House Smells Like Hot Attic

The unpleasant odor can also attach itself to items stored in the attic.

House smells like hot attic.

Musty dirty animal and moldy smells in an attic create an unpleasant surprise when you go up to this easily overlooked space in the house. I would say eliminate the smell through ventilation. It might be you have a gap or air leak in the returrn air duct that is allowing this smell to get into ductwork. Another potential source of attic odor is from a combination of rodent droppings and urine when mice or rats take refuge in the attic they are naturally going to do their business here.

If the smell persists after the firebox has dried following this cleaning call in a chimney sweep to clean and inspect your chimney. However attics can also have problems such as a musty mold odor that are normally associated with basements and cellars. Most likely the smell will be knock you out strong in one particular area and that should be able to help you identify the source whether it s in the attic basement or some specific wall. This is a combination of lumber insulation shingles all getting cooked in this hot attic air.

What causes that old house smell three things that musty old houses have in common. And infiltrate the airr in the duct even though it s not running. The musty mold odor can creep down from your attic and take up residence in other areas of your home. Sniffed the walls the floor outlets ac vents no moldy window sills and it s mostly in the doorway.

There are other holes as well like where the wire from your light switch travels up into the attic. If you notice this type of odor coming from your attic avoid entering it unless you are wearing a proper respirator. Where those wires punch through to the attic are rarely sealed properly or at all and that is just one more path for hot air to travel down into your house bringing that lovely odor with it. If that s not the problem vacuum and then scrub the firebox the area that contains the fire at the base of the chimney.

Little ventilation high humidity and darkness says bill carroll jr an adjunct professor of chemistry. Chimney smells can be drawn into the house when these are left open.