Musty smell after sitting a long time

[Bob_Shaw]

Despite one of my earlier posts about using Sunpacs, due to health reasons, my 5th wheel has set idle for the past 2 - 3 years, and has developed a bad musty/mildew smell. We took the couch out and put it into the house and the smell was enough to drive you out of the room, so the smell has permeated everything. We are planning to go camping (finally) in a couple of weeks, and we need to deal with the musty smell. So far we have used Fabreze on all the fabric, wiped down all of the woodwork, with the Fabreze dampened rag, used carpet fresh on the carpet, mopped the linoleum, and washed all the bedding. It smells much better, but is there anything else I can do to reduce/eliminate the smell? My next project is to wipe down all the walls with bleach water, and totally wash-down all the cubby's.

As far as I can tell, I do not have a leak, at least not one that is visible. The trailer did sit for a couple of seasons in Florida, without the Sunpacs, where I did not have enough power to run the A/C, which is what I think got the mildew/mold issue stated.

[Bob_Shaw]

This started when I left it sit in Florida a couple of years ago and then didn't use it. I did leave a small electric heater on in it this winter and have been running the air conditioner on about 76 deg. all summer, so far. My wife can still smell some mold smell, but mostly I just smell Fabreeze and carpet fresh now. It's better, but still there. I did find a leak in the wall in the bedroom slide-out where the outside trim at the bottom of the wall was not sealed properly and that's now sealed. So far, I have not found any other leaks
.

[doxiemom11]

Mold and mildew need moisture and lack of air movement to grow. Open it up, put a fan running inside to keep air moving while you clean. I'd use bleach water on surfaced that I can. Be sure to dry every surface you clean and do not shut cupboard doors until totally dry inside. ( Some of the odor could be coming from the A/C) I would install new filters there) Run the A/C to help reduce moisture.

[Whaler]

Pull out all drawers to make sure no paper or mildew is in voids around cabinets. Had a smell and it was an old newspaper that escaped the drawer and turned musky. Put out some odor pacs found at walmart in pet section and rv supplies. Some have activated charcoal to soak up smells.

[js6343js6343]

I hope I am wrong but IMO...

Musty odor = leak = damage = Delam.

If it were my RV, I would not give up until I found the source.

[memtb]

I hope that I'm wrong here,and I don't know how unit was stored (inside or outside), but is it possible that you had a roof or wall leak (around a window)? That could/would certainly give you that musty, mildew smell!
As far as the remedy, I think others have given some good info. Good Luck, and again,I hope that I'm wrong!

[toedtoes]

Try Nature's Remedy rather than Febreeze - it's pretty good at eliminating "natural" odors.

Wash everything down and dry it well. A bleach or vinegar solution should help cut down with odors on wood, vinyl, etc.

Open up the RV and let fresh air and sun get in - that can really help.

Replace anything that won't eliminate the odor.

[bdpreece]

Buy or rent an ozone generator. Kills mold and mildew and removes smells. I got mine on Amazon.

[JimK-NY]

Fabreze just covers up the odors temporarily.

Bleach is very effective in killing mold and mildew but I would not want to wash all the surfaces with bleach. There are treatments just for mold, but warm soapy water should do it for the hard surfaces. The big concerns are fabrics, carpeting, couch and mattress. You might want to consider renting a steam cleaner for the carpet. That might also help with the couch. I assume you have also removed and cleaned any curtains. Also pull the mattress(es) out for a thorough surface cleaning and make sure they are dry and aired out as well as possible. If you have an older mattress now might be the time to consider a replacement.

There are plenty of companies that do mold remediation. You might want to have it professionally treated. Sometimes remediation means replacing carpets, mattresses and couches. Mold testing can help determine if that seems necessary.

[Veebyes]

Will let you know in 3 weeks. Ours has been sitting untouched since November. The usual drill is to load it up with drier sheets & mothballs, mostly to discourage critters from using it while we are gone. Seems to work.

After 6 months we are greeted with a bit of a mothball odour but that disappears with the mothballs & a few days of open windows.

[troubledwaters]

You need to put a couple of dehumidifiers in there and dry the place out. Then after its dried for about 3 weeks, vacuum every surface in there including every nook and cranny; don't leave any square inch. Wash everything that is washable: curtains, bedding, clothes, and both sides of every cupboard door and every other surface in there. Use the furniture attachment on all the furniture. You're going to need to keep a dehumidifier in there running for the next year or two to keep the mildew from reoccurring. Mildew is insidious; once it starts it don't leave very easily. Mildew thrives in humidity, no humidity, no mildew.

[JaxDad]

Water, buckets or small wash tubs (mostly full) or water. Change the water every day, twice a day if you can.

It's an old school hotel-keepers trick to eliminate odours.