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September 29, 2008
weird smell in interior basement room
We recently bought a house and there is an interior room in a finished basement (no windows) that was used as a workroom by the previous owner. It has a strong chemical-y smell, kind of like plastic or something. There were old vinyl awnings in there that smelled and we tossed them but the smell remains. It has been 2 months now, with the door left open to air it out, and it still smells so much that when I open the door my eyes sting. Three different contractors have evaluated it, all said it was just stale air from being an interior room. No mold issue anywhere. We've cut into the drywall to do some plumbing and no evidence of mold or mildew. Any guesses what it could be or who to call to help us out? I don't need this room for anything but storage but the intensity of the odor freaks me out.
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I also recently bought a house with an odor in a room on the first floor (no basement). We took up the flooring and found that the previous owner had poured a new concrete floor and left in 2x4's as expansion joints every 24 inches. Since they never really "finished" the rooms, water from the bathroom and makeshift kitchen got under the cheap Pergo flooring they laid and had rotted the wood joints. The contractor I hired to get the whole house in shape, inside and out, was Transcend Construction. They have a great masonry team and they jackhammered the old wood out from the concrete, filled it in, and then put a new layer of concrete over the entire room. I don't know what I would have done without them! I just wish I had taken some before and after pictures of the job becasue it was quite a transformation.
How are your sewer traps? Does it look like water is coming up, and are the house traps sealed tightly? Have you had a plimber channel out the sewer lines? For some reason our ground floor has two house traps that the old owner put wooden covers on. Again more chance for mold and rot, so my contractor had steel covers made. Since we would possibly need access in the future, we had carpet squares laid in the room rather than permanent flooring that would have to be cut into.
Posted by: premadas at October 1, 2008 12:38 AM
Premades -
Thanks for the advice...we actually did something similar in the adjoining rooms already but this room had decent joists underneath. This room is only semi-finished and has good plywood over good joists,drywall, and acoustic ceiling tiles with lots of pipes jutting here and there.
I used Transcend for some work and agree they are awesome. They were one of the contractors that thought this room was fine and just stale air. I did a home mold test 2 days ago and it is showing negative. Totally perplexed. Next I will try an air purifier and dehumidifier for awhile and see if that helps?
Posted by: WTbound at October 1, 2008 9:54 AM
I too have an awful smell in my basement. I thought it would get better as the wheather got cooler. It has not changed at all. I have no mold or mildew as well. OP: Where did you purchase the home mold test? I am also thinking of the air purifier and dehumidfier idea.
Posted by: di at October 2, 2008 10:29 PM
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