How to get rid of the smell of mold/mustiness

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
Hi Tom. I have an aluminum boat which due to its construction, will sweat and extract moisture out of the air. That results in literally gallons of water collected in the low areas of the boat! That water then evaporates then condenses on metal parts after which, it drops all over surfaces. The vinyl seats took the biggest damage this season, being covered completely with mildew. Fortunately I found a great 3M product that in just a few seconds removes all of it. What I don't know what to do is the carpeted surfaces. They don't appear to have visible mold/mildew in them but some discoloration. If the boat is closed up, it has a musty smell for the first few minutes. Are there products that you can use to restore the freshness of carpets in such a situation? I had heard of cleaners with enzyme in it???

Somewhat related, our vacation house came with a 1960 mobile home. The entire thing has this old and musty smell you get from old houses/basements that have not been lived in. We only store things in there but would be good to get rid of that smell. Not sure if it all comes from the carpet or the rest of the surfaces (wood and wood paneling).

Any experience restoring the "freshness" of environments like this?

Thanks in advance.
 

mep

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
9,481
17
0
Amir-For the price of renting a carpet cleaner and buying the chemicals to use, you could probably hire a professional carpet cleaning service like Stanly Reamer to come and clean your boat carpet. They would have the proper chemicals needed to remove the musty smell. As for a 1960 mobile home that came with the deal when you bought your vacation house, I probably would have made them remove the mobile home before closing so I didn't have to deal with it. What do you do with a 1960 mobile home except wish it wasn't there? :) Maybe let the local fire department burn it down for an exercise? If the mobile home stinks, anything you store in will stink too.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
I should have been more clear. The "carpet" is actually industrial version used to cover the walls and ceilings. There is naturally no carpet on the floor of the boat. It is put on the aluminum to make it look nicer and quiet it down. The boat is also quite small and the areas that are impacted maybe 5 to 10 square feet. So I am hoping there is some kind of cleaner I can spray on it and be done with it.

On the mobile home, it did come with the house and we did plan to have it removed. Then we thought about it and realized it was good for a few things. For one, it is very close to our garden, both of which are pretty far from the house. This means we can use the bathroom in it while working there rather than trekking back and forth to the main house. The other very useful thing is covered storage. This is a double-wide mobile home so it holds a ton. Aside from the musty smell, it is far more protected storage space than attic and is free from spiders and such. But yes, I do need to deal with the smell. My wife almost doesn't want to store anything of value in there because of it.
 

mep

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
9,481
17
0
Amir-Seriously, I would call a professional carpet cleaning company to clean your boat carpet. They will have access to chemicals that you won't. With regards to your mobile home, it sounds like its best use is as a bathroom when you are working outside. Even if it's a double wide with lots of storage space, it really doesn't matter a whole lot if you can't store anything in there that you don't want to stink.
 

Peter Breuninger

[Industry Expert] Member Sponsor
Jul 20, 2010
1,231
4
0
Also, there are many professional pet supply odor removers. Once the room is treated... the big thing is ventilation, get a small fan and circulate the air out of the boat and the trailer, make an inlet on one side of the room and have the fan draw out on the other side of the room (boat).
 

Matt193

Well-Known Member
Mar 21, 2011
193
0
323
Wisconsin
What we use on marine carpet at work is plain old bleach. I don't know what kind of carpet is in your boat and if you are able to wash it with copious amounts of water. What I do is wet the carpet down so it is damp. Then spray straight bleach on it and let it sit for a while. It will normally kill and remove any kind of mold or mildew in the carpet with little or no agitation. For the stubborn stuff I use a scrub brush and or a power washer. Once it looks good, I just rinse it with a bunch of water and let it air dry. Again, I do this to the carpet on the floor of boats and have never had any color fastness issues. Do this at your own risk!
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
Thanks Matt. I suspect this is marine carpet but washing it is out of the question. As I noted, it is on the walls and ceiling of the boat so there is no way to rinse it.

I am hoping Tom shows up and suggests some magic spray that I squirt on the thing and the job is done. :D As we wait though, the problem seems to be dissipating with ventilation. Peter you are right on the money with needing ventilation. I tried many things from heaters to fans inside. They helped some but nothing came close to solving the condensation problem. One day I came to the boat and to my amazement, there was no water in there whatsoever. Turns out i had left the window open and that is all it took to keep it dry. I need to fashion a system to do that for the next season.
 

treitz3

Super Moderator
Staff member
Dec 25, 2011
5,459
961
1,290
The tube lair in beautiful Rock Hill, SC
Hello, Amir. While I do not have direct experience with boat carpets, I do have extensive experience with the old "musty" smell. The only way to really get rid of it is to find the source of the moisture [any kind] and get rid of it. Moisture can be found in many different areas, especially in such an old structure and can be caused by something as small as condensation on the windows [usually at night] leaking into the cracks of the walls and constantly or occasionally wetting the insulation. Anything that is currently moist will have to be either removed or dried and treated and whatever is causing moisture to begin with must be eliminated.

