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The smell comes from the utility room at the bottom of the stairs and the boxes full of stuff we are storing downstairs. The basement is semi finished.
You must remove the bodies from the "stuff" you are storing. Then the smell will dissipate....
Boxes full of stuff shouldn't smell. That's a problem right there.
As for door vs no door. It seems like for newer construction, finished basements do not have doors, so that the stairs, and by extension, the space downstairs, is more incorporated into the living area of the house.
Older homes tended to have doors but I know people who have removed those as part of the process when they finished a basement.
The townhouse that I currently own has a door at the top of the stairs that leads to the finished basement. The last townhouse that I lived in did not.
There aren't any hard and fast rules about this. I like having the door. When I first bought the house I was a single parent. I used the basement level as my master bedroom and allowed each of my 3 teenagers one of the upstairs bedrooms for themselves. I usually kept the door closed in those days. Now...23 years later...my SO uses the basement as his man cave and I usually leave the door open. Unless he has friends over to watch a game or otherwise is making a lot of noise. It's nice to have the option of shutting the door to all of that.
We used to live in a TH in the DC area and our basement did not have a door. We walked into the house on that level. I can't remember any of our friend's TH having doors to the basements either.
The smell comes from the utility room at the bottom of the stairs and the boxes full of stuff we are storing downstairs. The basement is semi finished.
You have other issues. If the basement isn't heated, it's cooler than the rest of the house and one or both of the following conditions are occurring: 1) Warm, moist air from the rest of the house is condensing moisture in an area that isn't well heated or ventilated 2) You have some ground water seeping in through the foundation. Maybe not enough to cause a puddle, but enough to increase general humidity
If there area were insulated and climate controlled these issues would be reduced or eliminated, depending on how you tackled it. Putting a door on the room may help if the primary source of moisture is air coming in the doorway. However if the furnace/air circulator is pulling in air from the rest of the house the door may have little effect. Also, if you have a gas/oil furnace that's drawing combustion air from the basement, it may be necessary to not have the basement sealed off entirely from the rest of the house.
Every house including townhouse I have lived in that had a basement had an interior door. It's a safety thing, too. Keeps kids and pets upstairs and out of trouble.
If your basement smells like a basement, then you a dehumidifier.....might need more than one depending on the size. Doesn't matter if it's finished or not. it's below ground.
We used to live in a TH in the DC area and our basement did not have a door. We walked into the house on that level. I can't remember any of our friend's TH having doors to the basements either.
I would say that (basement) was not a basement/cellar. It was the first floor. The several townhomes I lived in did have a door from the first floor to the basement/cellar regardless of the basement/cellar being finished or not.
In the townhouse we just bought the hallway to the basement does not have a door. So every time the air-conditioner turns on we can hear it start (noisy). Also I can smell the basement odors.
I told my wife we need a door there to block out the basement sounds and odors. She says I am crazy, that no one has a door to the stairway to the basement in townhouse.
SO... if you live in a townhouse, its there a door at the top of the stairs to the basement?
I live in SW Florida, what's a basement?
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