My classroom has a sort of an enduring musty, foody smell to it. (or so I’m told; I actually don’t notice it much). The carpet gets cleaned every few months, so it’s not that (or at least not just that).
Airing the room out is hard, as the windows don’t open. I don’t want to just mask the smell by spraying flowery air freshener; I also can’t really do anything that has a risk of damaging the property (computers, etc) in the room, or intruding on the facilities people’s job.
Suggestions?
The first thing is to check all desks and storage areas for what was at one time food.
Bring a dog into the room after hours and watch them travel about the room.
Red flag - Steam cleaned? as in wet down, vacuumed up and left to dry? If carpet doesn’t dry quickly enough, mold can grow in the padding and that gets stinky, even if it looks nice and clean on the surface. You say there’s not much in the way of ventilation - that can keep drying times long.
My first thought exactly. I would think vacuuming every few days and steam cleaning once a year (preferably at they driest time of the year) would be plenty. Steam cleaning too often is a perfect way to keep a nice healthy mold culture growing.
You could try a dehumidifier. We have had great success with using one in a part of our house that rarely gets used. It usually smelled slightly musty in that part of the house until I added the dehumidifier. You don’t need to keep it cranked to “Sahara-Dry” either. Just a low setting at night might do the trick. Of course, this assumes that the classroom door is closed at night so that you wouldn’t be trying to dehumidify the entire school.
Downside – dehumidifiers aren’t cheep. Home Depot has three models listed between US$209.00 and US$259.00.
Mold was my first thought as well. Can you pull up part of the carpet and have a look underneath?
Also, you could try some Spider Plants, Chlorophytum comosum, to clear the air.
sounds like mold has taken hold either in the carpet (no amount of cleaning can get it out) or in the wall insulation. In either case the only solution is to locate the source and replace it. As an alternative, dehumidify. mold requires relatively high humidity to thrive. Keeping the room dry won’t kill the mold but will but it into a dormant (well less active) state and reduce the odor. Tell your principal that kids might get sick in your classroom and maintenance needs to rebuild the room over the summer. It won’t happen right away but at least you will be on the list.
Thanks to all for the input.
I should explain – this isn’t a public school classroom; I teach at a small private college. There has been food in the classroom, as the other teacher I share it with has had a habit of leaving food and especially dirty plates in drawers. There isn’t any there now so far as I can tell.
The dehumidifier can be done, and I’ll have the maintainence people look into mold. Like the idea of some plants, too. I don’t really have a place to hang spider plants, though. Any other ones that would work?
The maintenance department can probably get you an automatic Ozium dispenser from their suppliers … it actually works very well and is not a fragrant cover-up. The 9000 shot size lasts 3 months.
Here’s a quick, easy, cheap answer. Get a bag of charcoal, dump it out in a big pan or box and sit it in the room. Charcoal soaks up nasty smells.
We were given this tip when we had a musty, moldy smelling basement after some flooding. It worked like a charm. It’s not an instant fix, but it will work.