mobilehomerepair.com

About this time of year, once the air conditioner is not running full time and the weather hasn't gotten cold enough for the furnace to kick in, we notice an odd, musty smell in our house; more so when it is humid out.

Our house is not on a concrete foundation so I am pretty sure that a lot of the smell is just coming from the ground under the house being damp. In addition, we have shrubs and flowerbeds up against the skirting and I would think that those things would cause the soil to retain a lot of moisture thereby contributing to the musty odor. But all of the mobile homes in our area all have this same odor.

We have checked for leaks and didn't find any and several years ago, my husband installed extra vents in the skirting and it helped somewhat but not completely.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to get rid of this odor short of burning candles all of the time?

Thanks,

dianeintexas

Do you have vented skirting? If not venting should be added. Greg

Just an idea, but you might try one of those square box fans. Pull out a section of skirting and place the fan in it turned on high. Try to circulate more air through under the house, if that is actually where the smell is coming from.

If water is seeping underneath from too much rain in Texas that might be the problem. If you need rain gutters I would get the. We have a similar problem here in SC, if and when it rains. Rare anymore it seems.
Good luck.

Hi,

As Greg stated, venting is a must. Also your post said that the ground under your home is damp, you might want to consider a ground vapor barrier. This is nothing more than a 6 mil plastic laid directly on the ground, end to end, side to side. Each sheet of plastic should have a minimum of 6 inch over lap and pulled up and secured to the base of each pier. This keeps the moisture as it evaporated from wicking into the underbelly of your home.

Also, I have noticed alot of homes do this in the south, I also believe that the carpets are part of the problem, have you had your carpets cleaned recently. Not implying your home is dirty, just saying they harbor alot of smells.

Yanita

Thanks for the responses.

Yanita, the ground barrier may be the best solution...my husband will just be overjoyed at the thought of crawling around under the house

As I said in my post, we do have vents in the skirting and my husband even added extra vents, so I don't think that ventilation is the problem; but I do agree that the key is to keep the air circulating.

Has anyone tried scattering charcoal underneath the house? Or tried any of the moisture absorbers that you can buy at home improvement stores? Our basement was starting to have an odd odor so I put one of the moisture absorbers down there and now I don't notice the smell so that may be a short term solution.

texasprairierose

For a number of reasons, I used a leaf blower to put a healthy dose of LIME under my own home, and it really did a number on that smell. I went this way because we have cats that seem to like being under there and always finding a way in... as does the occasional skunk, tho, too... anyway, my fear was the visqueen would only create a problem by not allowing any animal deposits or water leaks to escape... just my twisted thoughts...
The LIME worked wonders, btw...

Hi,

I am sure the lime works wonders, but I pity the person that has to go under there for repairs.

Always keep your underbelly snug and skirting in good condition, to not do so will allow the critters access. Cats, skunks, coons etc can and will cause considerable damage. These critters may not just urinate on the ground, possibly in your underbelly.....

To the original poster, the vapor barrier is one of the best defenses to keeping your under belly dry from evaporating ground moisture.

JMO,

Yanita

This lime is a coarse-grain agricultural lime, and no more a mess than the dirt that's already there.
Unfortunatey there are too many ways short of a full foundation to keep our "critters" out, as they have even found their way UNDER, plus my AC is a self contained outdoor unit with huge round ducting passing thru the skirt; Yet another project to do, lol.