# removing "mustiness" from books **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 27, 2003, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-mustiness-from-books/221322 "2003-12-27T22:53:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-mustiness-from-books/221322/1 "2003-12-27T22:53:39Z")
I just picked up the rest of my scrapbooks from mom’s house, but they have that musty smell about them. I know there’s a trick to getting rid of it, but can’t remember, any suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-mustiness-from-books/221322/2 "2003-12-27T23:06:32Z")
Try putting them in some tupperwear with baking soda. Make sure you put the book inside something so you don’t get the baking soda all over it. ---
**Author:** ![funneefarmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@funneefarmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funneefarmer)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-mustiness-from-books/221322/3 "2003-12-27T23:42:52Z")
My aunt used Kitty Litter recently on an old musty book. I’m assuming she used a new bag. ---
**Author:** ![Never\_to\_be\_Queen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Never\_to\_be\_Queen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Never_to_be_Queen)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2003, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-mustiness-from-books/221322/4 "2003-12-28T03:17:38Z")
You could try to put it out in the sun on a nice day. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2003, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-mustiness-from-books/221322/5 "2003-12-28T04:29:01Z")
My daughter works in a used book store, and says that she THINKS that you need to microwave them. I’m not sure how this would work with scrapbooks, though, since I don’t know what things you’ve put in them, or how you’ve attached things. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2003, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-mustiness-from-books/221322/6 "2003-12-28T04:54:32Z")
Just did a bit of Googling: [http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/cdl/1997/1179.html](http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/cdl/1997/1179.html) [http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/bookarts/1997/12/msg00055.html](http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/bookarts/1997/12/msg00055.html) (suggests creating a chamber for the book and then placing the book and odor absorbing material in the chamber, without touching, gives examples of materials) Reading several of the websites (my terms were “musty book odor” without the quotes) many people report some success in using cat litter or baking soda or charcoal (NOT the kind with the lighter fluid already in it, by the way) as the odor absorbing material. Some also recommend sunshine. While sunshine will deodorize and clean a good many things, I would be very wary about using it on a book, particularly a scrapbook, as it also tends to bleach things, and break down paper. So I’d use sunshine as a last resort. The microwaving mentioned above, by the way, is to completely dry the book out. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2003, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-mustiness-from-books/221322/7 "2003-12-28T05:13:58Z")
I borrowed a book from a friend and due to a leak books near it were mildewed and my friend’s book smelled. I researched what to do. I placed it in the sun indoors and had a fan blowing over it. I left it there for two days, every once in a while I would move it and open it to a different spot. After that I sealed it in a plastic bag with juniper berries and cloves for two weeks. I gave it back in the bag and the owner still keeps it in there (it’s a cookbook) because she loves how it smells. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2003, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-mustiness-from-books/221322/8 "2003-12-28T07:52:54Z")
These sound like some good ideas. NTBQueen, my mother-in-law suggested the same, so that’s the forst confirmed suggestion. I’ll try some and let you all know how it went. Well…no I probably won’t. Who gives a shit if my little problem is solved. But I really will try some of these. Lynn, screw the books, you gave me more to read!!! (I love to read) _smooch_ ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2003, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-mustiness-from-books/221322/9 "2003-12-28T08:02:04Z")
Lynn, just read your links, you are a god/goddess (don’t know your sex). How the hell do you find this stuff? I LOVE SDMB! ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2003, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-mustiness-from-books/221322/10 "2003-12-28T13:28:03Z")
I’m female, and Cecil’s own Angel of Death. Since you seem to be unfamiliar with the term Googling, I’m going to assume that you’re new to the internet, or possibly new to search engines. My apologies if I simplify things too much. I do not mean to patronize you. I used the Google search engine, and put “musty book odor” in as the search terms, without the quotes. My Google preferences are set for English language only, because I can’t easily read other languages, and non-filtered. When the search results came back, I looked at the little descriptions that Google gives, which is just a couple of lines of quoted text. I also looked at the url of each link. For instance, one of the first links had “stanford.edu” as part of its address. This means that it’s probably from Stanford University (the .edu suffix means educational) and so I thought it would be a good place to look first. I opened the link and read it, to make sure that it addressed your problem. I did the same for a few other links, enough to see that just about all of them recommended baking soda or cat litter. There were some links that did not seem to be useful to you, for instance some books listed for sale, so I didn’t mention them. There is a [sticky thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=149223) at the top of the General Questions forum which lists a great many reference sites. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2003, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-mustiness-from-books/221322/11 "2003-12-28T13:47:06Z")
must learn Google…awaits a private beating from Lynn. I’m so lost.