we are looking at houses as we would like to purchase a larger one. One or two thta we looked at had a noticable musty smell in the basement but no signs of water leaking into the basement. My question is this - is it possible to have a musty odour without a water leak in a basement? for example could it be caused by not running the A/C during humid summer days and therefore having too much moisture in the basement resulting in a musty odour. Also, would we need to replace the existing carpet in the basement or can the musty smell be removed by cleaning it?
Answer:
The musty smell is mold and you'll find that over 90% of houses have various kinds of mold in the basement. This is because of a lack of ventilation - fewer in the occupied portions. In almost all cases basements is less occupied than the rest of thouse. This, combined with the fact that almost all basements have less open windows and even fewer doors opening to the outside, than the rest of the house, permits insuficient ventilation. Where there is air, there is at least atmospheric moisture and when that moisture is permitted to stagnate, mold forms. In many cases, the carpet, particularly if it has an underpad, is due for replacement.
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