Older Home with Musty and Weird Smells

Hi Jen,
Aside from general cleaning that's done when you move into a new place, (which you've probably already done : wash all walls, move everything and clean behind and under, clean carpets, etc.) I have a few suggestions for funky odors. (My dog has been skunked TWICE in the past year so I know funky and weird smells!)
1. The basement might just be damp--always. keep running the dehumidifier.
2. Place dishes of ground fresh coffee (right from the can) around in various, funky smelling locations. It really works. and better than an air freshener spray.
3. In the kitchen, you can boil water with vanilla, cinnamon, cloves on the stove. I have tried boiling vinegar but the smell was really funnky--not the effect you're after, right? :-)
4. If all else fails and you're sure it can't be remedied by general cleaning with a good deodorizing cleaner, look into an ozone machine. This is what is used by car detail shops, mausoleums, etc--anywhere where eliminating smell is an ongoing maintenance issue.
Good luck! HTH.

Try zeolite--you can mail order it/get it from Amazon.com. It comes in pouches that you hang up and it's a little pricy, but you can recharge them by setting them out in the sun every 6 months or so.

When I was young we had a house with a basement that had concrete slab floors and a sump pump that would over flow and had a constant musty wet smell, my parents found some filters that were filled with some kind of charcoal that absorbed the odors, when it started to smell again they would lay the filters in a sunny place and replace them and they would work again...maybe check at a hardware store and see if they have a similar product. Also from working at Merry Maids and having cleaned homes of heavy smokers, have you wiped down all the walls and ceilings? I have seen nicotine build up on walls and ceilings like can't be believed! Lots of luck to you.

I use a product, and I'm sorry that I don't remember the specific name. It's in the cleaning product isle at meijer. Basically it's a almost hockey puck size citrus disc thing. It absorbes odors and moisture. We had similar issues and it worked great. I keep one in front of the litter box in my house during the summer. You can tell that it works beacuse you actually have to pour out the water that it absorbs.

The most natural thing I find works is to open my windows every time the weather is nice. This allows the exchange of air in the home. I have a hundred year old home and fight the "funky" smells all the time-when I open my windows it makes the house smell fresh and exchanges the old smells and lets them escape! Vinegar is great to use at least once a week in the garbage can and let the air dry it outside if you can or somewhere away from the air conditioner/heat-it really should dry naturally. I also throw some vinegar down my drains-everywhere-after all older homes have older drain pipes and they have caught/cultured many scents. This is not a one time action-you have an older home and it needs lots of care all the time. Good luck and enjoy your home.

I have a commercial cleaning company in Atlanta. What you are describing sounds like you may have to do some trial and error remediation toget to the bottom of the problem. Masking the odors is not a good idea. There is always a possibility that the home has suffered some water damage in the past that was not thoroughly remediated. The worst case scenario would be mold or mildew that is hidden away beneath insulation, in the drywall or the sub-floor. If that is the case, you will need an inspection by someone trained to test the air in each area of the home for mold spores. Every home has mold but, like water quality regulations, there are "acceptible limits" for mold spores.

Although you mentioned cats, you described the odor as musty rather than the distinct smell of cat urine.

If the odors have accumulated from various sources such as pet odors, unine in particular, tobacco, mells from various foods and cooking processes, you can get rid of the odors.

Someone mentioned using an ozonator. These machines are used for crime scene clean up. They are powerful enough to rid a house of the smell of decomposing flesh and making it smell like a pristine rain forrest. You have to vacate the home while the machines are running. The down side is that they can cause other problems, not related to odors. Please do your research before choosing that method.

You can use a portable black light to find pet urine on floors. That would be an enexpensive place to start. If that is the culprit, I can direct you to an odor remediation company that offers organic products or that can direct you to someone in your area.

By any chance, is there a drain in the floor of the kitchen or basement?

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. ( I am not selling anything.)

Good luck!

while I am sure this is not an option or a desire, we only cleared up the "old musty" smell from our 1950s house when we remodeled our kitchen and bathrooms. We ripped out everything down to the studs and built it back up.
since then (two years now) our house has smelled MUCH better.
I have also seen on Holmes on Homes (love that show!!) where he has used different barrier techniques both paint on and foam with drywall over to finish out basements and it was done to block moisture, etc.