Leave your windows open as much as possible. Encourage air movement, either with a slow running ceiling fan, or with cross ventilation.

Or,

Use an air exchanger.

Thanks for responding, roxsol. Our windows are open most of the time from spring through fall except when it's raining heavily. We have and use fans.

A dehumidifier works for me. I can always tell when the humidity is high because a musty smell comes out - mainly, I suspect from all the books and vintage/antique wood furniture in our home. Hubby's drumset and bags, which have been in many bars over the decades also contribute a lovely ashtray aroma 😄

When the weather's hot like this, I can't run a dehumidifier, since it warms up the space, but our A/C has a dry mode and keeps the humidity low, but when it can't keep up, I use this sparingly - it is a spray, but it works very well:

They also make a solid I believe.

Thanks, Carol. The smell isn't musty. We don't want sprays. We want something that just "is" ... not something with a scent in it that we have to spray to only cover up odors. I do appreciate you taking the time to respond!

Since your windows are open, is it possible to odors are from the outside?

" is it possible to odors are from the outside? "

Yes, I was about to say that - if I leave my windows open in the spring, there's a distinct smell of fertilizer in the house.

Maybe 'musty' wasn't the right word, since it doesn't smell like mold or mildew. I've always assumed it's old tobacco smoke &/or food & trash can smells, which makes me think about how much that smoke smell must have permeated every space, along with clothing and hair, back in the days when everybody smoked everywhere...

My DH has a sensitive sniffer. He's even knocked on the door of a stranger's house because he smelled gas while walking along the sidewalk.

He's been saying that there's an odor in one of our less-used bathrooms. I didn't smell it, and when a plumber was here for another job, he didn't find anything. Yesterday DH again complained.

We checked the shower drain, the sink -- including the overflow -- and the toilet bowl. Ran the exhaust fan. What's left?

I took the top off the toilet TANK. Oh boy, MOLD! After a thorough cleaning, I think that was the problem. I've been putting water in the shower drain periodically, but I also need to flush this toilet.

I don't believe I've ever needed to scrub the interior of a toilet tank before. Did I miss a lesson in good housekeeping?

I have been really happy with the air purifiers I bought to eliminate wildfire smoke from the house. Some years the air quality here is so awful from smoke that you cannot open the windows, but the smoke still permeates everything. I love the way the house smells when they are running and sometimes I will run one in the guest rooms if they haven't been occupied for a while. I keep the doors closed because they stay more dust free, but sometimes they get a little stale smelling. There is no odor from them. Just clean air.

There are many brands on the market - when I did research a few years ago, these were some of the most highly rated. I bought two large ones for my house, one for the upstairs and one for the downstairs. I bought two smaller ones for my grandson's rooms at each of his parents' houses because he has asthma and the smoke was really hard on him. They are both really happy with theirs, as well. Maybe buy a small one; it will probably do the job of freshening your home in the main living area and if you are happy, you could add another as needed. Stay away from Ozone types.

Blue Air

good to know chisue i was also told to periodically spray a little bleach-let sit and then pour some hot water in the sink overflow. They can get moldy and need to be flushed.

I still have a few diffusers around. The kind with sticks in a liquid. I LOVE coming home after being gone and smelling their perfume. DH isn't a fan. But then he thinks garbage cans should be open at all times because everyone wants THAT smell in their house! If it were me I would check the garbage receptacles. It's odd how even 'just paper' garbage cans can get to stinking.

I have several air purifiers that are very helpful.

I am in your boat. I think for me it has to do with an old house and old furniture. We have been seeing somewhat of a difference and are in the process of replacing furniture.

I'm going to look into the air purifier that Oly mentioned.

Does your furniture need to be cleaned? It can hold odors.

I would work hard to find and eliminate the odor source rather than try to mask it.

SuzieQ- I’m very sensitive to smells and chemicals, etc. I have a Coway Air Purifier that I keep running 24/7. Wonderful! As well, on occasion I use a spray that eliminates odors without covering them up. It’s called Zero Odor and I get it on Amazon. It has a very slight chlorine “tracer” scent added so you know where you’ve been spraying. That goes away after a few minutes. Very effective and they have a whole line of products including for laundry, pets, etc. I’ve been very happy with both the air purifier and the spray.

Bluebell has a good suggestion. Upholstered furniture, bedspreads, throw pillows, even curtains need a wash periodically. Have you gotten behind on your kitchen detail cleaning? Buildup of deposits from cooking inside the hood, top of fridge, on other nooks and crannies and surfaces can subtly smell "off".

I've used a pan of activated charcoal near the cat litter boxes & it seemed to work. I've been told that a dish of coffee grounds will also remove odors, but I've not tried that.

Than you all for taking the time to respond. I do appreciate it.

It's not our furniture or area rugs - they're all new enough and get vaccumed or cleaned regularly. It's not coming in from the outside. It's not the garbage can. It's not the pets. It's not from llack of cleaning the kitchen.

Oh well. I'll just carry on. It's just occasionally. So, this thread can die.

Just a thought: We have 6 bathrooms. Each has a KaBoom "system" we put in it. It uses bleach tablets. I like the clean, fresh...presence of bleach. Take a look...click

Olychick -- I'm happy to hear about a good filter, but my experience with them has been that the filters are very expensive. How much does it cost to run one of these for a year?

