Four Ways to Banish a Musty Basement Smell

Sometimes basements are just damp — it's a consequence of being underground — but moisture could also be coming from a water leak or condensation. If it's something simple like condensation on your pipes, you can eliminate or reduce the problem yourself by wrapping them with insulation. A more serious problem like a sewer backup or a crack in the foundation will likely require professional help, but unless you address the source of the moisture the problem will keep coming back.

Use dehumidifiers to remove moisture from the air in your basement. If your basement has windows, keep them open for a few hours and use a fan to circulate fresh air into the room.

White, distilled vinegar has the ability to kill 82 percent of mold spores. Use a mixture of 50/50 water and vinegar in a spray bottle and heavily mist all affected areas.

To keep recurring odors to a minimum, try placing charcoal briquettes around the basement — the plain kind you use in a barbecue grill, not the easy-light kind with lighter fluid in them. Deploy them any way you like; a dozen or so in two or three pie pans placed around the basement is a popular method. Charcoal will absorb odors but won't kill the cause, so if you have a finished or semi-finished basement, a fresh paint job (with a good odor-blocking primer if the drywall itself is the source) goes a long way toward eliminating odors for good.