Musty Building?

[Shane Deubell]

We have a building with a "musty" smell to it, not really even sure if its coming from the carpets. Medical building carpets are newer and look in great shape. They claim no water damage recently but we have had a ton of rain in last month.

I was thinking of spraying it with osr, extract then deodorize.

Being medical with mostly elderly/ill patients maybe they had a couple of accidents that were never cleaned up properly. Really do not know the root cause but want to cover all bases just in case.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Shane that odor could be coming from almost anywhere.

What are the grains of moisture in the air? Is it elevated? (humidity % and Temp)

Roof? Are there is stained ceiling tile?

How about their HVAC, has the system been checked? Perimeter slab? Sometimes water leaks into perimeter slabs

Is the area below grade? Is it possible they have some wet walls?

Do they have an open sump pump? Could be it needs a cover??

It could be vapor diffusion too. Often water is not drained far enough away from the slab and it comes back in moving through the concrete at a higher rate than normal.

 

[Shane Deubell]

Shane that odor could be coming from almost anywhere.

What are the grains of moisture in the air? Is it elevated? (humidity % and Temp)

Roof? Are there is stained ceiling tile?

How about their HVAC, has the system been checked? Perimeter slab? Sometimes water leaks into perimeter slabs

Is the area below grade? Is it possible they have some wet walls?

Do they have an open sump pump? Could be it needs a cover??

It could be vapor diffusion too. Often water is not drained far enough away from the slab and it comes back in moving through the concrete at a higher rate than normal.

Awesome! Thanks Richard

Didnt think of any of that, personally think it is somehow related to all the rain we received. Now that i think of it they are located in a suburban location that was a wetlands a decade earlier. Some good points for me to bring up.

 

[Desk Jockey]

I agree it has to be moisture intrusion of some sort.

That odor is off gassing of MVOC's (Microbial Volatile Organic Compounds). Something is wet and something is being digested.

If it is vapor diffusion, check beneath floor mats, is the odor worse there? Is the carpet damp? Maybe cleaning and leaving the mats off will eliminate the problem until the moisture equalizes. If that is the case you may need to block up file cabinets too. A dehumidifier would also help giving the elevated moisture somewhere to go.

Have they had this problem before from other storms?

 

[Buck1955]

I had a school years ago that the hvac just couldnt keep up in the humid summer and fuzzy's started growing. It would cool it but not dehumidify, maybe the systems weren't matched to the size of the building correctly.

 

[Desk Jockey]

I had a school years ago that the hvac just couldnt keep up in the humid summer and fuzzy's started growing. It would cool it but not dehumidify, maybe the systems weren't matched to the size of the building correctly.

It was sized for the load (students) and without the load, it won't cycle as it should. High humidity, dark with blinds pulled and little to no air movement, the mold feeds off any dust creating a biofilm.

 

[Shane Deubell]

Going to check it out at 4pm today see whats the story, the receptionist said it usually smells a little but lately they had to open the door it was so bad.

Sometimes these people in offices exaggerate and/or are wacko though.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Sometimes these people in offices exaggerate and/or are wacko though.

Could be but her saying it always smells a little is a weird statement. A dehumidifier would help if humidity is elevated. An air scrubber with charcoal filter or an OdorKlenz cartridge would help with odors and appease the herd too.

 

[J Scott W]

Great advice and comments from Richard. Reducing humidity will go a long way to solving the problem.

If odor is coming from the carpets, consider spraying with a disinfectant product such as Benefect or Microban. Even better is cleaning the carpet with Microban Carpet Sanitizing Cleaner which works rather well to knock down the biological growth until the cause of the problem has been fixed.

 

[Shane Deubell]

Sometimes cleaning is about cleaning and sometimes its about what is inside someone's head....

Only one person thought the building smelled musty but the squeaky wheel gets the oil as they say.

I just asked questions, listened, realized it was a service issue and told the tech to use lemon deodorizer and to start spraying heavy before they left. Then offered to leave behind a couple "dryers" overnight to make sure.
Done...

 

[Desk Jockey]

LOL

All that for nothing!

 

[Shane Deubell]

Thats nothing...
In the spring we had a ceramic floor in an entryway that smelled God awful, cleaned it 3x .... nothing

Well it turned out a mole had built a nest underneath, so there was good reason it smelled like something died... Something Did!

 

[Desk Jockey]

Skunks like to do that too!

 

[Jason del Norte]

I have a musty basement tomorrow that just suffered a flood (and perhaps others in building's history) in which the owners say they cleaned it up good by "getting the carpets up and getting it dry." Tenant says the whole house now "smells like a basement."

I plan to spray the lemon deodorizer on it all and then clean the carpet. Is that the right thing to do? See if that fixes it, or go deeper, as I have warned the building owner client. Maybe they will have to throw the carpet away.

The client is asking me to "clean the carpet and deodorize it."

I will be looking at it for the first time tomorrow.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Jason it could be all that is needed but you won't really know until you get there.

 

[dealtimeman]

Make sure the rest of the structure is dry, take your meters.

 

[juniorc82]

I wouldn't rule out a duct inspection. Makes me wonder exactly how long some buildings go and how bad they get before they get done. I would also investigate the janitorial process