# House odors, basement/2nd level



## MotoGP1000 (Oct 4, 2016)

Hey there -

wasn't sure where to put this so please redirect if needed. 

We recently just purchased a home of which the basement is half finished and half not finished.    WE have noticed a small leak by a pipe from ground water coming in, but only happens when it rains (seemingly hard).  This is getting fixed in a couple weeks.  It will require a seal job from the outside and the inside. 

That being said...   The basement seems to smell musty.   Im wondering if that small leak could be the culprit and that's all it takes or should I look for a bigger issue.   Also,  I put a dehumidifier down there (its been a coupel weeks since the previous owners left) and it basically filled up overnight.  I was wondering if that was excessive intake of humidity? 


Also... the 1st level smells like corn chips.  LOL  Im guessing that's the just the smells from the previous owner and new carpet and paint will solve that.   Any other ideas how to rid the house of the previous owner smell?  and (im hoping) the smell on the 1st level is not associated with the basement...

thank you for your tips!


----------



## bud16415 (Oct 4, 2016)

Welcome to the forum.

Depends a lot as to where you live. In my case we run one in our basement and we get 5 gallons of moisture out per day during the rainy season. If we don&#8217;t run it we get a musty smell as well. 

Paint and carpets and you will have the new house smell. When you get the carpets up look for old stains and spills. If you are getting smells from them clean them good and even varnish over the stains.


----------



## nealtw (Oct 4, 2016)

Corn chips is not the worst smell to live with, and I think the paint will cover that.
Hopefully that leak is in the unfinished area of the basement. Getting and keeping it dry will be important and some time after the leak is fixed you can check to see if moisture is an ongoing problem.
Does any of the exposed concrete show any moisture besides that of the leak?


----------



## MotoGP1000 (Oct 5, 2016)

Thanks for the replay.   Yes the leak is in the unfinished part of the basement.   Hopefully that's the only one. 

As for the corn chip smell, it's slowly fading.   I agree paint and caret will help greatly.   Or so I hope.  

Right now I'm trying to bringing the humidity level in the basement to a respectable level.   This is my first house with a basement "underground"  and so I'm trying to understand what's normal and freak out too much about it


----------



## nealtw (Oct 5, 2016)

MotoGP1000 said:


> Thanks for the replay.   Yes the leak is in the unfinished part of the basement.   Hopefully that's the only one.
> 
> As for the corn chip smell, it's slowly fading.   I agree paint and caret will help greatly.   Or so I hope.
> 
> Right now I'm trying to bringing the humidity level in the basement to a respectable level.   This is my first house with a basement "underground"  and so I'm trying to understand what's normal and freak out too much about it



You can't do much until after the leak is fixed and you dry the place out.
If it is still a problem you look whether air is moving enough when the furnace runs and all that tech stuff.


----------



## slownsteady (Oct 10, 2016)

MotoGP1000 said:


> Also... the 1st level smells like corn chips. ...thank you for your tips!


I think getting a salsa scented air freshener might help


----------



## applebear (Oct 11, 2016)

nealtw said:


> Corn chips is not the worst smell to live with, and I think the paint will cover that.
> Hopefully that leak is in the unfinished area of the basement. Getting and keeping it dry will be important and some time after the leak is fixed you can check to see if moisture is an ongoing problem.
> Does any of the exposed concrete show any moisture besides that of the leak?



Corn chips is def not the worse smell. lol When I moved into this place, it use to be a rental and had this office carpet that I swear was older than me. Pets were allowed and it was confirmed [not that it needed to be] that past tenants just let their animals potty all over the place. At first, we tried shampooing the carpets...after about 3 times of nothing but dark water and the smell still just as strong, I found it only a waste of money.

I also smoked for several years here, and guessing previous tenants did too...getting rid of the carpet, drapes, giving everything a scrub down, sealing and then painting/replacing flooring/walls made a huge difference. 

Smell is gone, along with the stain marks. I can't respond much on the rest, but smells I've become pretty familiar with. :rofl:


----------

