Damp smell

[Shangri-laschild]

I have a couch that I had been keeping in a storage shed. Apparently there was a slight floor leak and now that the couch is in the apartment, we are noticing that it has a bit of a damp smell. We've been spraying it with febreeze spray (the type for pet odors since that's what we had) and while it's gotten it down to a much better level, it's not quite all better yet. There's no other damage otherwise, and it's not a strong smell. It would just be nice to be able to get the smell out all together. Anyone have any ideas? It's one of those older couches that you'd expect to see in an old lady's house. Heavy with thick fabric. I just really don't want to have to replace it, not to mention the huge amount of effort it took to get it into the house in the first place.

[BarbieGirl]

I would probably get one of those mold test kits before you spent any money trying to get rid of the smell.

[Shangri-laschild]

Good point, thanks.

[BookstoreEscapee]

If it's the kind of couch I'm picturing, I'm guessing you can't take out any cushions and whatnot to let them dry thoroughly.... First make sure there's nothing nasty growing in it, as Barbie Girl suggested; then you might want to consider either renting (or borrowing, if you know someone who owns one) a steam cleaner, or having it professionally cleaned. A while back, I spilled milk all over my couch-type thing*; I had my dad bring over the steam cleaner to make sure I didn't end up with my living room smelling like spoiled milk.

*It's actually two recliners, each with only one arm, that can be pulled apart and used as two separate chairs, or kept together to make a loveseat (there's a bar in the back to keep them from sliding apart). At any rate, the cushions are not removeable.

[tropicsgoddess]

The mold test sounds like a good idea, but try sprinkling some baking soda on there to get out the smell. Shoot, try the Lysol or Oust too.

[Sliceanddice]

mold test, backing soda steam clean also if you live in a dry area and have privacy (i did this once with and old chair that smelled... like old wet dog) take it out side where the sun can get it, put on something to protect the fabric turn it upside down to get where there may hahve been wet (my chari i sjust had to remove the seat cushion to do this but it sounds like your affected area is underneath) and place some drier sheets along teht bottom and let it kind of .... bake for a coupe of hour.any remaining mositure will dry up and the drier sheets will add a nice scent.
if you cant do it out side i think the same thing can be done with a hair drier and some patience.

[SteeleDragon78]

you might try putting it in a room with 4 or 5 space heaters and cranking them up to 90 or 95 and leaving it for a couple of days to ensure its fully dried out.

[Shangri-laschild]

It was dry by the time we got it out of there, it just smells like it's gotten damp still. Not quite mildewish but just a bit of a damp smell. It took forever to get the couch inside in the fist place, so if it's possible to take care of it inside, we're hoping too. We'll check on the mold kit and I'll keep all the suggestions in mind. A lady at the store said they put charcoal in disposable baking tins and set it around stuff when they had water damaged stuff. Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm going to try various things and see what works, though hopefully the charcoal one will work since we were going to buy some anyway.

[Der Cute]

the good part about charcoal? You can burn them, therefore eliminating the smell totally.

I'd go ahead with the previous poster's tips...baking soda on top, charcoal on the bottoms...and good luck!

Use your nose, see if there's a concentrated smelly spot?

Cutenoob