Any advice to get rid of damp smell from Victorian living room?

[Lizbiz89]

Our living room has a vague damp smell. Mainly from being a very old house. We’re planning to sell in the next couple of months and as it’s the first room from the front door I really want to make the room smell better. Apart from increased ventilation does anyone have any ideas?

You need to investigate the cause of the damp smell and treat it or you'll never get rid of it.

Any survey carried out by potential buyers will flag it up quickly so best to just tackle it.

You can't really mask the smell well enough for it to disappear.

Get a Carolean newbuild?

It’s been recently renovated. There’s no damp, it’s just an old house so has that “old house smell”. That’s what I’m keen get rid of.

Are the carpets & curtains or other soft furnishings hanging onto the smell?

I think it’s the carpets tbh. We have a dog which doesn’t help. We’re planning on getting the carpets professionally cleaned before we sell. I have heard air purifiers might help but don’t want to spend £80 for something that might not work that well.

If it smells of damp there may be something going on under the floor? Joists?
Airbricks blocked up? Levels outside house too high? Small leak from a radiator? (pipes can get pierced during renovation) I had this and people referred to old house smell...and no it was an actual leak, out of sight, not dog not condensation.

Ah - well maybe get the carpets done sooner rather than later then.

Chimney breasts were designed to have continuous airflow through them to the roof so if there isn't ventilation, a working fire or chimney has been capped or flashing failed it can lead to a buildup of moisture in that area imhe

We visited house that smell fresh. We really liked the house in second viewing they didn’t have the air fresheners on and whole house smelled like wet dog. They had a big dog outside. Maybe it’s the dog? With air fresheners you couldn’t smell anything.

In that case I agree it must be the soft furnishings or carpets.

Deep clean. Make sure you get as much air flow as possible to allow them to dry and maybe hire a dehumidifier to take out the dampness in the air.

Have you checked the furniture as well?

Don't go for air freshners, a lot of buyers get suspicious if there's an overpowering synthetic smell. It's obvious it's hiding something.

We renovated but left the floorboards alone,the smell stayed,ripped up the floor and joists,the smell has gone,the smell is rotten wood or woodworm.