Since I last posted, I've narrowed a few things down. One of the rooms that was affected (there were 2 rooms total), has been fixed. The french drain I installed around the perimeter of the front of the house, where water was creeping under the foundation, seems to have fixed the issue in the larger room. There is now no more musty smell in there. However, the other room, which is a "closet" that backs up directly to a bathroom, still has the odor, which has actually gotten worse. The smell is definitely partially sweet, and partially musty. I've cut the drywall all the way around the room to see if there is any signs of water damage, dead animals, etc inside of the walls. Interestingly enough, the inside of the walls that butt up to other rooms, smell fine. The walls that have concrete on the other side, have the odor present (perimeter walls). The only two things I haven't addressed yet are the roof (I'd have to cut the ceiling open because there is no attic access at this point for how low the roof pitches). The other thing would be the foundation (slab). I have fairly expensive laminate flooring and underlayment in that room, which would have to be removed, and the floor would have to be inspected for dampness. However, given the circumstances, it's been narrowed down quite a bit. The room has 4 walls (2 butt up to exterior concrete and 2 others butt up to interior rooms), a standard hollow core wood door, a West-facing window, and a drywall knockdown ceiling. There is only two piece of furniture in the room, which are bookcases. One is MDF (still wrapped in plastic to hold it together before I bolt it in), and the other is pine wood, also wrapped in thin plastic to protect it. I've just put two large shop fans, a big air purifier, an ionizer, and ozone generator all in the room with a big bucket of damprid (although humidity levels in that room are only 49% in south florida, which is fairly average). I've also sprayed half a can of lysol air spray into the room. I'll let you guys know how that works out, and hopefully we can figure it out. and ESMAN - let me know your notes as well. Thanks.

I rented a thermal camera from Home Depot. What it shows is that everything is a cool temp except for the perimeter/border of the shaft just where the skylight attaches to the curb. In that perimeter it's showing bright red in the thermal camera. Everything else - the glass itself, the shaft, the ceiling - are green or blue in the camera. Outside temps at the time were about 80-82. I showed it to the skylight contractor, and he said he cannot explain the red perimeter. Do any of the experts here have an explanation? I am wondering if the size of the skylight and the curb don't match, or there is some kind of sealing problem between the skylight and the curb. I am hoping for some expert advice from this forum. TIA.

Millworkman, thanks for the video link. That's totally different from what I expected. He deliberately leaves a gap between the siding and the frame. I guess that some or most of the rain water would run around the j block, but it seems as if part of it would still run behind the siding. However, I found this photo, which seems like it might be a good idea. Where the flashing comes down, would we have to notch the siding panels? You wouldn't want them to snap together over the flashing, would you?

JuneKnow, you do not know what you are talking about. The contractors are NOT talking to each other about how they can fleece me. That is absurd. The problem is that I don't know what are the correct installation methods. Most homeowners don't! We have to trust people because they are the pros. AND... I am not looking for CHEAP contractors. My roofers drove over two hours away because they were the ONLY licensed roofers I found. Oklahoma did not require roofers to have a license until 2011 or 2012. BUT, no one in Oklahoma does anything about the illegal contractors out there. I have complained and called the Oklahoma licensing board. This is a Good-Old Boy state. Drywall contractors drove from the metro area and screwed up my drywall seams. Appliance repairman drove from the metro area and my oven needs repaired again. He also scratched up my cabinets. Pool repair guy came from metro area and screwed up my pool liner. The list goes on... JuneKnow, you have NEVER been helpful with your comments. Many people have posted to ignore your comments. You seem to have no purpose except to degrade homeowners who are doing the best they can with limited knowledge. I don't know why you like doing this, but, please don't bother answering my posts. I can live without your unhelpful and asinine comments. I don't accept incompetence...and I don't know people are incompetent until they have done the work incorrectly. I don't know that the work WAS done incorrectly because I am not an "expert" like you. You seem to believe that HOUZZ is only for "pros" to get jobs and resent anyone who does DIY. It is also for homeowners to ask questions. That is why Garden Web forum was added to HOUZZ. For everyone else, I am beyond frustrated right now and beyond pissed at JuneKnow, but I apologize to anyone else. Weedmeister, did you have a chance to look at the pictures of the hot water tank? Ron, thanks. I had the electrician back out to question him. He says the boxes with blanks inside the wall are legal and that any inspector would approve them. I called another electrician and paid him to come out. He said they are legal because the house is "grandfathered in". His exact words. A third electrician said "because the work was minor and no walls were moved or added that the work is grandfathered in." His exact words. I don't trust anyone now. I will call the electrician that I used before he moved two hours away and beg him to drive down here. I hope he will. He fixed a lot of illegal electrical work in 2012 before he moved away. I think we spent over $42,000.00 just for the electrical work that he did. Part of the problem is that apprentices learn "on the job" here, so they think they are experts. If the licensed contractor that they learn from is incompetent, then the student will be too, but they don't know they are incompetent. The homeowner doesn't know either.