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Original poster

Musty smell

20 replies

aquamarine1 · 11/08/2019 17:29

Hi, we've been in our new house since the start of the year. The minute we walked in after we got the keys it smelled really musty/mouldy. I cleaned it from top to bottom and I open the windows daily for a few hours for airflow and it's really helped. The smell
Is still there though as if windows aren't open for a while it comes back.

I can't figure out what it is at all but we' just got back last week from a two week holiday and the smell had totally disappeared. I now notice it coming back and think it mist be a pipe leaking or something.

Has anyone had similar and have any above on what type of tradesman could help us?

OP posts:
wowfudge · 11/08/2019 17:40

You need to try to work out where it's coming from. Is the smell worse upstairs or downstairs? Can you look at the pipework for the different sinks and see under the bath?

joystir59 · 11/08/2019 17:42

Do you have any air bricks for ventilation?

Original poster
aquamarine1 · 11/08/2019 17:45

The air bricks are all clear as hat was my first thought so we checked them all.

Smell is only downstairs. I can smell it strongly throughout the house if I get right down to the floorboards.

OP posts:
Simonfromharlow · 11/08/2019 17:48

Have you replaced the carpets since you lived there?

Original poster
aquamarine1 · 11/08/2019 17:50

There are no carpets - just floorboards throughout.

OP posts:
HisBetterHalf · 11/08/2019 17:55

Had it in a previous house where there was water running under the houses in the street and smell wafting up through floorboards. Solid floor solved the problem

Original poster
aquamarine1 · 11/08/2019 18:11

That's interesting. How did you discover it? I'm concerned it's water only running from our pipes though as the smell disappeared when we were on holiday and no one was in the house.

OP posts:
joystir59 · 11/08/2019 20:23

Leaky pipe under the house?

Original poster
aquamarine1 · 11/08/2019 20:47

Yes that's what I'm thinking, is it a plumber I would call for that that? I don't even know how they'd locate it - is there a way to do it without pulling up all the floors?

OP posts:
Original poster
aquamarine1 · 11/08/2019 20:53

I should also mention that the boiler pressure is fine so don't think it's radiator pipes.

OP posts:
damekindness · 11/08/2019 20:56

Is it a mushroom type smell? We had dry rot under our floorboards with that particular smell

Original poster
aquamarine1 · 11/08/2019 21:38

It's not a mushroom smell. So hard to describe as I don't think musty is quite right.

The old owners put one of those cheap bathroom suite package things in before we bought it - the ones that come with wet wall etc included. I'm now wondering if they haven't fitted something properly.

OP posts:
Original poster
aquamarine1 · 12/08/2019 09:42

Bumping for the morning crowd, suggestions gratefully received!

OP posts:
Katelyn88 · 12/08/2019 11:39

Chimney ?
Does the smell disappear in hot weather and come back strong when it rains?

Original poster
aquamarine1 · 12/08/2019 14:03

It does actually come back after the rain! Do you mean water coming down through the chimney?

OP posts:
Original poster
aquamarine1 · 12/08/2019 15:11

I'm just home and have taken a look at the chimney. There's no cap on it as there is on next door's so I think water must just be coming straight down. Thanks very much for pointing us in this direction!

OP posts:
PigletJohn · 12/08/2019 18:24

have you got a water meter?

how old is the house?

is the kitchen floor wooden or concrete?

Do the drains go into gullies, for example outside the kitchen, and at the bottom of the rainwater downpipes? if so, start with some photos of them, and around. Sunked, cracked or repaired concrete is especially interesting.

Be prepared to take more photos....

Original poster
aquamarine1 · 12/08/2019 18:34

Hi Pigletjohn, it's a 1930s bungalow (with roof conversion) all floors are wooden floorboards including kitchen.this is the pic of the drain and down pipe.

OP posts:
PigletJohn · 12/08/2019 22:55

The perforated iron plate you show covers something up. It might be a gulley. Judging by all that moss it has been leaking or splashing for a long time. Does the kitchen sink drain go towards it? Stand back and take a wider pic please.

Your other photo shows a modern plastic pipe, which will have been put in to replace the original iron. There will have been glazed earthenware (brown clay) drains below ground, which will have been cracked, broken and leaking by 1945.

Can you see any part of the old drains? if you scrape away that shingle with a trowel, what do you find? Is the shingle or ground sinking?

Where does the soil pipe from the bath and WC go?

Have you had a look and a sniff under the sink? Are there any loose boards you can take up?

Original poster
aquamarine1 · 13/08/2019 08:11

I'll take more photos when I get back. The bathroom is right next to the kitchen so I think it's the same drain?
The moss is from a recently discovered dripping outside tap (hose was attached so we didn't notice as it was silently leaking out rather than dripping on the ground).

I can get the floorboards up in living room where the smell is strongest but I don't see and particular wet bit.

OP posts:
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