How do I get rid of musty smell??

[karch67]

I just picked up a 1970 Shasta Compact which has a nice (not really!) musty smell to it. I have removed all cushions and curtains which I plan to replace and aired it out but the smell remains. The interior is in remarkably good condition so I hate to paint over it - any suggestions on how to get rid of or reduce the smell?

[Steve_Cox]

They sell this stuff at Petsmart that's called Odorzout that seems to be about the best odor eliminator on the market http://www.88stink.com/ The source of the odor probably will always be there unless you deconstruct the whole trailer, moisture probably has caused mold and bacteria inside the walls and ceiling, that along with whatever living things have inhabited the walls and left remnants behind.

BTW Cool trailer.....

[dmb90260]

This was just on the Vintage Trailer Club yahoo group and some of the suggestions were:
AUTO Frebreeze sprayed everywhere (NOT the household version)
Febreeze towelettes left in every nook and cranny.
Many boxes of baking soda in the same nooks.
A can of dehumidifier from an RV store for musty smells.
"The old insulation was the cause (which was really gross) - had to eventually take off walls and replace with new insulation. "
Remove old carpets.

I am sure there are other suggestions our there. There are a number of yahoo Shasta groups they may offer ideas too.

Happy Smells to you

[karch67]

Thanks for the suggestions - for now I just want to do something to make it useable for the rest of the summer, long term I will need to pull the skin off and replace some rotting wood at the bottoms of the walls. I'm sure the insulation is holding a lot of the smell so it will probably have to be replaced.

[Micro469]

The musty smell comes from the spores of the mold residing in the trailer.
You can try to mask it , but you won't get rid of it until you get rid of the mold. I'd be concerned about the health hazard. If you have small kids , and yes, you and the wife, the mold can cause all sorts of health problems. They (Government) have closed schools and government buildings because of mold and don't reopen them until it has been entirely removed. This usually means removing all the drywall, and spraying the infastructure with some sort of chemical..(Bleach)? in order to kill it and then redrywalling , and painting before reopening the building. I was doing some cabling in a hospital last year that had flood damage , and to remove the mold they gutted the entire floor........

It's not something to be taken lightly.....

[jay]

ground coffee (Not coffee grounds)

spead it all over the place and shut the door for as long as possible. sweep or vacuum up the ground coffee.

[kiltedwon]

Just saw this post, but here's a shake in case you still have the problem.

This works best on hot days with canvas/tents/popups etc, but will work for yours too. Clean out trailer, remove/wash the bedding/upholstery etc. spray LYSOL everywhere that will accept a mist, leave a few windows 20% cracked open. Wait 24 hrs. if persists, repeat.

The benefit to this is it will kill the mold/mildew and neutralize the smell. The disadvantage is that this is not fixing the problem directly, just the symptoms. Mold & mildew are being fed/bred by moisture getting into your rig somehow. Best solution is to stop that from happening.

PS. I prefer the Original Scent as opposed to Lemon,Citrus, etc.

Good luck.

[bobhenry]

Disaster restoration with ServicMaster gets you into several interesting insurance dilimas. Smoke and fire damage smells are tough but the worst was a situation with ( Hold on to your breakfast) a 9 day dead body in the summer heat. Many janitorial supply houses have a number of air sanitizers that are designed to be fogged in with an electric fogger. You should be able buy the product they suggest and rent a fogger.
The secret is to close the trailer up tight and pressurize it with an industrial fan. This drivers the chemicals deep into cracks crevices and fabrics where it can sanatize and deodorize the problems.

[Laredo]

Done mold inspection and remediation professionally for years. You say you have visible water damage.
I guarantee you have mold behind/beneath the visible water damage.
You can deodorize, but you cannot (and there is considerable scientific evidence behind this) get "rid" of the odor permanently until you get rid of the mold / mildew / moisture-damaged substrates.

Spraying it with bleach or bleach solution, if you don't remove the water damaged materials and replace them, only temporarily 'knocks back' the mold -- new growth will come.

So to fix the stink, find and fix the source of water intrusion.
Remove and replace all water-damaged materials (flooring, insulation, paneling/drywall, sheathing, framing timbers).

[karch67]

Thanks for all the tips, I replaced the cushions and water stained seat plywood and the smell improved enough to make it useable this fall.

My long term plan is to strip it down to the frame and use the parts to build something like this: