Suziesnowflake is spot on -- if the PO's had to replace subflooring, something's wrong. The problems with window flashing are espeically bad in stucco houses because the stucco traps the moisture inside. Our house was 6 years old when we started noticing a pretty strong musty smell in several of the bedrooms and in the laundry room. We had noticed the smell on and off for the past couple springs but it would always go away before we'd get worried enough to do anything about it. That year, the smell stayed and got stronger. We had no signs of water intrusion anywhere and no previous mold problems. We took the electrical outlet plate covers off the wall and noticed that the smell seemed to be coming from inside the walls. Also, the screws inside the outlet boxes were rusty. We had several contractors out and none of them could find any sign of a problem - a few of them even said I was crazy (not so bluntly but that was the implication) becuase they couldn't smell or see anything. Finally, one day, we pulled a piece of slightly punky wooden trim off the outside (the contractors all said that that's just a normal thing that happens to wood trim and we should just plan on replacing it once in a while). While we were removing it, the crowbar went through the house. All of the sheathing was completely moldy and rotten - you could put your finger through it. We ended up spending over $100K (none of it covered by insurance) to replace the entire outside of the house - we stripped it down completely to studs and drywall. Some of the studs had to be replaced. We had to replace all the insulation - it wasn't wet, but was holding the musty smell. We washed the worst of the mold off the studs with bleach. We reinstalled insulation, new sheathing, and new siding (while PROPERLY flashing the windows). It was a nightmare and we're still recovering financially and emotionally (I'm a stress eater and I packed on a good 40 lbs in less than a year from the ordeal). I hope that your problem isn't this serious, but if your home is recently built (last 15 yrs or so), there's a good chance that it is. After my hard-earned lessons on flashing and homebuilding techniques, I can even today drive around to new developments and watch new million-dollar houses being built with improper window flashing. This is going to become a big problem over the next 10-15 years as all of this hidden moisture starts to manifest itself. I'd definitely do some investigating since the sooner you catch it, the less there will be to fix (and maybe you can go after the previous owners for some of it if you can prove they knew there was a problem). Start by taking the outlet plate covers off in the rooms with the smell and sniff -- is the smell stronger in the outlet boxes? Are the screws inside the outlet boxes rusty? If so, you've got moisture in your walls and that's not good. I'll link to my website if you want to look at the gory details of our house....but it's not for the faint-hearted, LOL! And if you do look, remember that even with all that damage and rot, we never had ANY signs of moisture or leaking inside -- all we had was the smell which, like you said, was worst in the change of seasons (spring especially). Here is a link that might be useful: Worst case scenario....

Your new renovation has probably tightened up the room so much that it's preventing the pre-existing small amount of air flow from the crawl space into the room from escaping into the atmosphere. I take it no effort was made to install a vapor barrier in the crawl space? You might try ventilating the crawl space so that negative pressure pulls air down from the room into the crawl space and out and not the opposite way as it is now. Insulating previously uninsulated spaces in older houses often has unintended negative consequences - you may be trading increased energy efficiency for a disturbance in the existing intra-wall air flows. (That's usually the point of insulation and sealing it up, after all.) But those intrinsic air patterns may have been what was keeping the house dry and sound over many years. I'm not saying you should never insulate or tighten up an older house but you have to be prepared that doing so may upset an equilibrium, with harmful, or at least problematic, consequences. L.

You know that is a bad habit so BREAK IT! Even if you plan on being a bachelor for the rest of your life, you need to made a change. Did you notice the smell in the towels or the washer? Chance it is both. A front loading washer needs to be dried out in the bottom of the gasket, even the small lip toward the back. Clean all that area with white vinegar to kill the mold, then leave the door opened for at least a day, after each load, to be sure it is dry. May I sugest using a plastic clothes basket for a hamper. It doesn't close and gives things a chance to dry. I still recommend hanging that towel to dry first. The basket gives you something for carrying those clothes to the washer and also for bring them back to the bedroom / bathroom. Yes, I was scolding you! (for your own good, of course!) 8o)

It's easy to get used to stuffiness or various smells in the home (including stale cooking odors) and we might not realize it unless we go outside and come back in. We had fish on Sunday. I spent all of Monday getting that nasty smell off of my cabinets. I have to agree with you on opening the windows on a regular basis. I try to do this all of the time. Since I don't work and don't go out a lot, I'm in the house more and can tell when the air is stale. Sometimes I would use a vanilla oil near the kitchen. I can't stand spicy smells. They give me headaches. I run away from the scented store areas at Christmas. If someone boiled cloves and oranges or anything with cinnamon, I would probably turn around and head out. That house would be off the list for me. I like the idea of lemon oil or mint. Who makes the apple scented cleaner? I haven't seen that. The scents listed above are things that drive my eyes nuts. Even using lemon scented pledge gets me. Lavender is another scent along with "clean linen" scents. If you do decide to do some sort of scent, be sure to open windows to get clean air in too. The house will retain a little bit of the scent you used but it won't be as strong. I am always suspicious of any strong scents, be it cookies baking and other food smells, candles, potpourri, sprays, etc. as I think the seller is trying to cover up pets, tobacco, or other noxious odors. I got into burning candles after my dad died. A lady I know used to tell me she was lighting candles for me, saying her prayers. I ended up buying some honeysuckle & lilac candles when hubby & I went away after losing both of our fathers. I started burning them because the scents remind me of my dad. Thankfully this forum made me realize that others might not like candles I burn for enjoyment; if we have 24 hours notice, I make sure not to burn them.