Why Florida Houses Start to Smell Musty
In Northeast Florida, damp air is part of life for much of the year. Moisture that hangs around indoors is what lets mildew grow, and that musty smell is often the first sign of it.
The EPA recommends keeping indoor humidity below 60 percent, ideally between 30 and 50 percent. An inexpensive humidity meter tells you where your home stands.
Where to Look First
- Shower grout and caulk lines. They stay wet the longest after every shower.
- The bathroom exhaust fan cover. It collects dust and is easy to forget, so check that it is clean and the fan runs when you shower.
- Closets on outside walls. Air barely moves in a full closet.
- Under sinks. A slow drip can go unnoticed for months.
- Damp towels and laundry. Anything left wet in a closed room adds moisture to the air.
What Cleaning Can Fix
For everyday mildew on hard surfaces, the EPA's advice is simple: scrub it off with detergent and water, and dry it completely. Drying is the part people skip, and it is why the spots come back.
On our deep cleans, this is the bathroom work we do:
- Shower tile and grout scrubbed
- Caulk lines and grout deep cleaned
- Tub or shower surround detail cleaned
- The exhaust fan cover cleaned
Ready to get started?
When to Call a Mold Professional Instead
Cleaning removes what is on the surface. It does not fix the water that feeds it. The EPA says to fix leaks and other water problems as soon as possible, and that in most cases you can handle an area smaller than about 10 square feet yourself.
Call a mold professional when:
- The growth covers more than about 10 square feet
- There has been a leak, a flood or other water damage
- It keeps coming back after a full clean and dry
- It is inside walls, ceilings or the air conditioning system
We do not do mold remediation. We will tell you honestly if what we see is more than a cleaning job.
