Musty smells can scare off buyers
Musty or dank smells could be a sign of potentially health-threatening mold or mildew problems. We have been looking at several homes to buy, and have been shocked at some of the terrible smells inside some of the houses. We can live with the pet scents because we have dogs and cats ourselves, but we’re particularly wary of musty odors, because we fear they might be a sign of mildew or even mold. Are we just being paranoid?
Absolutely not. Musty odors consistently rank high on the list of buyer turnoffs, real estate agents say, in part because it could portend health-threatening mold or mildew issues. The source of the stench — often a damp carpet or wet ceiling tiles — must be removed.
Sellers usually can handle small jobs of 10 square feet or less safely by scrubbing the troubled area with water and heavy-duty detergent. It’s important to wear rubber gloves, goggles and an N95 respirator mask.
The respirators, which must be approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and the Food and Drug Administration, can be purchased at most hardware and home-improvement warehouses, starting at about $20. Larger jobs typically require a professional.
It’s also important to air out any damp parts of the home with a dehumidifier. For basements and other large rooms, researchers at Consumer Reports magazine recommend Danby’s model DDR60A3GP. It recently was on sale at online appliance retailer sylvan. com and some other websites for about $230.
For smaller, less dank areas, CR suggests the $220 Frigidaire model FAD504DWD or the $200 Sunpentown SD-31E.
Real estate trivia: A woman in New York returned from running errands to find that her husband had completely bulldozed their aging home without a permit — or her prior knowledge and consent. Police charged the man with criminal mischief and released him on $300 bail. You recently mentioned furniture retailer IKEA in your column. How did the company get such an odd name?
It’s an acronym, of sorts. The first two letters of “IKEA” represent the initials of Ingvar Kamprad, who was only 17 when he founded the ready-to-assemble furniture company in Sweden in 1943. The “E” comes from Elmtayrd, the farm where he grew up, and the “A” is a nod to his hometown of Agunnaryd.
IKEA owns and operates about 340 stores in 40 countries, including 40 outlets in the United States. It consumes about 1 percent of the world’s annual lumber production — a staggering figure for a single company — but has been lauded by several environmental groups for its efforts to restore forests and reduce pollution.
Is it true that the city of Seattle is now fining homeowners who throw food into their garbage bins?
It will be, starting July 1. The ban will cover both fresh food and spoiled food, as well as old coffee grounds, pizza boxes, dirty napkins and other types of “food waste.”
Though the program seems intrusive to some property owners, proponents say it’s for a good cause: meeting the city’s goal of recycling and composting 60 percent of its waste by the end of this year.
It’s expected to save about 38,000 tons of food garbage each year from being shipped to a landfill that’s 300 miles away, which would help to keep trash-collection fees low and reduce greenhousegas emissions.
Fines placed on homeowners who violate the law won’t be egregious. They’ll be $1, and will be placed on their bimonthly garbage-collection bill. Apartment landlords will get two free warnings, but then will face a $50 fine for each infraction.