How To Get Rid Of Damp And Musty Smells In A Rental Home

Meticulous cleaning isn’t enough to impress your fussy landlord when vacating your rental home. Each room should smell pleasant and refreshing without using any store bought hazardous room freshener. Unfortunately, high humidity, salt air, and condensation in Canberra rentals can lead to mould infestation and a musty smell.

Whether your rental home is newly constructed or decades old, excess dampness is a common issue that could put your bond at risk. Though mould removal is excluded from a standard bond cleaning checklist, ensure you avail additional services if your agreement mentions a specific requirement before the final move out.

Here are some effective, proven strategies to eliminate dampness and musty odours from your rental with ease. All you need to do is control moisture levels to achieve clean, breathable indoor air.

Let’s Get Started!

1. What are the Causes of Musty Smell in a Home?

Before getting into the process, it is essential to know the common causes of a pungent smell. These are:

• Excess moisture in the air creates the perfect environment for mould and mildew to thrive and spread.
• Mould and mildew stains in dark, damp areas.
• Poor ventilation in kitchens and bathrooms
• Leaking pipes, clogged garbage disposal, etc This also leads to stale smell.
• Carpet stains

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2. Control Humidity Levels in Your Home

This is one of the easiest ways to control humidity in your home. Installing dehumidifiers can make a world of difference. It can help manage indoor humidity, especially in basements and crawl spaces. Make sure you set the levels to around 50% relative humidity. This will prevent condensation, dampness and mould infestation in your rental home.

3. Ensure Proper Ventilation: Open Doors and Windows

Air circulating in your home often carries pungent odours due to poor ventilation. To get rid of the musty smell, open windows and doors for a few minutes to improve indoor air quality. You can also place a table fan near windows to remove stale smells from your rental home.

Clean your windows, sills, blinds and curtains to prevent the spread of dust, dirt and allergens. You can use microfibre cloths and dusters to achieve the best results.

4. Combat Mould Stains Naturally

First things first! Inspect the damp and dark areas like bathroom showers, curtains, basements, ceilings and underneath your kitchen sink to address nasty mould spores. To kill them, you can try the following products:

• Hydrogen Peroxide: Spray 3% hydrogen peroxide on mould laden surfaces like tiles, grout lines and curtains. Leave it for a few minutes and gently scrub.
• White Vinegar: You can remove mould from windows, doors, and ceilings using white vinegar and warm water.
• Tea Tree Oil: It also has antifungal properties to help kill mould spores easily.

Make sure you rinse with plain water and let it dry completely to prevent regrowth. This can effectively banish musty smell from your rental and streamline your bond refund process.

5. Clean Your Delicate Furnishings and Flooring

Food spills, pet stains, and mould embedded deep inside carpets and couches may contribute to a musty smell. Professional end of lease cleaning Canberra experts recommend a thorough cleaning of delicate surfaces to banish bad smells.

You can either hire experts for deep carpet cleaning or steam clean your carpets yourself. Pre treat them with a vinegar and warm water solution, then run a steam cleaner to remove stains and bad odours.

When cleaning your upholstery, read the labels and cleaning instructions even if you are using mild or eco friendly cleaning products.

6. Is it Important to Clean Air Filters?

Yes, these tend to trap pollen, allergens and debris and spread musty odours into the air. It can even trigger pre existing allergies. So, make sure you deep clean the filters using all natural products. First, vacuum it, then soak the filters in hot, soapy water. If required, replace it with a new one.

7. Use Baking Soda as a Natural Cleaner

Baking soda is one of the most versatile green cleaning products that can neutralise bad smell, including damp or musty odours, with ease. Whether you want to refresh your dirty carpets, unclog sink drains or clean the tiles, this cleaning agent can do wonders without any stress or chaos. You can even use it in preparing DIY room fresheners to banish unpleasant smells naturally.

8. Use DIY Room Fresheners

Go creative with natural ingredients and prepare something reliable yet effective to freshen up your home. Whenever you prepare natural cleaning agents, add your favourite essential oils, such as rosemary, lavender, orange, eucalyptus, etc. These will keep the air fresh and toxic free.

Stovetop Potpourri is also a trending way to kill musty odours. Boil dried flowers, oils, and herbs in water and let them release their aromatic scent. If you are still wondering how to pass the rental inspection, compare DIY vs Professional cleaning benefits. If your budget allows, then hire experts for a budget end of lease cleaning Canberra and avoid bond dispute at the end of your tenancy.

Infographic For Easy Ways To Banish Musty Smell From Rentals

Wrapping Up

Tackling damp and musty smells requires proper maintenance of the property and the use of natural cleaning products to achieve the best results. First, identify potential sources of unpleasant odours and freshen your rental home with these simple, effective strategies.