Old Smelly Furniture
7 years ago
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- 7 years ago
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Smelly Old House
Comments (16)Just wanted to do a little follow up. I picked up a Frigidaire 50 pint dehumidifier, hooked a short piece of hose up to the rear drain, and left the other end hanging into the sump well, and let it rip. It's been running for about a week, and while I'll stop short of calling the results miraculous, I'll go so far as to say they were stupendous. The hygrometer started at 90% humidity on the day I installed, and it has been consistently falling, registering as 65% yesterday when I last checked. The atmosphere is markedly better. It still smells like a musty old basement, but the air is no longer thick with the smell of moisture and god knows what else. We had a hard, driving rain storm yesterday morning as I was leaving for work, so the house was basically closed up with the windows only open an inch or so. By the time I got home at the end of the warm, humid day, all I could smell in the house was the dog, no more musty, earthy basement smell. Bad news for the dog, but good news for me. Now, on to other items. Like sivyaleah, I also have an issue with water coming in on one corner of the basement, though it only seeps. You never see water down there, you just feel it, I guess is a good way to describe it. I feel like the dehumidifier could keep up with it, but I still would like to correct it. But I feel much better about the current state of things now that the dehumidifier is happily humming away down there. I'd recommend one to anyone who asks....See MoreA new, sad film
Comments (5)Motivation: You have to REALLY want to improve the house, not just "half-want" to improve it because you feel guilty that you "SHOULD" be living differently. Anything worth having is worth working for. How to start: Flylady says to start by shining your kitchen sink and keeping the dishes done. That's a no-brainer for me, so I'll suggest this: Flylady's "You can do anything for 15 minutes" really works. Set your timer for 15 minutes. Walk through a room with a trash bag. Pick up obvious garbage. You have Flylady's permission to throw stuff away, so forget whatever your mother told you about saving junk (you can designate separate bags for recyling and charity donations if that won't overwhelm you). Clear the walkways in every room, then the table tops and horizontal surfaces, then the closets and drawers. Do this EVERY DAY for 15 minutes until you're ready to move on. Yes, this could take a while. Be patient. Another thing Flylady says is you can't organize clutter. Not only that, I find it hard to clean around clutter. Once all the clutter is gone, you'll be able to do "real" cleaning with less effort. For example, it's hard to mop the kitchen floor if it's covered in boxes of stuff. Once the boxes (or whatever) are gone, it's a simple thing to mop the floor real quick. Your daughter is old enough to participate in the Timer Game, too. Also, to look at routines another way, you DO have routines! Your routine is to sit and watch TV and ignore the mess. You need to CHANGE your routine. Make it your NEW routine to get the dishes done and shine the sink (it's a "pride" thing, just trust us on this). Then set the timer for 15 minutes and get rid of stuff that doesn't belong, THEN watch TV. Here's a challenge: Do you remember Flylady's 5-minute Room Rescues? Set the timer for 5 minutes every day and work in the WORST room in your house. For only 5 minutes. Eventually you WILL see a difference. That's how I cleared out our basement. It would work in your bedroom, too. Getting rid of "stuff" is the more freeing than you'll ever imagine. Julie P.S. The first winter Flylady gave me "permission" not to save stuff, I was filling a 30-gallon Hefty bag PER DAY. FOR WEEKS. The Salvation Army loved me, and the trashmen probably thought we were moving. LOL...See MoreWould a new cat(s) pee in old cat's smelly pee spot?
Comments (3)Not necessarily so but yes, you could be headed into a problem. Scent is a big thing for cats and the new one may start marking because he smells marks on the rug already. It's probably going to be dependent on the cat. Why is your cat peeing on the rug? You didn't mention him having medical problems so that leaves a behavioral issue. What have you used to clean your rugs? If you can still smell pee in the house (unless its from a brand new pee episode) you haven't used the correct cleaner. I've learned the correct cleaner is a necessity. You've got to get a good enzyme cleaner designed for pet urine. Soak the soiled areas and you might have to go down to the padding/floor boards if it was deeply soaked. Sometimes you have to do it twice. It's a chore but try to eradicate any sign of odor to see if you can correct it if he's having a behavioral issue. (They sell black lights that you shine on your carpet in the dark and urine spots show up to help you find the places needing treatment). Does he seem lonely for a playmate? He might be happier living out his days as a solo cat if he's elderly rather than being introduced to a new guy. That's a consideration, too all dependent on his personality and age. I'd personally try to get his problem corrected before bringing in a new one. Pee smell in the house is awful! Remember, a new guy is going to cause him some type of stress which might exasperate the situation....See MoreWith recent talk of smelly washers, thought I'd clean my old Maytag
Comments (13)My water is softened then filtered. I have some suds no matter what I use. Some detergents I can't use at all because the amount I can use and not have excessive suds just isn't enough to clean anything. Having HE on the package really doesn't mean much in terms of suds. The lowest sudsing detergent I've ever used is Sunlight powder, not HE. Or maybe they didn't want to pay for the symbol? I often think moldy washers aren't just the result of fabric softener alone but FS and not enough detergent to compensate for it. There is extra oil left in the washer and on the fabrics after the cycle from the FS....See More- 7 years ago
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