If it is in a bathroom that is not used much, This is what we did in one when I worked at a hospital. Once a week we ran hot water down the drains. Then poured hot bleach water water down all the drains. wait about 5 or ten mins between each pour, and then lastly do another run of hot water. This was an ICU room that was closed with a sliding glass door used only now and then for people in iceolation

Chisue, I have never run mine continuously, only during smoke events and occasionally as I described above. The filters for my large models are expensive, but for me they last a decade. The electric costs are negligible because the units dont heat or cool the air. The smaller units I linked have an outside cover that is washable so it catches dust and pollen, which allows the interior HEPA filter to last longer.

Suzieq are you not willing to try an air purifier? It sounds like you think no solutions were presented to you to try.

My DH worked briefly in pest control. The owner turned us on to this product. I happen to have one still unopened. The prior home where we used these might have been beyond hope but I do believe it helped a little. LOL

Have you tried baking soda? Also, plain, unscented clay kitty litter, nonclumping, is supposed to work.

We have air cleaners bought from Lowes, for dust and pollen. It is a Honeywell. We like them enough, I bought two.

Sometimes you can't smell your own home, but someone who doesn't live there can. Ask a close friend if they would to help ID the scent for you. That may help guide you toward eliminating it.

Also, do you notice it more in one room over another? Or is it just when you walk in?

I know a few times a year, my house will smell like cat urine to me...but I know the source. It's from the boxwoods growing out front. If the window is open and the weather is just so, I get that fragrance.

My lower level had a fragrance that I didn't like so I used a diffuser in the guest bath. It wasn't an unpleasant smell...sort of like freshly poured cement...but it wasn't what I wanted the room the guest suite to smell like. There was no fixing it as it is a cement floor on a lower level, so it is what it is. I think it has dissipated some over the years though.

Suzie, it is hard to stop this crowd after you have given us a bone to gnaw on like this.

Odors in our homes is something that most of us can relate to easily, and beyound solving someones mystery smell, there is much to discuss about household odors and also our responses to them.

I can pick up something from the home of one of m friends and tell you who's home it came from by the smell. It is not because they are dirty or smoke or any of those obvious things. It is just their own personal smell, what their house is made of, what products that they use, what food they cook, what animals they live with and maybe, even, what they work at doing.

So many talk of odors as if they are something that should not be. But, they do and they play important roles in our human interactions.

However, in our modern chemical world where our homes are chock full of all manner of synthetic and textiles, home furnishings and cleaning and grooming products and even new baby diapers, we are awash in all manner of off gassing odors from it all. I avoid any and all overtly perfumed products

I use as little of anything as I can get away with, keep my house open and aired as much as possible, keep wet things out, have no carpet, very little upholstered furniture and a house empty enough of things that there is an echo. I stiil lay awake sometimes and smell various odors that I cant identify. I have often thought of asking a friend for thier opinions as to what I am smelling. I suspect that some of what I am smelling in my house is off gassing from foam upholstery and bed pillows and even cotton fabric. Bed pillows I will sometimes cut open the casing on the pillow, wash it with a bit of bleach and sew it back on. I also will take these hot , hot summer days and take each pillow outside to bake in the hot sun. I lay them on the hot deck and leave them for a couple of days. Or, put them in black plastic and then put them in the hot sun.

I have the top shelf of my closet where I am storing antique quilts. Some of them are approaching 100 years old! I can smell the musty smell from those as they decompose, slowly.

so, that is my thought----off gassing from home furnishings and those body odors on the bedding.are the culprit.

I dont find the odors of my friends houses to be offensive. None are dirty or smoke or have animals roaming the house. Most of my friends are of like mind as myself and dont use perfumed stuff.

Now that I have delineated what I think that causes odors, let me ask you---WHERE DOES ALL THE DUST COME FROM?

Ok, open windows can invite pollen. Given. But this goes on all year!

I have minimized and eliminated as many soft furnishings as I can and what remains gets cleaned or washed, including the ONE window curtain that remains.

I use the dryer very little, preferring to line dry as often as possible. And, that exhaust vent is clean.

I dont do a lot sewing and cutting and textile arts that generate lint.

I have no carpets.

I have no animals.

I dont live anywhere near any industry or large scale construction.

WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?

This stuff appears like magic!

I have found that the best way to clear it from all of the convoluted surfaces is to use the blower end of my shop vac as it it were a leaf blower. I open the door and chase it out with the blower. Yes, it does set the dust airborne , but I can see the stream of debris blowing out the door. It gives me a new respect for those guys who chase loose leaves around with the leaf blower. There is a practiced art to corraling and directing loose dust or leaves so that it does not pool back on you.

But, there is dust, regardless.

I know that some here will say that blowing it only resettles it. I understand that. But the dust will come no matter if there is any blowing ever going on. And not as if it gets done everyday.

It has got to come from the limited textiles that I do have and some comes in from outside, but there is so much of it in every remote corner!

By the way, I have found that using the blowing end of the shop vac to clean the car is amazing! Just open all the doors and windows and blast it all out! I learned this from when my son was a teen and working for a car detail place. They did not suck it up. They blew it out! I have not vacuumed a car since that time. Amazing how a blast of air can get into places where the strength of the vacuum cant reach. You would think that each function would have the same force and action, but they dont.

Since I dont have any carpet to speak of, I find that the shop vac does all I need both indoors and outdoors.

I get it out and blow out the garage about once a week. I get everywhere, in all the corners, under the fridge in the garage and into all the places where there are webs and bug debris.. I dont understand why so many leave that part of the house uncleaned. I keep it as clean and free from debris as possible. I even gave it a good mopping last week. Also decluttered and dejunked it years ago. The easiest space to clean is one where there are not lots of items sitting on the floor. I even prefer to have any cabinet or fixture elevated off of the floor, if possible. Good flow all the way around makes for an easy clean.