apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I lived in a 150 year old home for a number of years. I always associated that old house musty odor with our Michigan basement. An unpaved area beneath the house, even a crawl space could provide an area for moisture to grow a moldy harvest. The odor was always more prevalent in summer during hot humid weather. Once we had the dirt floor sealed with concrete the sent disappeared. Good luck ridding yourself of this unmistakable scent.

The house I rent has a distinct 'smoker smell' that disappeared shortly after we moved in but comes back when the furnace has been off for a while and then turns on (its hot air) I think the only way to get rid of it entirely is to clean out the furnace

Try leaving the windows open for a couple days...

When we moved into our house it smelled like wet hamster. The smell disappeared for a while, only to return when it rains. Our home is 110yr old home - I figure the hamster smell "adds character"

not for the arachnophobic, but if paving isn't a budget option: our 1893 house has a brick foundation rather than a poured one. my husband had to go under the house and put down heavy plastic sheets to keep the moisture down. it's helped a lot.

I've lived in our 100 year old house for a year and despite everything we've done, including a gut renovation to about 50 percent of the house, it still has that old wood smell. I've gotten used to it and only notice it now if I first come home after being away for a few days.

Try the European daily habit of airing out your home every morning. Leave the windows open for about half an hour to an hour each morning and you will be amazed at how that stale, indoor odor dissipates. I don't know if this will work if you have mold or some other serious problem but it's certainly the trick for most other odors.

We live in an old house that smelled like cat urine. The previous owners had wall-to-wall carpet. The carpet was taken up but the odor remained....the urine leaked into the floor boards. We rented a sander and sanded, restained, and varnished the floors ourselves. This helped with the smell immensely.

I bought a primitive cabinet from Craig's List recently, and when it came it was covered in rat poo. After tapping all the crap out (literally), I wiped it down with a clean, dry cloth, then I did multiple applications of Method Almond Wood for Good. after about half a bottle, seven applications over a few days, more or less, it did the trick. The trick was to really soak it in and then let it dry then repeat. It went from smelling old and musty, to smelling charmingly aged and nutty. Good luck!

Activated charcoal is a good absorber of odors (you can buy it online). You can buy it or put it in mesh bags and place randomly around the house.

You could also look at an air purifier to clean the air.

Mopping with hot water and bleach got rid of a moldy smell in one of my rooms. Of course, it smelled like a swimming pool for a couple of days...

My apartment is in the basement of a 150-year-old house, and it has old-house odors galore. Like PaminBoston, I've found airing out the apartment for a few hours every day helps a lot. When I open the door after being away for a week, though -- whew. So. I'm going to try charcoal, an air purifier and a dehumidifier (not necessarily in that order). I need the latter two to combat basement mold, anyway. Room Shocker sounds like an intriguing product as long as there are no hidden health hazards... 'cause yeah, it looks like a lethal Slurpee receptacle.

We had some funky old-house smell when we moved into our 100-yr old Vancouver rental house.

2 coats of urethane on the floor, and a coat of paint on every wall and ceiling helped immensely. I put an open "bath bomb" from Lush in various fragrances in small dishes in each room, and now when I come home it just smells a tiny bit old housey, in a good way.

Am I the only one who likes "old house smell"? I don't mean urine, feces, mold, or smoke -- just an old smell. The only way I can get that old smell into my new house is by buying old furniture and old things. I love to smell my old family photo albums and my father's letters from Vietnam. The pics and letters are really the only things that keep their smell forever.

It sounds like your house smell is deeper than surface materials, but I just wanted to say that when we bought our house, two things that made a big difference were duct cleaning, and getting rid of the old window screens. I was surprised at how tenaciously the screens retained the smell... mine are in the garage awaiting spring and another go at cleaning.

I lived in a 100 year old house for many years and never managed to get the old house smell away. I think you just need to get used to it and think of it as part of the charm of living in an old house

you might want to try a lampe berger. ive had one for over 10 years, and although pricey, nothing beats odors better.
they purify the air too!

I was just looking at the Lampe Berger website and many many of their products have prominent warning that they can't be sold in California. I'm unsure whether to find that disturbing or reassuring.

Room Shocker works!!!!!

We recintly inherated a old victorian house that had souch a bad odor. after trying sevral products we found nothing could do the job so we hierd a specialist. They could not get rid of the odor iether. They told us it was in the wood and wallpaper.

I saw thes artical and decided to give it a shot sinc they have a mony back garantee.

Well this stuff got rid of the musty old house smell and the moldy basment smell that nothing els could. 4 room shockers later and we know have a game room in the basement and a new pooltabl!! The house has no odor at all.

Thank you for the help.