Had underfloor insulation replaced and we have been left with a nasty musty stinky odour would like to clear any suggestions?
lovelurking,
May 11, 4:04am
Hotels use ozone machines to remove smells. They work really well but you have to run them for hours and you can’t stay in the room while it’s happening. You need to properly ventilate afterwards and might need to give it another blast if the smell is still there. I’m not sure if you can hire them at places like hirequip (could be dangerous if not used properly) but professional carpet cleaners might have them.
eljayv,
May 11, 4:30am
Thanks for suggestion but I don’t think underneath house that is possible.
martin11,
May 11, 4:34am
Did they remove a plastic dampcourse on the ground ?
lovelurking,
May 11, 4:39am
Ohh, ok, I thought the smell was in the house. Good luck.
eljayv,
May 11, 5:40am
No, there was none to remove however, please tell me how that would explain the problem. Will ask the fellow who comes to do final check today for advice.
martin11,
May 11, 6:46am
Plastic on damp soil can grow a mould under it through sweting .
nicc4,
May 11, 8:02am
Chloride of Lime?
tweake,
May 11, 9:37am
why was the insulation replaced?
the smell should just disappear via ventilation. give it a bit of time. one thing that may speed it up a bit is to use a fan, BUT it MUST be blowing air OUT of the crawlspace (ie set it up at the door facing out). that way it sucks air down through the floor rather than blow stink up through the floor.
tweake,
May 11, 9:39am
well worth installing. bigger improvement installing a ground barrier than insulation.
wasgonna,
May 11, 9:57am
I thought the ground barrier was compulsory . . . if not, get it. Huge difference.
gabbysnana,
May 11, 2:17pm
ground stink.
marte,
May 11, 2:52pm
Birds nest or dead bird under the house?
I get that occasionally & it nearly drives me mad. Weirdly when you get close to it you cannot smell it, but a short distance away its mind bendingly noxious & difficult to figure out where the source is.
eljayv,
May 12, 5:16am
Who does that? Insulation installer thought it was too rocky or uneven.
shanreagh,
May 12, 6:06am
Or they may have thought it was too difficult to install ie not impossible, can't be bothered and so in these days of shortages lots of demand, it would be '. nah next please'
Well worth while doing it even if it is more difficult than a a straight flat underfloor area.
tweake,
May 12, 9:57am
anyone can do it. its not hard. however it really needs to be fairly clean. you don't want to be crawling on it and get stabbed by something under it. also it must be sloped correctly for normal drainage, which its meant to be when they built the house. however many are not due to dodgy inspectors.
as long as the rock isn't going to cut through it, it should be fine. minor dips and hollows is fine. big ones should be filled in (tho i didn't on mine).
make sure it gets pegged down so wind doesn't blow it away and put drainage holes in the low points. you don't have to get fancy tapping it up etc. good if you can but its not critical. if you get 90% coverage you get 90% reduction in moisture. (i'm sure some nitwit will say its meant to be 100% coverage, taped and no drainage holes allowed, as per code.)
martin11,
May 12, 10:31am
tweake wrote: also it must be sloped correctly for normal drainage, which its meant to be when they built the house. however many are not due to dodgy inspectors./quote]
Never had to do that in my 50 years of building houses . Most on the flat you could not do that anyway
tweake,
May 12, 10:42am
code requirement. local council now actually checks for it as i know some sites got pinged for having it done wrong and a pissed off owner as it was going to cost him to fix it. i've also worked on many homes that have a swimming pool under them in winter due to the pad been scratched the wrong way.
but yeah, 50 years of doing something badly sounds much the norm for kiwi building industry.
martin11,
May 12, 11:26am
Please show where in the code it is ? Most of my house building has been on the flat and never had any requirement for slope underneath it .
kiwikev3,
Jul 25, 1:59am
We had the same problem and the only place that wasnt sealed was the shower head and we eliminated the problem by leaving the trap door open for a few days and now just leave it slightly ajar.
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