cupboard wipe down, cutlery drawer, microwave.

Bathroom is done weekly and doesn't smell so it's not the bathroom.

Important one but I open windows every single day even in the winter to give the house an air.

Can anyone think of anything?

Do you have any damp patches in your house or really old soft furnishings, carpet or underlay?

Extractor fans are a common culprit. Is yours being cleaned regularly?

I bought a dehumidifier with a built in air purify and move it around the house. It really gets rid of the musty smell.

Mine is always the coffee machine needing a good clean

Shoes?

Damp, pets or mice.

Do you have a solid concrete floor downstairs underneath the wooden flooring, or are they old floorboards with a void underneath?

football boots or trainers? towels scrunched up and not able to dry?

No pets. Towels are all dried fully on the towel radiator.

Part of the flooring is concrete but part is floorboards. There is underlay. It was all done brand new about 4 years ago.

Shoes are kept in the under stairs cupboard not sure where else to keep them and football boots are in the garage.

Cushions aren't that old and covers are kept clean.

Now, I do clean the extractor fan filter things, but they probably do smell a bit and our oven does need a good clean.

It's not like a damp disgusting smell more like a bit stale.

Ours always smells like this when we've been away for a bit. I've never managed to find out why. I just open the windows and let the fresh air in. That soon gets rid of the musty smell.

Just need airing. You’ve probably got a really sealed house

Curing the mustiness in my house involved pulling up the floorboards and clearing the mess underneath, gunning out the concrete floor and adding airbricks for airflow under the floorboards to eliminate damp.

Though I appreciate that's quite major.

Do you have clothes hanging around half-used? Not washing clothes after each wear can cause this, especially where the windows have been shut for a while. Or clothes/bedding stored for a long time without use can grow bacteria and develop that musty smell, which then makes the entire room smell if they're not in a sealed box. So I'd start with sniff-testing all your fabric that's not in regular use to try to find the culprit

Jackets/coats that haven't been washed in ages.

Soapy residue in your front loaders filter.

Slightly funky rugs/mats?

Hi, I think I might need this work. How much did it cost to fix?

TIA!