old second hand furniture, musty, dampy odours, dirty ...

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Hi,

My girlfriend recently bought some second hand furniture: a chest of drawers, and a small bedside unit. These items are probably around thirty or forty years old, made form that darkish wood, and they smell.

Hard to describe the smell, but its like that dingyish, dampyish, old, stale smell you get in certain charity shops.

We put some of my clothes in there, and the clothes ended up picking up the smell, so we don't do that anymore.

We've tried scrubbing the drawers, baking soda, "cloves", leaving it in sunshine, and so forth, but that smell just wont shift.

I think we should just bin the items or donate them, cut our losses, but before we do that, is there a remedy I am not aware of?

Thanks
 
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Only my opinion mate but if what you have done has had no effect, it's time for the paraffin and match treatment......
My biggest worry with old furniture is introducing the furniture beetle :eek:
John :)
 
Only my opinion mate but if what you have done has had no effect, it's time for the paraffin and match treatment......
My biggest worry with old furniture is introducing the furniture beetle :eek:
John :)

hahaha .. hmm paraffin and match, so crazy it "might just work".

Yeh it might be time to try to maybe ebay it.
 
Not the answer you're looking for, I had an old wooden cupboard taken out of a garage being emptied, it was the perfect size to fit a gap in my shed.

Mice had been living in it and it STANK of mouse p*ss, even after cleaning.

I painted the insides of it with gloss, and it then smelled of fresh paint not mouse p*ss, a vast improvement :)
 
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Not the answer you're looking for, I had an old wooden cupboard taken out of a garage being emptied, it was the perfect size to fit a gap in my shed.

Mice had been living in it and it STANK of mouse p*ss, even after cleaning.

I painted the insides of it with gloss, and it then smelled of fresh paint not mouse p*ss, a vast improvement :)

Perhaps it is mousepiss!
Not a bad idea! Is there anything I should do first before applying the gloss? perhaps scrubbing it with bleach first, then some undercoat or something?
What kind of gloss?
We did actually try painting it too - on the outside! one of the drawers got stuck! oh dear!! haha
 
Please understand, my reply regarding incineration was somewhat tongue in cheek :p
Good luck with sorting things out!
John :)
 
Please understand, my reply regarding incineration was somewhat tongue in cheek :p
Good luck with sorting things out!
John :)

huh? Too late mate! Found a quiet spot near my local park - I used lighter fuel though
 
When people ask about smelly cars, a common cure is to place a tray of vinegar in the car for a few days. I don't know why it works, it might be the acidic vapours kill the smell producing bugs. So you could try placing trays of vinegar in the drawers. Just be careful not to spill them when pulling drawers in and out. Maybe deep pans would be a good idea.
 

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