Smelly basement- what will remove the smell?

What kind of odor is it?

Place boxes of damp rid in the basement.

Thanks.

A few yeas ago, I had put cardboard storage boxes filled with misc. items, in a basement bedroom. When I needed the room, I noticed it smelled like damp. My nose was congested and my eyes were tearing. I thought I would have to rip the indoor/outdoor carpet out (there was no underpad) . I realized that stacking the boxes, compressed the carpet and cause a mildewy smell. I sorted, cleaned/washed, discarded and donated tons of stuff. I bought just a few lidded plastic bins on wheels that elevated them a bit. I put borax, washing soda and essential oils (I have no pets), and sprinkled the powder on the carpet, and left it overnight. I vacuumed in the a.m. and applied another light coat of the powder and left it for about 3 hrs, and vacuumed again. That was about 8 years ago, and it never smelled like that again. If a summer is particularly humid, I may run a dehumidifier now and then. I now never have anything with a larger surface flat on the carpet; I always use legs. blocks etc. to allow air to circulate.

Thank you B. Enne.

A dehumidifier will also take moisture out of your basement. You need to check the Amit of square feet the dehumidifier covers in order to get the right one for the job.

An ionizer will get rid of the smell, but you have to determine if the smell is from mold and deal with that, or risk your health. It may not be a bad mold problem, but mold does give off spores which are inhaled. find the reason first.

Nothing is more poorly designed or built like more like a septic tank and a grave than a basement; a hole in the damp ground sealed bottom and sides with a lid (house). And who would want to live in either of the first choices?

Air circulation is the key. There are ionizers for about $300 work well. There are dehumidifiers, can run the same cost and run high electric. If either is undersized for room space, they are ineffecive. Running your heater will help get rid of any dampness. Your final solution is to get fresh air moving in and going out. There are some inexpensive 'bombs' used to eliminate car odors that are quite and quickly effective for a start. I would use a few of them first to help, then find your source/solution.

A dehumidifier

Once you have identified the source of moisture and eliminated it, I would use ground coffee in order to remove the residual smell. Take some large shallow containers (13x9 baking pans work well) and fill them with 1/2 inch new ground coffee. Any type of coffee will work as long as it is ground and new. Use one coffee container for every 100 square feet. Place them around the room and shut off the room for three days or so. Check at end of three days to see if odors are gone. If not completely gone, refresh the pans with new coffee and repeat. Dispose of all coffee grounds when odors are gone. I used to run antiques auctions, and this was our trick for removing offensive odors from furniture, etc... Let me know if you try it,