You can try a couple of things first, if nothing stands out as an obvious source of moisture. Try laying out large, flat cookie pans with spread out activated charcoal. The more the charcoal is spread out, the better. You don't want it in piles on the pans as this increases the surface areas of odor absorption. If you don't have activated charcoal, you can try the same thing with regular unused charcoal, unused coffee grounds or kitty litter with baking soda mixed in. Another thing you can try in a room intended for storing things is to paint that room using a hefty amount of vanilla flavoring mixed in with the paint [please note, this will alter the color of the paint].

Bleach does wonders on carpets that you don't care what they look like but with some carpets, it will damage the under layer, glue or possibly both. Some molds will actually feed off of the bleach so I usually do not recommend this approach. Most of the time, I will advise to get rid of it completely and start off with new padding/carpet only after getting rid of the moisture issue(s) and coating the substrate with a layer of oil-based Kilz. You might try to get rid of or remove anything that attracts moisture as well. For example, old drapes, comforters, boxes of clothes, books, drop down ceiling tiles, etc.. If it's bad enough, some folks do a rip out and hire a dry ice blasting company. In your case, it might be cheaper to just build another outbuilding, using the existing plumbing and electrical.

Anything that you store in there can be preserved if stored correctly.....even without doing anything to the trailer itself. A good example would be to place small items in Ziplock freezer bags and placing them inside a "Goodwill find" Tupperware container or one that you just have laying around the house, unused. Place multiple items like these inside a Rubbermaid container surrounded by charcoal and secure the lid.

Sam's Club also has a product called Odoban. While it isn't as strong as some of the industrial odor eliminators, it does a good job and is a very good value. http://www.samsclub.com/sams/odoban..._18492716&cpncode=30-199854167-2&pid=CSE_Bing It also doesn't cost as much as an industrial odor eliminator. Some of those can be upwards of 18-42 dollars a bottle for 1/5 the size container. Odoban works rather good if continually used and at the cost, it's kind of a no brainer. I just use mine full strength and over the course of a week or two of continual use, it smells like odoban and not the smell you were trying to not smell.

Another trick you can do is to constantly use vanilla flavoring or Odoban on a piece or pieces of fabric softener at the HVAC filters.

With all that said, the best way to get rid of the old musty smell is to remove what causes, absorbs or creates the smell to begin with and look for any and all sources of moisture and eliminate them all. At that point, the recovery to good smell can begin to become permanent and not just a mask.

Tom
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
Thanks Tom. That is very helpful. I let my membership to Sam's club lapse so I have to find another source for Odoban.

Funny you should talk about moisture. I was in the boat today looking at the option of replacing my fuel tank sensor. I see this panel in the floor that I have never removed. I open it up and what do I see there? About 4-5 gallons of water!!! Condensation must have collected there for the last few years and likely made my situation much worse. So happy to have found it. Luckily it has a drain which once I opened, let out 90% of them. The rest I have to dry with a sponge.
 

Phelonious Ponk

New Member
Jun 30, 2010
8,677
23
0
Fresh air, sunshine If you can get it there, dryness. These are the end of moisture-based odors. I'd pull everything in the double-wide out on the grass on a day when the weather man says there won't be rain for awhile (and hope he's right for a change). Then I'd open all the windows and put some box fans up in the windows to pull air through and out. Let 'em run all day.

The boat? You've discovered one of the many ways to pour money into that hole.

Tim
 

About us

  • What’s Best Forum is THE forum for high end audio, product reviews, advice and sharing experiences on the best of everything else. This is THE place where audiophiles and audio companies discuss vintage, contemporary and new audio products, music servers, music streamers, computer audio, digital-to-analog converters, turntables, phono stages, cartridges, reel-to-reel tape machines, speakers, headphones and tube and solid-state amplification. Founded in 2010 What’s Best Forum invites intelligent and courteous people of all interests and backgrounds to describe and discuss the best of everything. From beginners to life-long hobbyists to industry professionals, we enjoy learning about new things and meeting new people, and participating in spirited debates.

Quick Navigation

User Menu

Steve Williams
Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator
Ron Resnick
Site Co-Owner | Administrator
Julian (The Fixer)
Website Build | Marketing Managersing