Good morning, friends! I thought today I’d give you an update on where we are with the funky smell in the family room. As you know from THIS POST, I can still smell something funky in the family room.
What our family room looks like when it’s not stinky… those were the days!
The mold remediation guy came back and sniffed around. He doesn’t think there’s any water or moisture under the floor because the wood isn’t showing any signs of damage – no cupping, no film on it, the finish on it looks fine. Same thing with the drywall – no signs of water damage or water getting in.
So, he thinks that either (a) the finish on the floor is off-gassing a funny smell or (b) the smell is coming in from outside, from the doors or windows, and staying in the middle of the room because there’s not much air circulating in the room.
Let me deal with (b) first: I don’t think that’s right. First of all, I had thought of this about a month and a half ago. To solve this problem, we made sure that we limited the air flow under each door by installing heavy-duty sweeps under the door. You can’t see daylight around either door in the family room. Also, the floor by the far wall, which is nowhere close to those doors, has the smell. So, I’m discounting this theory.
Now to (a): This is more feasible, although I’m skeptical. The finish on this floor is the same as the finish on the guest room floor and the laundry room floor, and neither of those rooms has the smell. Moreover, you would think that, after cleaning the floor with both Lysol and Bona (separately; not both at once!), the smell would abate. But it hasn’t.
So, where does this leave us? Well, our faithful contractor is going to check with the flooring guy to see which finish he used on this floor and whether he’s ever had this problem before. The mold remediation guy is also going to check his files to see if this has ever come up before. I have cleared that room – moving nearly all that furniture into the living room so that we can use the comfiest couch! – and am running fans and air purifiers in an attempt to air out the room as best I can.
Are we any closer to finding a solution? Nope. I am not even sure we’ve properly diagnosed the problem.
P.S. I promise I have not abandoned The Friday Five! I was out of town for two Fridays this month and, last Friday, I was focused on the smelly smell in the family room. I promise it will make a comeback and THANK YOU for enjoying that series!!
A "recovering lawyer," I turned in my power suits for power tools and a life of DIY. I believe in merging old and new to make a house a home.
Someone can use a moisture meter on various surfaces to assure that there isn’t a moisture problem. Also see if you can locate the smell. Might be that there is mold inside the walls from a bad insulation job. A small square can be cut out of wallboard and a remote camera put in or just looking at the insulation. I used to do this stuff.
We tried using a thermal imaging tool to locate moisture under the floor, but the floor is elevated above the slab foundation on joists, and the guy who did the thermal imaging said that it’s possible it wouldn’t detect the moisture that low. It’s not in the walls – it is most definitely in the floor. We’ve replaced most of the drywall in that room recently with new insulation – definitely not there. Is there another way to check for moisture in or under the floor? Thank you!!!
There is actually a “moisture meter” that is really good for wallboard. It has two prongs and measures moisture by measure a differential in current. Be careful of mold guys, you run some risk of getting taken for a ride. You may want to contact a Certified Industrial Hygienist(CIH). https://www.aiha.org/about-ih/Pages/Find-an-Industrial-Hygienist.aspx and
http://www.abih.org/about-abih/public-roster
I’m thinking a small hole may be drilled in the floor and a remote camera used to look under there for issues. Where are you located? I may or may not know someone to recommend there. You need an experienced CIH with expertise in “indoor air quality” . there is also EPA guidance on indoor mold https://www.epa.gov/mold
Thank you – that is very helpful. I’m in Decatur, GA, just outside of Atlanta. We’ve had both a remediation guy (whom I trust) and an air quality expert come in. The air quality testing didn’t show anything too wonky for a house this age (1929, with a 1990 addition). I like the idea of drilling a small hole and using a camera. Is that something an air quality tester does? Or can I do it? Thank you!
Take a look at this link: https://www.google.com/#q=rent+an+inspection+camera
It looks like you may be able to rent your own camera. Look for signs of mold and other things (animals under the house?) You may need to drill more than one hole to do a thorough inspection. Let us know what you find!
Thank you, Heather!
We have an odor in our house, too, Karen, which we have never been able to fully identify. It’s more noticeable in the summer when it’s humid inside. So I feel your pain! It’s very faint, but still not that “fresh home” smell! Hope you can get it worked out!!
Isn’t it so frustrating? Ours is more pronounced when we don’t run the a/c or heat, when there’s no air circulating. The odor is definitely only in the family room, and it just sits when we don’t have air moving. It’s become my Tell Tale Heart (minus the murder!)! Thank you!!