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My 1st floor condo is on a slab. When I moved in the kitchen smelled musty so I have been running a dehumidifier 24/7. I dump it out every day, so that's like a gallon of water. I thought with some consistency it would 'catch up'. But the kitchen still smells musty. this has been an ongoing problem. My landlady once sought to remedy it by putting polyurethane on the laminated cabinets. (she's a little out there)
The exterior wall of the kitchen has a patio on the other side, so there is no flowerbed or lawn or downspout to be putting water along the foundation. At least right there.
I cleaned the cabinets out with a bleachy cleaner before I unpacked. Is there anything else I can do? Please don't say baking soda. We are way beyond baking soda!
The condo is about 1 mile from the intercoastal waterway so I assume we are right at sea level. It may just go with the territory!
My 1st floor condo is on a slab. When I moved in the kitchen smelled musty so I have been running a dehumidifier 24/7. I dump it out every day, so that's like a gallon of water. I thought with some consistency it would 'catch up'. But the kitchen still smells musty. this has been an ongoing problem. My landlady once sought to remedy it by putting polyurethane on the laminated cabinets. (she's a little out there)
The exterior wall of the kitchen has a patio on the other side, so there is no flowerbed or lawn or downspout to be putting water along the foundation. At least right there.
I cleaned the cabinets out with a bleachy cleaner before I unpacked. Is there anything else I can do? Please don't say baking soda. We are way beyond baking soda!
The condo is about 1 mile from the intercoastal waterway so I assume we are right at sea level. It may just go with the territory!
You won't get rid of the moisture unless you run an AC...they tend to dry out the air. What may help the musty odor is keeping that moist air MOVING more. Ventilate spaces as much as you can so air circulates. Ironically, if cabinets are a little "leaky" instead of airtight, it might help. Also, maybe some passive air dehumidifiers would help. Things that absorb moisture from the air in enclosed spaces.
You won't get rid of the moisture unless you run an AC...they tend to dry out the air. What may help the musty odor is keeping that moist air MOVING more. Ventilate spaces as much as you can so air circulates. Ironically, if cabinets are a little "leaky" instead of airtight, it might help. Also, maybe some passive air dehumidifiers would help. Things that absorb moisture from the air in enclosed spaces.
If you get into a bad pickle, there are companies that can monitor moisture levels for you, bring in huge dehumidifiers for use in the home. You need to get it to a certain moisture level, as per the company readings, to avoid mildew and mold and dampness.
When I lived on the coast had a terrible time with a crawlspace being high moisture, moldy even....Supposedly I was supposed to enclose with plastic but wasn't aware.
Depending on the cabinets are mounted, you may be able to remove them and check for mold behind and under them. One mile inland, tropical storms and hurricanes may have blasted water into that wall for hours at some point. A gallon a day from a dehumidifier is nothing. An AC dehumidifies and cools and costs about the same to do the same dehumidification.
If it's just the kitchen- and apparently it's been that way for awhile, I'd say there's a leak. Probably a small one either under-slab, or at slab- buried behind/under the cabinet(s).
Fridge? Ice-maker? Another possibility.
But, if this odor is somewhat persistent throughout the unit- you definitely have a leak. Assuming there's no apparent leak; and you are running the A/C at a temp that will remove moisture.
i live in a hot, muggy, moisture laden climate in summer.
really humid and muggy. to the point i didn't so much notice any musty smell in my house, but i did see mildew on some of my oil paintings!!!!! and where there is mildew, there will come mold.
So I did a little research and I found Damp Rid. I buy it at my local grocery. Where ever you live, there might be other names for the same kind of product. look 'em up on the web.... i buy mine in bulk. sure you can buy the individual ones, but it will get too expensive. I buy the big big refill bags, you pour it into a cup that has holes in the bottom, put that slightly larger cup over a smaller cup to catch the water..... the damp-rid crystals start to shrink as they take up the water in the air, you will see the water in the bottom cup...... this works just fine for me. I just bought some for the closets too...... it works the same way, but is on a hanger with the pouches that collect the humid water..... it's end of humid/muggy season, so my grocery store had them for half price. So I hope this helps you and I hope you can find a similar product.
Until you kill the mold, musty won’t go away. Shampoo the carpet with mold & mildew shampoo. Lysol everywhere else. With the dehumidifier, that should really help. You might need to do that frequently if the apartment is a real mold factory. Personally, I’d move if it didn’t clear up after 2 or 3 iterations of cleaning all the surfaces.
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