Good morning, friends! I thought today I’d give you an update on where we are with the funky smell in the family room. As you know from THIS POST, I can still smell something funky in the family room.
The mold remediation guy came back and sniffed around. He doesn’t think there’s any water or moisture under the floor because the wood isn’t showing any signs of damage – no cupping, no film on it, the finish on it looks fine. Same thing with the drywall – no signs of water damage or water getting in.
So, he thinks that either (a) the finish on the floor is off-gassing a funny smell or (b) the smell is coming in from outside, from the doors or windows, and staying in the middle of the room because there’s not much air circulating in the room.
Let me deal with (b) first: I don’t think that’s right. First of all, I had thought of this about a month and a half ago. To solve this problem, we made sure that we limited the air flow under each door by installing heavy-duty sweeps under the door. You can’t see daylight around either door in the family room. Also, the floor by the far wall, which is nowhere close to those doors, has the smell. So, I’m discounting this theory.
Now to (a): This is more feasible, although I’m skeptical. The finish on this floor is the same as the finish on the guest room floor and the laundry room floor, and neither of those rooms has the smell. Moreover, you would think that, after cleaning the floor with both Lysol and Bona (separately; not both at once!), the smell would abate. But it hasn’t.
So, where does this leave us? Well, our faithful contractor is going to check with the flooring guy to see which finish he used on this floor and whether he’s ever had this problem before. The mold remediation guy is also going to check his files to see if this has ever come up before. I have cleared that room – moving nearly all that furniture into the living room so that we can use the comfiest couch! – and am running fans and air purifiers in an attempt to air out the room as best I can.
Are we any closer to finding a solution? Nope. I am not even sure we’ve properly diagnosed the problem.
P.S. I promise I have not abandoned The Friday Five! I was out of town for two Fridays this month and, last Friday, I was focused on the smelly smell in the family room. I promise it will make a comeback and THANK YOU for enjoying that series!!
Dogs Don't Eat Pizza 
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