Terri Ramsey Beavers You can smell it when you enter your house and it seems to linger for days. Where’s it coming from, and what can you do about it?
We’re talking, of course, about that annoying damp smell you often pick up. It makes your house feel musty and old! What can you do to stop this – ideally as quickly as possible? It depends on the source of the damp odor, but these ideas will help your house smell a lot better:
Get better ventilation
Improve airflow throughout your home by opening the windows and allowing fresh air inside. This gets rid of damp air and can lower the humidity to stop dampness from happening. An HVAC system can also help as it creates a ventilation system for your property. If you already have one, clean it to ensure it’s working correctly. As noted here https://www.jcs-homeservices.com/dryer-vent-cleaning-winchester-va/, you should clean all areas of the system, including the dryer vents that often get clogged and go unnoticed.
Place dehumidifiers in the home
A dehumidifier is a great device to control the climate inside your house. It sucks moisture out of the air, reducing humidity levels and ensuring that damp smell of yours goes away. When a home is too humid, dampness forms on the walls or ceilings, causing a pesky smell.
Wash and air out your upholstery
Sometimes, the horrible damp smell comes from curtains or rugs that haven’t been cleaned for years. They collect moisture and get a nasty musty odor. Wash them regularly and air them out in your garden. This removes the horrible smell and they’ll come back to your home smelling fresh and clean.
Stop drying your clothes indoors
If you can avoid it, don’t dry your clothes indoors as all the moisture adds to the humidity and creates dampness. Instead, you should dry them outside or in a dryer. Either of these options works well as it removes added moisture from the air and gives your interiors more room to breathe.
Light some candles
The three tips above will help you get rid of the damp smell by tackling its main causes. Now, you want to replace it with something that smells nice. Air fresheners can work, but they rarely last and can trigger allergies in some people. Candles are way better as they give a more natural and long-lasting scent. Light a few of these around the home and your damp smell will be a thing of the past.
It is very important to figure out the cause of this smell. Most of the time, it’s down to increased humidity that allows dampness to form. The tactics above tackle this issue and keep your home in a finer balance. We should also note that, when dampness isn’t addressed, it can lead to mold. If this has happened, you need to remove it as soon as possible. Mold is bad for your health but it also means the musty smell will continue to linger until it’s removed. Deal with this, and your house will smell nice and fresh once more.