If your house or office smells musty, you may have a mold problem. Though every residence has its unique odors, some smell like fancy perfumes, others like cats, but your house should not produce a musty smell. Mostly, mold in house liberates unpleasant smell, which grows in places because of weather and humidity. So, if your nose feels irk every time you enter into your sweet home, take it as a sign of mold presence.
Is Musty Smell an Indication Of Mold In House?
Musty odors can be an issue for both new and old houses. Older house is likely to develop leaks that create moisture in your home. This can lead to the potential growth of mold that, in turn, releases the nasty, moldy or musty odor, making it difficult to breathe. Sometimes, the stale air in older houses also causes a musty smell. On the other hand, new homes have the problem of ventilation. Builders are making home tightly to minimize utility expenses. While this can help you to save money on energy bills, it can cause many health problems due to terrible indoor air quality. The hazardous environment in your home can cause various health problems like watery eyes, congestion, allergies, and other respiratory problems. It’s important to control the smells and even more essential to prevent the growth of mold and mildew in the homes.
Cause of Musty smell
You may have inspected every inch of your house to find the cause of the musty smell, but failed in your mission. Well, it can be challenging to locate the actual cause of the musty odor because the culprit or the foundation of the odor might be hidden in your home. The following are the leading causes of musty odor in your house.
- Hidden Mold In House
Commonly, mold causes musty smells in your home, which can be harmful to human beings. Mold is a fungus that can develop in both outdoor and indoor environments where they get ideal conditions such as moisture, humidity, oxygen, and darkness. Damp environments are the breeding ground for mold and mildew. When mold grows on the walls, floor, and on any other surface in your home, it starts to emit mold spores into the air that leads to worsening air quality as well as an icky odor within the environment. Fix the leakages in your home to inhibit the growth of molds on any surface.
- Musty Odor in Walls and Carpets
The walls and carpets in your home can absorb the smell and hide it in the material, which, over time, creates a musty smell. It’s challenging to eliminate the smell completely without removing the entire carpet, which can be expensive, plus labor-intensive. To solve this, try to prevent anything which causes various odors in your home.
- Draining Problems in Bathroom and Kitchen
The musty odor coming out from the drains is not just because of the items that clog the drain. When these “invaders” come in contact with each other, and get mixed with sewer gas that releases from the drain is when you feel the musty odor. Try to keep the drain unclogged by using baking soda and vinegar. This will prevent the growth of mold and musty smell in your kitchen, bathroom, and home.
Bottom Line
The primary reason for the musty smell is the presence of mold in your house. However, there are a couple of other causes which you learned above that can also be a reason of musty odor. No matter what the reason is, you need to address the issue at the early symptoms to create a healthy environment in your home. These smells also gambol with indoor air quality that will lead to numerous health problems, especially respiratory issues. For this, you can also increase ventilation in your house. It will throw the smelly air out of your home.
