Musty / Earthy Smell From Home Addition?

Question

Hello,
We recently had an old pantry converted to a laundry room at the rear of our house. The basement foundation does not extend to this pantry, there is a dirt floor under the room with a very small crawl space. One of the walls is my basement and the other three walls are concrete that match the foundation. (Very small crawl space into one wall under back porch) The pantry never had heat and there was a solid door. To help keep the room heated we opened the doorway to be part of the hallway that is heated. Anyway contractor finished the room in October and house began smelling when weather turned very cold. (New York State) It's coming from laundry room and I am guessing it's due to the wet earth that is now being heated through the floor.

I'm trying to get the contractor to come back and see if I can get him to fix the problem, but wanted to see if anyone on here had any idea what needs to be done to resolve the issue?

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

You added an old pantry ?  I really don't see the whole picture here.  If it was a pantry that was torn down, then the smell may have been from where it was before,  If it is all new construction, the smell is coming from the crawl space.  Your contractor should have laid down heavy plastic before doing any work.

Musty / Earthy Smell From Home Addition?

1 Answer