First thing you need to do is get the humidity in the 35% range your house is much too humid. Surprised your walls are covered with mold.

I've lived in South Florida my whole life, and I've NEVER seen a home with below 45% humidity levels. When it's rainy and hot outside, levels in the 55-65% range are VERY common.

35% is unheard of without a dedicated dehumidifier in South Florida.

Also, these humidity levels are consistent throughout the whole home, and no other rooms have this odor.

Anyone?

35% humidity would give me nose bleeds from being so dry millworkman.

From what your query states the smells started when you powerwashed. (A very good post may I add, you hit the who, what, when and why very well, something most don't take the time or have the writing skills to do).
The power washing and the smells timeline makes it more than a coincidence. They penetrated the stuco, probably at the soffit connection or more than 1 window or door opening. Keep doing what you are doing to dry out the home. That's about all you can do without tearing out copious amounts of drywall and vapor barrier. Proper power washing is more than pointing a wand and having at it. It can cause much damage if that operator doesn't know what they are doing. A friend had to pull all of his vinyl siding off and try and dry it after he soaked the sheathing below by spraying upwards. It's better to live with a bit of dirt on the exterior of a home.

Wish you luck

Southern,

Thank you for the reply. I'm guessing that water from the pressure washing penetrated the stucco and has been fermenting between the block. I'm considering opening up a large panel of drywall in the other room and running a large air mover.

I'm working on sealing the stucco this weekend, as well as the wall and foundation in the event that there are small fissures leaking water into the slab (highly doubtful - as there is no wetness on the floor itself).

Thanks again. I'll keep trying to isolate the problem.

Could there be a roof leak or plumbing issue getting into the wall?

I thought there might be a roof issue - however I don't see any moisture spots on the ceiling or drywall. Just this awful smell.

I tested a few things today - first of all, I closed the door to the closet which has the bad smell. I ran a fan inside the closet, but with the door closed. Within 24 hours, the smell in that room was 20x worse than it was before. I opened the door, and placed the fan pushing air OUT of the room, and the smell immediately improved.

I have a new TRANE A/C unit in that side of the house. It's a 13 SEER 3-ton unit to cool approximately 1,000 sq ft. I have the fan speed set lower to pull more humidity out of the rooms. My humidity levels are averaging about 50% at any given time.

The crawl space does not allow me to get over top of the room that's having the majority of the problems, as the roof pitches down on an angle.

Any other advice?

It's hard to say without getting into the attic.

Since you have a crawl space there may be water standing under house. This will cause molding and rot of the sub-floor, something I have had to deal with.

You could look under the house and check the roof soft spots and broken shingles.

I already have a trench dug out in the front of the house right now, as I have sealed the lower portion of the foundation (subgrade) and am in the process of installing a french drain (6 mil plastic + corrugated pipe + rocks + drain pipe).

Before I do the french drain, I'll dig a larger section to get underneath the foundation of the house and check if there's standing water accumulating.

If I do see standing water underneath the foundation, and the source is not related to a pipe (plumbing/sprinkler/etc), what would I do? Hire a company to suck out the water and pack it with sand?

Also, how deep do you think I should go under the foundation to locate standing water? Is there any particular meter, device, or test I should use to determine the moisture content of the soil and decide if that has anything to do with the issues?

First, let me say my house has a crawl space. The problem I am currently dealing with was all the rain we had last year. The ground had soaked up to the point becoing oversaturated and the water was rising from the ground under the house. At one time there was about 6 inches of water that would rise like a tide everytime it rained.

I put several high cfm vent fans around the crawl space and let them run 24/7 for about 2 months. This dried out the standing water to being just mostly damp dirt. I then got some BoraCare with mold treatment and sprayed the entire subfloor, brickwork and ground to nutralize the mold. Then ran the fans one more week to dry out out the dirt. Then I laid plastic sheeting over the dirt. Afterwards, I sprayed the subfloor with a foam insulation that comes as a A/B mixture called a close cell froth pack. I applied this at 1 inch thickness and completely covered everything. Unfortunately I didn't have enough money at the time to get the second froth pack since I ran out of the first one before completly finishing. This spring once the weather gets above 70*F I'll finish that project.

The idea behind using the close cell foam is that it totally encapsulates the bottom of the house from the outside/underside. It won't matter how much water/moisture,etc is under then.

If you are on a foundation you may only need to seal it.

Biodole, I also live in Florida and have the exact same problem as you. Mine affects multiple rooms, but one of them is unbearable.
A few years ago the drywall and insulation was replaced along with the carpet. It seemed to be good for while but the problem is back.... I removed the drywall again, this time I am coring a few holes in the block wall from the interior to see what is going on.... I would like to get in touch with you to compare notes. This problem has stumped many professionals... It's driving me nuts...

Biodole, I also live in Florida and have the exact same problem as you. Mine affects multiple rooms, but one of them is unbearable.
A few years ago the drywall and insulation was replaced along with the carpet. It seemed to be good for while but the problem is back.... I removed the drywall again, this time I am coring a few holes in the block wall from the interior to see what is going on.... I would like to get in touch with you to compare notes. This problem has stumped many professionals... It's driving me nuts...

Hello, hopefully you still follow this feed. I'm suffering the same exact problems as you have all stated above. New roof, new ac and duct work and no visible mold, mildew or wet spots. Have removed drywall with no results. Did anyone here figure out what their problem ultimately was?? I'm seriously losing my mind at this point.

Sorry to hear! How is your house constructed? Is this on the first floor, is there a basement, what are the walls made of? We'll need more info and/or pics to do any good.

Thank for sharing you problems and the comments are great ideas. I’m having the same problem in Alabama, we add an addition to our home several years ago and the smell started recently. We located a hold in the concrete block where the smell is coming from in my basement we poured bleach in the hold the smell went away we sealed the hold an it came back later. We dug down to the foundation poured concrete and later clay dirt no water is coming into the house walls and floors are dry yet the smell is back. The bleach process started over again and we don’t know what do next.

Thinking about a French Drain.

Let’s keep sharing ideas.

I had a guyvcome over to clean coveref gutters and a corner that had bees he used Dawn and cinnamon now house is so musty we can’t stand it -we are over 70 and husband wuite handicapped. We are not rich nor do i know what to do - help help!! who shouldvi call?

@HU-152546386 - You should start your own post so that you will receive some help. I’m sure that there are people who will have ideas.