House Odor Help for Friend in Phoenix
 

She is first of all an immaculate housekeeper which makes this even more puzzling! Their house has a "musty" smell, not pet, not food, not dust, not furnace, not plants, not smoke, vaguely sort of damp. They have checked drains, pipes, furnace, appliances, shampooed rugs, laundered everything, cleaned attached garage, searched closets, checked roof, cleaned all footwear, checked luggage, and everything else they can think of to possibly be the cause. They have put our activated charcoal and the smell remains. They do not want to mask it with scents, but rid it. Any suggestions ?

Has she tried simply opening windows and airing it out? My other thought is to put vinegar in little dishes in every room for a day or so, but I can't remember if that was for odor or something else. Can't hurt to try.

Rosie might help, She has a show on the radio in Phoenix. http://www.azcentral.com/style/hfe/d...ie-romero.html

It could be that the basement floor has dropped away from the walls a tiny bit. That happened to us and while we didn't see it, we could smell it. Basement repairs may be in order but sure hope not..

Do they have a sump pump? If they do, they should check this out. HEPA filters can be purchased at Home Depot, Lowe's etc. they are free standing filters that remove 99% of all allergens and contaminants. This will remove the musty smell. How old is the house? Do they have a basement? If so, there may be leaking water down the walls. Have they checked the outside lines? We had a broken pipe for a year before we realized it.

Does she have bathroom tubs that they don't use or sinks. I found if we don't keep water in the traps, they will dry out and you can get an odor. She might think about that.

It probably has to do with a fireplace more than anything else if they have one. We were told our chimney has to bebuilt higher than it was and that made a difference. living in Phoenix also. Most of us don't have basements. - jna

Probably time to call a professional....could be rising damp, sometimes the ground the house is built on (what's underneath?), if it is damp, it will need to be fixed before they start getting toxic mould build ups. Hope they work out what it is before their health gets affected.

Is there mildew in the pad under the carpets? We had a leak from an outside faucet pipe that burst without our knowledge. The pipe ran inside the wall in a downstairs bedroom closet. Started with a slow leak but built up over time and eventually burst. We contained it, but when we pulled up the carpet in that room, we found black mildew growing on the cement floor. No barrier was put down before the builders put a carpet pad and carpet down. We also at one time found a dead bat in the duct work. That smell is a musty unpleasant odor. Friends of ours had a bat infestation in their attic above a hallway. They could not figure out where the musty smell was coming from for quite some time as the smell permeated throughout several rooms of the house. The bat droppings were a real mess just beyond the attic entrance in the ceiling of the hallway. They didn't trace it until the weather turned warmer and the bat urine gave off a rancid ammonia smell.
Have they checked behind the shower walls? We have a downstairs bathroom that has the shower wall exposed into a back room. We found mold growing on that from a leak draining down from a defective drain in the tub to the bathroom on the upper floor.

I would pay for a home inspection. Good luck to them and hopefully they will be rid of this soon.