The more facts given the better the possibilty your mystery may be solved. Style of home? Age of home? Location, rural, urban, what is in area, such as totally residential to moderate or heavy manufacturing, school, restaurants etc. As much info as possible. Mechanical system of home, forced air, electric, type of hot water heater and age, AC, age of systems, type of plumbing materials. What is the prevailing winds direction where you are. Have you asked your neighbors if they have noticed anything different . Has the simplest thing changed since this has started, new appliance, furniture, home project. Those are a few of many questions that we need to base a theory on. Can you send a picture of the house, all elevations, and a overhead photo from Google earth. This can be a simple as a bad hot water heater anode to a drip from a plumbing fitting.. Several of these simple questions can not be answered by some homeowners, it may surprise you as how little residents know about their houses. The time of day this becomes a problem is good start, what happens at night that changes during the day, opening doors and windows happen, sun comes up, home is warmer, AC goes on, the world wakes up all types of activity comes to life. From factories running to laundry being done. More info=better solutions. It's usually the simplest thing that gives us the answer to a problem. As well the smallest thing we overlook as having nothing to do with it. You have to provide more information. Someone asked recently to help I.D. a terrible smell, one of those driveway sealing crews did a few homes blocks away.

I have an older Duet WFW9750. I always wash my towels using the Whites cycle on hot and with the extra rinse. Generally the light soil level is enough. I usually wash 10 towels per load. No odors here, even with wash cloths. However, I will say that when I attempt to wash the same load using the same setting but using warm water, my towels do not smell nearly as clean. Also, the Normal cycle is a no go for towels! As always, I highly recommend washing your towels as we all have suggested, but also adding 1 cup of ammonia to the dispenser after the machine is done filling, approx 5 minutes. It should remove any body oils or other residue in the towels. Just be sure you are not using chlorine bleach in the same cycle! Keep us updated!

Your question about a musty odor reminded me of an article I read a few years ago about unclean food establishments. The restaurant inspector/author said that a musty odor indicates rats. Whenever he entered a restaurant with a strong musty odor, he knew there was a rat infestation. I suggest this: Borrow or invest in a trail (motion detector) camera. Est. $150. Use it to detect what's causing the musty order because I'm pretty darn sure it isn't the termites or termite damage. It could be mold or mildew from water damage or it could be vermin.

will check out Ikea--there is store about 30 min away from us... yes--will definitely air it out and would not really be good idea to open that window--we are in DFW TX area--winters are cold here and summers are hot/humid--it would not be that easy to open/close it either... we don't have to move in right away--we are getting carpets cleaned and probably cleaning crew to do the whole house--they would not pay for professional cleaning in contract--said they had a maid and would leave it clean... will have to see but we don't have to do it as soon as we close... would not mind getting a louver door--that door is MDF solid I think vs wood--but the top and bottom are not really that large-- don't know that a grill would look good if it is metallic/dark bronze to match the hardware-- it might be too noticible...matching the paint with other trim 3 yrs old might be problem--might be better to try for stained louver door... I want to get an energy audit done and get estimate for installing radiant barrier in the attic spaces...maybe they can check out the venting in pantry as well... Here is a link that might be useful: air return register in dark bronze