funky basement smell?

[DaveL]

Hi,  GF and I just bought a condo,   love it...  the basement however, reeks a litte.

It is 2/3rd's finished, 1/3 (where furnace and hot water heater is, is not finished)   It's an

end unit, with good separation from next neighbor am planning it to be a kickass man

cave and some of my gear... I have a small dehumidifier,  which has been in the room a

couple days, not really getting much moisture,   weird...          It was a foreclosure,  so

while it hasn't been abused, it was unoccupied for better part of a year.    does not appear

to have signs of flooding  (built into slope, so rear walk out with sliders)   it will be 50 up

here this weekend, so plan to air it out good.

 

  Any tips.  bleach?  ionizer?, some kind of small nuclear device?    

[kizanski]

What does reek of? If it's mold and mildew, you have to gut the place bleach it, and replace everything new.
Hopefully in the process you can find out where the water which caused the mold came from and you can make the necessary repairs.

Mold doesn't go away with dehumidifiers, ionizers and such. Getting to the root of the problem (sometimes it IS a root) is the trick.

[Steve Haynie]

Could it be some kind of gas coming from building materials as they break down? 

[cynic]

Are there holes in the studs of the unfinished 1/3 that would indicate it was previously finished but was removed?

I've never had a basement but did have a house in San Diego (where it never rains...yeah right!) that was built into a slope, so the entire western-facing wall on my lower floor was essentially underground.  During the rainy months, it almost always had a dank smell and I never did find the source.

[Never2Late]

I just coated my basement with this stuff:  https://www.walmart.com/ip/Drylok-Latex-Masonry-Waterproofer-GRY-MASONRY-WATERPROOFER/46651202?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=1475&adid=22222222227034023982&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=55462188698&wl4=pla-86387166098&wl5=9001841&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=113500168&wl11=online&wl12=46651202&wl13=&veh=sem

This will 'seal' your masonry and prevent any seepage through the pores.  It gasses off some, and kills whatever odor you may have.  I'd recommend it before you leave any gear in a concrete basement - dehumidifiers can only do so much if you don't arrest the source.

[crunchee]

2 hours ago, DaveL said:

  Any tips.  bleach?  ionizer?, some kind of small nuclear device?    

Cue Aliens 'nuke the site from orbit' clip.  

[DaveL]

8 hours ago, cynic said:

Are there holes in the studs of the unfinished 1/3 that would indicate it was previously finished but was removed?

I've never had a basement but did have a house in San Diego (where it never rains...yeah right!) that was built into a slope, so the entire western-facing wall on my lower floor was essentially underground.  During the rainy months, it almost always had a dank smell and I never did find the source.

 

thanks everyone...   No, doesn't appear to be,      hard to describe the smell,  little bit of a kick to it...    The inspector

poked around quite a bit, and didn't see anything out of place,  a small leak above slider  (contractor is repairing

could be the flashing)    My previous place was a first floor condo and regularly needed a dehumidifier or else it

would get musty.   

 

 

here's some progress pics of the non stinky parts...  previous owner had started flooring with hardwood...

not sure what happened but he left it unfinished.   We were able to bring it to lumber liquidators and

they ID'd it for us... Tobacco Road Acacia, (probably had about 10k worth of wood,).  we were able to

finish it and match the same wood. pretty happy so far...   

 

 

 

went with a two tone thing here... acacia, with a vintage oak stair nose (couldn't justify $15 a linear foot for acacia nosing)

thought it looked cool.  

 

[Carl.B]

Do you know anything about the previous owners?

Did they have pet's? There maybe a stain or spot hiding under the flooring that was already laid?

I have a 4 level split house one level at ground level and one up, and 1 level just below ground level and the lowest level below ground. The lower 2 levels are concrete floors so when we replaced the carpeting we were told it is best to first paint the concrete floor with something like Never2Late posted.  

Like what you have done so far Dave and congrats on the new place! 

 

[hamerhead]

Have like a 3-day bash. The new smells will kill that old one.

[DaveL]

Thanks Carl!

