our house just started smelling like 'attic'

[llhightower1]

Our one story house was built in 1983. We've lived here two years and have done extensive remodeling inside. Now, certain parts of our house are smelling like "attic". I keep thinking that the attic door is open or something. The smell is not going away. It is causing some members of our family severe respiratory distress (they are severly asmthatic). Help!! What could be the cause? Thank you, llh

[Crash]

Could be due to air pressure, prevailing winds, or any variety of mechanical oversights that might cause attic air to be sucked into the living space.

What you need to do is isolate the problem. "Smells like attic air" is a great start since you have something to go on (beats: "it just doesn't seem right".)

Does it smell all the time? If it does you need big, honkin fans to exhaust the house so you can start to isolate where the smell's coming from (bottom up, attic down, from the vents?). Call a flood damage restorer in the yellow pages to rent big honkin fans.

If it's not "All the time", you've already got a head start to ask "When does it smell", "where does it smell" and the cooresponding "what else is happening when it starts to smell". Either way, you'll either hunt it down by following the source of the smell, or you'll get at it by connecting some event (IE: when the A/C turns on) to discover the source.

[llhightower]

If it's not "All the time", you've already got a head start to ask "When does it smell", "where does it smell" and the cooresponding "what else is happening when it starts to smell". Either way, you'll either hunt it down by following the source of the smell, or you'll get at it by connecting some event (IE: when the A/C turns on) to discover the source.[/quote]

What you said makes sense, except for we need the dumbed way down version.
It has only happened recently, and it is only in certain parts of the house. I can completely tell which parts. It smells a two specific points in the hall, in one bedroom, in part of one bathroom, etc. Knowing that, call me stupid at this point, but what do we do from there? It smells when the a/c is off. Improves, but isn't eliminated when the a/c is on. The weather has been particularly stagnant and muggy lately. There is a light fixture in all affected areas (which of course leads to the attic), but now what? I can't see any other common denominator. If nothing obviously looks out of place in the attice, what do we do? Again, I need the dumbies version of this. Thanks for you help!!

[BrooklynRowHouse]

It has only happened recently, and it is only in certain parts of the house. I can completely tell which parts. It smells a two specific points in the hall, in one bedroom, in part of one bathroom, etc. Knowing that, call me stupid at this point, but what do we do from there? It smells when the a/c is off. Improves, but isn't eliminated when the a/c is on. The weather has been particularly stagnant and muggy lately.

Central A/C? Have you checked to make sure the A/C's condensate drain isn't clogged? When I read "attic smell" I think mildew.

[Crash]

Are you sure the "Attic smell" is coming from the attic? Here's how I'd try to isolate that...

First, I'd verify that your specific attic - smells like the thing your smelling. Simply go to the attic and say "Yeah, that's the smell I'm talking about!". If the attic actually smells different, then we need to change the term: "Attic smell" to "Unexpected smell" to accurately describe the issue.

If it is an "Attic smell", then I would get a ladder and stick my nose right up under the light fixtures and sniff. It may be obvious that this is where the smell's coming from.

Or, I would get a couple of cans of really disgusting (sugary-sweet) bathroom deoderant (aka: a marker smell) and have someone spray them in the attic to see if that smell makes it's way into the house.

[S]

It actually sounds like it might be bypasses to the attic....maybe some of them are new from construction. Can you go up into the attic and seal any recessed lights, chimney, plumbing, venting, etc. that runs from your lower level through the attic with caulk, expanding foam or packed insulation ? Usually you lose heat/cold by air flow up.....but smells can also flow down.

I have an upstairs bedroom off of an attic and the attic smell disappeared when I sealed off the baseboards, etc.

Do you have good venting from your attic to the outside? Keep ing that air circulating will help prevent the attic smell in the first place.

As a bonus, this will help weatherproof your house...keeping it cool in the summer & warm in the winter.

[katbrams]

We just fixed this problem in our newer house (2011). The attic smell was coming in from an air return vent. This vent was constructed of studs and drywall as in most newer homes. We installed a false ceiling inside the air return with 2x6 boards cut to fit by nailing them in with a nail gun. We then used foil tape all around the seams of this new false ceiling. It fixed it! We had to build the false ceiling because we have a tray ceiling in that room. You may be able to skip this step and just foil tape all the seams you can reach, both on the ceiling inside the air return and a bit down the sides. You could also try Great Stuff foam, but we found it impossible to work with while spraying vertically and upside-down. The foil tape was much easier. It helps to prefold it into the shape you need while it's on the backing because it's a bit hard to manipulate once it's off. Watch out for foil cuts on your hands! If you don't want to do it yourself, a handyman should be able to do something like this for cheap. No need to bring out an HVAC or drywall/insulation company unless the problem seems more extensive. I attached a picture of what we did in case it helps anyone!

[Pnwdav]

Okay, so I know this is a very old thread. But I'm wondering the original poster solved their problem. And if so, how?