topic antiques question.... in Home

antiques question....

Mom2Dogs — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 23:14:20 GMT

@depglass...I recall on another thread you mentioned you were an antique dealer...I have a question.

What is the best method of getting a musty smell out of old furniture?

We have a beautiful old dressser in the bedroom, it has been there for 40+years...recently we 'smell' a musty smell in the bedroom, thinking it is the dresser.

After all these years could it emit a musty odor? It's very odd...nothing has been added to the room. The one other thing I thought of was our air conditioner (in the window)....maybe that is where the smell is coming from, but furniture was the first thing that came to mind.

Any thoughts, thanks!

Re: antiques question....

Kachina624 — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 23:28:27 GMT

I thought you paid extra for an authentic musty odor.

Re: antiques question....

Q4u — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 23:42:05 GMT

I used to deal antiques as well and I used the jars of odor gels (can be found in supermarkets/WalMart pet Dept and Ace Hardware. I've done it with dressers (one open jar in each drawer) close the drawers and just wait it out. I bought a humpback trunk for near to nothing because you could smell the mildew before you rounded the corner. I put in two jars in that trunk and waited two weeks. The smell was gone, but I would have done it again for two weeks if it hadn't. Make sure there is no mold along with the mildew. This is also good for purses with Cigarette smell (can't stand it).... take a plastic bag and blow some air into it, open all compartments of the purse and put the jar of gel in the bag with the purse. Can be repeated until the odor is gone.... worked well for me!

Re: antiques question....

Q4u — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 23:46:40 GMT

Just read that it might be the air conditioner.... you'll have to turn the AC off and take out a drawer and put your head into the dresser and take a few whiffs... while you're in there look around with a flashlight and look for actual mold! If you have mold then you'll have to kill it with a bleach solution.....

If it's the AC you'll have to take it apart somewhat and see what's going on in there.... sorry.....

Re: antiques question....

Mom2Dogs — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 23:50:01 GMT

@Q4u, thank you for the tip! It's just odd that after all these years the dresser is emitting an odor....if in fact it is the dresser.

Re: antiques question....

Mom2Dogs — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 23:51:02 GMT

@Kachina624...not on purpose!

@Kachina624 wrote:
I thought you paid extra for an authentic musty odor.

Re: antiques question....

Mominohio — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 23:53:00 GMT

My guess is that it isn't the dresser all of a sudden, but more likely the air conditioner or some part of the house/room that is having dampness issues.

Re: antiques question....

Q4u — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 23:54:42 GMT

@Mom2Dogs wrote:
@Q4u, thank you for the tip! It's just odd that after all these years the dresser is emitting an odor....if in fact it is the dresser.

That's what I was thinking unless the humidity from the air conditioner has amped up some mildew already present (but not causing a prior problem)! Good luck!

Re: antiques question....

Mom2Dogs — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 00:28:29 GMT

I cannot imagine where there would be mold, except for the AC unit...there is no dampness in the house that I know of......

Hope it is nothing serious, we have been bleeding money the last two months......

Re: antiques question....

shaggygirl — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 00:58:41 GMT

Have you been cleaning (or replacing) the window air conditioner filter on a regular basis?

Re: antiques question....

Mom2Dogs — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 01:27:09 GMT

@shaggygirl....well.....no.....it occured to us earlier when we noticed the smell.....we are going to investigate it more on Wed. or Thursday...the upstairs is really hot. I so wish we had central air, but that's never going to happen.

Re: antiques question....

BirkiLady — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 01:54:55 GMT

@Mom2Dogs That AC acts as a humidifier and is constantly removing moisture from the air. If you don't keep it cleaned and replace the air filter regularly per the instructions, I would guess you'll find a lot of mold/mildew lingering inside the AC unit. I wouldn't want to be living or sleeping in that room; it's not healthy. Clean it immediately before someone ends up in the ER or worse.

Re: antiques question....

shaggygirl — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 06:31:01 GMT

@Mom2Dogs wrote:
@shaggygirl....well.....no.....it occured to us earlier when we noticed the smell.....we are going to investigate it more on Wed. or Thursday...the upstairs is really hot. I so wish we had central air, but that's never going to happen.

It's such an easy thing to check the filter and clean it or replace it, why would you wait a few days?

Re: antiques question....

Mom2Dogs — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 10:42:04 GMT

@shaggygirl....the filter is not easy to get to or we would have done it right away.....I plan on picking up a repacement after work today.

The unit only runs a couple of hours at night. and only when it is really hot...yes I know, if there is mold a couple of hours is to many...thanks

Re: antiques question....

shaggygirl — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 12:13:34 GMT

@Mom2Dogs wrote:
@shaggygirl....the filter is not easy to get to or we would have done it right away.....I plan on picking up a repacement after work today.

The unit only runs a couple of hours at night. and only when it is really hot...yes I know, if there is mold a couple of hours is to many...thanks

Oh okay. Usually you just pull off the front grid to take it out and clean or replace it. In any case just for the heck of it I googled about how to clean out a window unit if it has a musty smell from mold. The most important ingredient being, as one would expect, a very mild bleach/soap/water solution to rid it of the mold in addition to the washing or replacing of the filter. It's a fairly simple project. Good Luck.