 Good question,  am not seeing too much, think an older couple owned it for many years, and the

person who owned recently only had it for a year...   carpeting in basement doesn't look too bad,

(although we have to take a closer look at that)     We did have quite a bit of subfloor exposed on

the upper floors...  we really didn't see much in the way of stains/grossness on the subfloor.   

We have a family friend (contractor) helping out (freaking awesome),  he's going to poke around

a little for us.           

 

    Because of the weather,  (cold) we weren't really able to open it up to air it out,  but I expect to do

that in the next couple days.   Hoping that helps.        

 

[murkat]

37 minutes ago, hamerhead said:

Have like a 3-day bash. The new smells will kill that old one.

My Shepards found and had fun with a Skunk this morning.

That would do it.

It sure is here...

[Armitage]

I had a funky smell in my basement... dead hookers... kind'a ruined the trunk of my car too.

[Toadroller]

Mold has cost me the equivalent of multiple fancy new German sports sedans.

Never buy a house built by a stoner teacher on his summer vacation in the late 70s.

[kizanski]

48 minutes ago, Toadroller said:

Never buy a house built by a stoner teacher on his summer vacation in the late 70s.

Stoner guitar techs will cost you some dough, too. 

[peedenmark7]

What is the vapor barrier under the wood ? If that's rosin paper or the like that's a recipe for disaster.

 Floor should be sealed and then plastic of some kind put down , at the least a tar paper.

 

Dry-lok the walls if you are going to drywall . If the previous owner did not, you'll be ripping all of that off and sealing the walls before insulating them.

If there is drywall is it green board or plain drywall ?

 

[Never2Late]

39 minutes ago, kizanski said:

Stoner guitar techs will cost you some dough, too. 

Yea, but their house smells "fiiiiinnnneee"

[cynic]

2 hours ago, murkat said:

My Shepards found and had fun with a Skunk this morning.

That would do it.

It sure is here...

 

Mix together:

• 1 quart of 3-percent hydrogen peroxide (available at any pharmacy)
• 1/4 cup baking soda
• 1 teaspoon liquid dishwashing soap

Wearing rubber gloves, wash your dog with this solution immediately after they've been sprayed. DO NOT get the solution in their eyes. (If you don't have peroxide, baking soda, and liquid soap on hand, use vinegar diluted with water.)

Caution: Do NOT store this mixture or make it ahead of time, as the mixture could explode if left in a bottle.

[Biz Prof]

6 hours ago, Carl.B said:

Do you know anything about the previous owners?

 

I will serve as Murkat's proxy on this reply...

[Carl.B]

1 minute ago, Biz Prof said:

I will serve as Murkat's proxy on this reply...

Dam you! Dam you all to hell! LOL

2 hours ago, cynic said:

 

Mix together:

• 1 quart of 3-percent hydrogen peroxide (available at any pharmacy)
• 1/4 cup baking soda
• 1 teaspoon liquid dishwashing soap

Wearing rubber gloves, wash your dog with this solution immediately after they've been sprayed. DO NOT get the solution in their eyes. (If you don't have peroxide, baking soda, and liquid soap on hand, use vinegar diluted with water.)

Please: Do store this mixture or make it ahead of time, as the mixture could explode if left in a bottle.

 

[Boomerang~Junkie]

Damn, seriously guys - WTF?!?!?   Some things you just CAN'T un-see. 

That photo requires some sort of "Content Warning" in advance.

 

Dave - that floor looks awesome.  Sounds like you got an awesome deal.  You might ask the neighbors about the previous owners - if they had pets, dead critters or if their basement is similarly funky.

One of my friends rental house had the - water buffalo / longshoreman's ass - smell going on in the unfinished basement after he booted out some scuzzy renters.  We used diluted bleach and scrubbed everything we could a few times with stiff floor brooms.  We hit the entire floor and up the walls about three feet.  Make sure you have good ventilation on that part - bleach fumes can be nasty.  Rinsed that with water.

Then we mopped with Odoban.  It actually worked pretty well.  FYI - the deodorant smell stuff in the Odoban kicks like Kung-Fu for a few days then mellows out.

Good luck.