Found mildew odor !!

We bought our travel trailer two years ago.  From the very first day there was a very strong mildewy smell near the table.  We never could find the source.  The cushions took up the odor so they sent us new cushions.  The odor continued.  Six months ago we took it to the dealer and asked them to locate what the problem was    Of course They could not find anything    Last week my husband took the table out and we began to investigate ourselves    We found the problem !    It was the two boards that are fastened underneath the seat cushion that you rest the table on if you make it into a bed.  They reaked!  My husband took them out and put them out in the back of our truck.  Within an hour camper smell had improved    The next morning when we opened the back of the truck however it reeked!    So they are going in the garbage can and we will replace them.  I cannot believe that that smell lasted for two years and obviously was not ever going away!  We are happy campers now and our camper smells normal for the first time    Just wanted to write this post in case any of you ever had an issue similar to this be sure to check out the boards 

Wow - what a story.  I'm so glad for you that you finally found the source and removed it.  I'm also grateful for your post just for future reference.

Glad you found the source of the odor. What did the wood look like? Meaning discolored, black, normal? Did you get a picture of it?

Great news.  Keep an eye on it though just in case there is a small leak somewhere.....

Hammster said:

Glad you found the source of the odor. What did the wood look like? Meaning discolored, black, normal? Did you get a picture of it?

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I'm curious about that myself!
What do you think it was?  Did a previous owner spill something?

i, too, am curious!  What had been spilled or absorbed into the wood that smelled?  Water, then mildewed wood?

The camper was brand new when we bought it.  There?s no water anywhere near them in that area  They are just stained pieces of wood or painted.  There is no telling !  The wood has been out of our camper for two weeks now lying on the picnic table and we can still smell it as we walk by outside !

Maybe it's Red Oak. A lot of people have a different name for Red Oak.

Amazing that it would continue to have an odor after not only 2 years, but even after sitting outside in the fresh air. Then you wonder if the wood itself wasn't fully dry before being used. Once encapsulated with paint/stain the moisture has taken longer to dry out.
Have you replaced the wood yet? Maybe with something from Home Depot or a lumber place of some sort that might have a dryer selection of wood.

kdbgoat said:

Maybe it's Red Oak. A lot of people have a different name for Red Oak.

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I've worked with red oak several times and never noticed this...but googled it after reading your post, and yes, it's a thing.  Apparently only some of it....

Ozium air sanitizer spray does magic for removing odors whether it's mold, mildew, wet dog, burnt food, cigar smoke, dead rodent, it does the trick. While whatever is causing the odor will have to be addressed, the Ozium can cure lingering smells.

Recently I've been getting mine (a small can) at Dollar General in their auto department for $3 though it's available at amazon too slightly cheaper.

https://www.amazon.com/Ozium-spray/s/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=i:aps,k:Ozium%20spray
A tiny squirt in an RV or motorhome will tranform the place to smell like... nothing!

The nothing smell is my favorite. Just clean smelling nothing. A tiny spritz does an entire RV or car. It seems to take an hour or so to really do its magic, not sure why that is, but I have no complaints.

The basement of my new used 5th wheel is carpeted and had a funny odor. I kept airing it out to no avail. Then I thought DUH try some Ozium. I spritzed that in it, closed it up tight and the next day I opened the basement to smell nothing.

When I was working on my old Class C to get her ready for sale, at the end of each day I would close all the windows, spritz Ozium and lock it up. Amazing each morning to smell that nothing!

Recently a friend of mine was trying to spring clean his RV which wreaks of his smoking and cooking odors and cat box. I gave him some Ozium as a gift. I said if you leave it by the door and spritz a tiny bit inside every time you leave, when you come home again, you will smell the difference. He said "Oh yeah I use to use that stuff decades ago when I sold used cars, I had forgotten about this, I didn't realize they were making it anymore!"

A few days later, I ran into him and he said his RV smelled so wonderful now he was compelled to do more spring cleaning.  :

It sounds like Ozium just masks the odor for a day if you have to keep using it. 

blw2 said:

I've worked with red oak several times and never noticed this...but googled it after reading your post, and yes, it's a thing.  Apparently only some of it....

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I Agree. I too work with a lot of woods, there are several Oaks that have Pungent odor.. Good or Bad, that never goes away. Some may Smell like Mold, or Mildew.. but it's just the Fragrance of [that] Oak. Red Oaks (?), my Dad called'm.. Stink Wood.

BIG JOE said:

I Agree. I too work with a lot of woods, there are several Oaks that have Pungent odor.. Good or Bad, that never goes away. Some may Smell like Mold, or Mildew.. but it's just the Fragrance of [that] Oak. Red Oaks (?), my Dad called'm.. Stink Wood.

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blw2 said:

I've worked with red oak several times and never noticed this...but googled it after reading your post, and yes, it's a thing.  Apparently only some of it....

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I bought a large carved rooster, about 3 ft tall, that made it as far as my garage the first day. The next day, the whole garage reeked with a musty odor, like a combination of mold and cow manure...  I gifted the rooster to my sister, (my sister named him Julio), and he now has a home on my sister's front porch.  Three years later, if you stand down wind, you can still pick up the odor. The wood has dried out and some cracks have appeared, but Julio is still fragrant.  Red Oak... Looks good but belongs in a barn.

If you go into a Home Depot or the sort, the stacks of plywood or OSB smells like musty wood etc. Its called chipboard also. My TT has the same seat bottoms made of this and it smells.

Roadhappy said:

It sounds like Ozium just masks the odor for a day if you have to keep using it.

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Doesn't mask odor, just zaps it so you smell nothing.

I was spritzing my motorhome at the end of each day while I was prepping it for sale, because I was cleaning, working, detailing it daily trying to remove all evidence of 8 years of 24/7 fulltiming with humans and dog plus tons of home cooking and occasional smokers etc. 

When I began showing it, I didn't want the buyer's first impression to include any odors at all, whether from cleaning agents or past living. I just wanted that "nothing" smell.  ;D

Believe me all that hard work was well worth it. I finally got the ad up late Friday night and by Sunday it was sold.  )