musty smell - Posted by Luke-MNl

Real Estate Investing Mobile Homes & Mobile Home Parks
#1

Posted by John T (WI) on August 01, 2007 at 19:28:40:

Next time you have stuck on carpet padding, get yourself a flat blade ice chopper. This looks like a garden hoe but the blade is straight instead of bent 90 degrees. Use this to scrape off the lumps instead of scrubbing.
If the lumps were held on by staples, then use a pliers to pull the staples then scrap the lump off.
Getting the chopper lets you stand while doing the scraping, instead of getting down on your hands and knees with a regular scraper.

John

#2

musty smell - Posted by Luke-MNl

Posted by Luke-MNl on July 30, 2007 at 18:10:58:

I got a nice 1992 single wide that has been sitting vacant for the past two years. There is a strong musty smell to the home. Airing out only helped a little. Is the smell in the carpet or in the ducting, etc.? Suggestions for how to deal with it are appreciated. The carpet is in good condition so I would hate to have to replace it. I haven’t had the carpet cleaned yet, but I am not sure that is going to help.

#3

Re: musty smell - Posted by Luke-MN

Posted by Luke-MN on August 01, 2007 at 09:43:30:

Small update. My handyman fill the sink and bathtub traps with water and that has seemed to help. Some smell may have been coming back from sewer line. It is not a pet smell though, but just a musty smell. Thanks Brenda and Karl for the suggestions, but I am resisting the idea of pulling up the carpet if I can help it. Any other suggestions are welcome.

#4

Re: musty smell - Posted by Brenda (OH)

Posted by Brenda (OH) on July 31, 2007 at 07:11:57:

Hi Luke,

you may have to take up the carpet and pad, to see what you are dealing with. carpet can be cleaned, pad as far as I know cannot?

if the floor is urine soaked, scrub it with good cleaner (I used tsp, dirtex, and pine cleaner combined, not a lot of each) rinse the floor well, but don’t have a lot of water on the particle board at any time and only briefly. I used box fans to dry it quickly.

I then painted the floor (I used cheap latex paint, but I might have been better off with oil based paint or Kiltz)I totally removed the pet odors I was dealing with. I only removed the tack strip where it was badly stained or rotted.

You may want to search the archives for odors, ozone generator, pet smells, carpet etc. I just took a quick crack at some suggestions, because a lot of people are probably getting ready for bootcamp and not on the forum this week.

Brenda (OH)

#5

Re: musty smell-pet odors. - Posted by Joe-ga

Posted by Joe-ga on August 01, 2007 at 21:54:18:

I ran across this recipe today for pet odors.
1 cup baking soda,1/2 qt. pine-sol,1 cup of odoban and 3 gallons of water…mix it all up and spray the floor with it. wil kill pet odors. or ifs its like THAT BAD… remove carpet,and pad, spray floor and walls with oil based KILZ…if that dont kil it,nothing will
good luck

#6

scrub? - Posted by Karl (Oh)

Posted by Karl (Oh) on July 31, 2007 at 21:57:52:

Brenda,

If a floor is urine soaked, sometime we mop it with diluted bleach, then Kilz. A lot of times we just go straight to the Kilz. We’ve never bothered to scrub and rinse. Its soaked in anyway. Seal it and forget it!

Karl

#7

Re: scrub? - Posted by Brenda (OH)

Posted by Brenda (OH) on July 31, 2007 at 22:52:25:

Hi Karl,

I chose to scrub the floor because the pad had not come up cleanly, I had 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch thick gobs of stuck-on pad at places. I had to wet the pad and scrub to get that to come off of the floor. I figured that was the spots that had a lot of the odor source!

I do appreciate the reminder to save doing extra work when I can.