Got an old hopechest at a rummage sale and it smells very musty, baking soda and aring out didnt work, any As?

Question

the old hopechest has cloth lining it and i doubt i can rip it out to replace it. i left it outside open for like two weeks and it didnt work. then i tried baking soda with it closed, that didnt work either, then i tried spraying it with disinfectant spray and leaving a portable air freshener in it, and the smell still came back.....any suggestions?

Answer 1

Try placing a couple of cups of vinegar inside the chest.  When we first moved into our house, our closets were very musty...  nothing worked to remove the smell, until I placed a cup of vinegar in each closet.  I don't know how it works, but after a few days, the musty smell was gone!

Answer 2

My neighbor got an old chest that didn't smell so good and I told her to put crumpled up newspapers in it.  Replace the newspapers every couple days and the smell should diminish.

Answer 3

I would line it with cedar liners, or put in cedar blocks, you can find them in the closet area of a discount place (wal-mart, target, k-mart).

The other thing that I had done once with a dresser I had that smelled musty was put in a plate sprinkled with cinnamon. I changed it out every couple of days and about 2 weeks later, the smell was gone.

Answer 4

Try charcoal.

Many shoe inserts use charcoal to absorb moisture and odor.  And, I've found that it works  on molds too.

Our church just moved into an old building.  Many of the rooms hadn't been used for YEARS!! And, there was a lot of mold on the walls.  We bought a couple bags of regular BBQ charcoal and the mold and odor was removed!!

All we did was spread the charcoal out on a sheet of plastic and walked away.  A week later the mold was gone, without any residual odor from the charcoal.

Since this is a hope chest, this may of may not work.  But, I thought it was worth sharing!  Good luck!!

Answer 5

is there a padding under the cloth? it sounds like the smell is coming from mold or dry rot on the inside. I would try febreeze and if that doesn't work I would take my chances and rip out the cloth lining. If you think the hope chest is valuable you could always take it to a pro and have the inside relined.

Answer 6

You could try placing dryer sheets in the bottom of it. Replace them now and then. Eventualy the wood will take over the smell of the dryer sheets. This is what we did with my moms hope chest. My great grandma gave it to her when she passed away when i was 15. We used the dryer sheets just to keep it smelling nice until we could figure out a way to get the musk smell out. Turned out after a while the wood just absorved the flowery smell. Good luck

Answer 7

Two words - FRIDGE IT.

Someone else also mentioned charcoal.  Go get a few of those Fridge It activated carbon odor absorbers. - little purple cube - don't waste money on the imitations.  Just put them in the chest and forget about it.Totally unscented so it actually eliminates odor rather than covering up with some nasty fragrance and totally safe to use.

I've used these for spilled something in my purse, closets, cabinets,worst smells in fridge and ice in freezer. Also, took care of spoiled fish in car which was really bad. Also have two cats and use these on litter box - they are FANTASTIC No spills or chemicals to worry about. You can buy these in kitchen gadget stores or just go direct which is what I do - contact them at [e-mail] and ask for order form. You get it right away.

Definitely the way to go. try it.

Good luck