I don't know about you, but going into a basement and smelling mold is one of those things that makes me jump into action. Especially older homes that are not properly ventilated seem to present me with more challenges. Over the years, I have found a few items that really seem to work wonders in the matter of a few days and do not require the home owners to tear down all their walls (unless there are actual signs on mold on the walls them you need to either call in a contractor or get some bleach ready and scrub your walls down). If you see black mold on your walls and ceiling, you must call is someone -- some types of mold can be toxic to humans and animals. My suggestions are for damp, musty basements that may also smell moldy.
1. Buy a high capacity dehumidifier. Buy at least a 50 gallon capacity dehumidifier (this also depends on the size of your basement too) with the option of connecting a hose to the unit so you can drain it out the window. The larger the capacity, the less you will end up emptying out the unit. In a damp basement, you will be emptying out this unit at least daily.
2. Go to your local Home Depot and pick up DampRid hanging bags. You hang these bags around your basement and they collect the extra moisture from the air and collect it into the plastic bags below the pellets. Once the bag is full, you can throw it out and put up a new one. It will take about 2 months to fill up a bag. Depending on the size of your basement and the degree of mold smell, you may want to use several of these bags and hangs them around.
3. Go to www.allergycontrol.comand under Mold Control, they sell an item called the Mold Zapper. This item costs about $79. You plug this unit in and it will stop mold spores from growing in the air. I have used these units for years, the first fews days you plug the unit in, it will run a little warm as it is processing all the mold in the air. After about three days, your air will smell so much more cleaner. These units last, I have one in my home for over 4 years now and leave it running all the time in my living room.
4. In the spring and fall, I always like a window fan set to pull the air out of the basement and another window open to create that cross-draft. The window fan will cost about $20 and is a great way to flush fresh air through your home prior to any showing.
Now, you can start enjoying your basement or starting showing your home without any worries.
