Destroying that Damp Basement Smell

Close your eyes for a moment and imagine a damp basement smell. If you have ever lived in a home with an unfinished basement, or even visited a home with one, you know the smell I’m talking about. And it is not a pleasant one. This lingering smell is not only hard on your nose, but on your health, because of the danger that creates it – mold.

Mold thrives in damp, unkempt environments, and unfinished basements meet these conditions. Mold growth in a basement negatively affects anyone who enters the home, even if they don’t set foot in the basement. This is because as warm air rises, it escapes out of the upper levels of a home, and new air is therefore needed to replace this escaped air. This creates an airflow in homes from bottom to top, and basement air is sucked up into the upper levels of a home. Building scientists have found that 50% of the air you breathe in on the first floor is air that came up from the basement. This means that the high humidity levels, dangerous mold spores and damp odors festering in the basement are now festering in all parts of the home.

Health Risks

As the damp and dangerous basement air travels throughout the entire home, it creates serious health risks for you and all other people living there. The most obvious health risk is due to mold, as mold makes those sick with stuffy noses, scratchy throats, coughs and more. The smelly air is evidence of poor indoor air quality, which is also dangerous to residents of a home with this problem. Poor air quality leads not only to the development of mold spores but also to dust mites, which are the #1 indoor allergen that those with asthma and allergies react negatively to. This is very dangerous for people with these problems and creates very unpleasant and unhealthy living conditions. Going further, breathing in mold spores negatively impacts your respiratory system, and is likely to lead to the development of asthma in a person who has never had, and never would have had, this condition. Overall, the mixture of poor air quality, humidity and mold in a basement creates a perfect storm of health issues on everyone inside an affected home.

Prevention and Treatment

Before you can prevent and treat the problems in your basement, you must understand what is causing all these issues in the first place. The culprits are humid air and wetness. Decreasing humidity levels and keeping the basement dry are the most important steps to take in order to prevent these problems from taking over your basement and to ensure that your entire house is a safe and healthy environment.

To get rid of the dangerous mold growing in your home, Healthy Basement Systems recommends our CleanStart program, which removes all sources of mold growth. Once the mold is gone, you can treat your entire basement to guarantee the mold will never grow back, eliminating major health risks in your home!

To treat high humidity levels and stop mold growth, it is best that you purchase a dependable dehumidifier to keep your basement air cool and dry. Healthy Basement Systems recommends the SaniDry Sedona, a dehumidifier that dries the air in your home so well that mold doesn’t stand a chance! The SaniDry Sedona is Energy Star rated, and is the most efficient dehumidifier system in the world. The machine’s air-drying system is powerful and automatically drains water out of your basement, keeping it clean, dry and safe. Another preventative measure in maintaining good air quality is to keep all basement windows closed, as moisture can enter in through these windows.

 If you follow these steps, your basement air is guaranteed to be dry and your basement mold-free. This allows for your entire home to be safe and healthy. Additionally, the clean and dry air means that those with asthma will not have to worry about dangerous reactions and those without asthma will not have to worry about developing the condition.

Close your eyes for one final moment and imagine breathing in fresh, pure and clean air. There is no musty, damp smell. This is the kind of healthy air that Healthy Basement Systems desires all customers to be breathing in.