<p>Is there any way to rid a dorm room of odor? My daughter moved into her room yesterday and the room as well as the hallway have an odor. I really can’t tell if it is a musty odor or just a plain stinky smell! There was actually a mother that walked into one of the rooms and said her daughter was not living there and demanded she be moved to another dorm! It is possible with the doors opened most of the day during move in, that the high humidity played a factor; but I am wondering if maybe carpets were not cleaned before this group moved in. The room doesn’t feel damp, just smelly!!</p>
<p>I know damp rid has several products and I saw something called Force Out. Charcoal I understand is good for odors, but if this is an entire dorm issue I don’t think these products will help. The kids don’t seem too concerned; I just figured if we could try to eliminate the odor in the room.</p>
<p>I did notice what looked like a dehumidifier near the doors on the first floor and daughter is on the third floor. Maybe the dorm has a problem they are aware of. I don’t know if any of the other floors also have this problem other than the first and third floors, but I would assume that the second floor does.</p>
<p>The room does have A/C and same climate as at home. This room is worst than my son’s at Tulane, and that was bad!! Of course, the odor in his room was a combination of dampness, sweat, dirty laundry, and food!</p>
<p>We had a similar issue at our son’s dorm 2 years ago. We bought him a dehumidifier, which helped keep things from getting damp but didn’t really help the moldy odor. If it’s an older building, there’s probably no way to get rid of the odor. Our son ended up buying plug-in air fresheners to mask the odor and that seemed to help the most.</p>
<p>Those containers of disposable cleaning cloths seem to be very useful for this - Lysol makes one, and they’re very handy for college students - no big bottles of cleaning supplies, just use the cloths, and throw away - keeps stuff clean and helps keep down the “institutional” smell.</p>
<p>You can get rid of the institutional smell (I just spent yesterday doing this) with a bottle of oust (which will help kill any bacteria that could be getting stinky.) A can is about $3. I recommend either the fragrance free or clean linen scents, as the others can be a bit sweet and overwhelming. Wipe down all safe surfaces with lysol wipes. It really does cut down on the musty smell, as does opening the windows.</p>
<p>There’s always the old standby of febreze as well- or if you really think it’s the carpet, you could try treating it with resolve.</p>
<p>I don’t know yet if it is going to help, but I am sending over one of my mother’s ionic breeze machines to my son. His room is on basement/ground floor and really smells musty/moldy. Plus school has preset A/C to “low” so it will barely run. If the ionic breeze doesn’t work we may have to sneak in a dehumidifier.</p>
<p>My daughter bought a funny looking air freshener in the automotive section for her bathroom. It looks like jello wigglers but is bug shaped and smells really good. She put it on the mirror. I was going to look for one for my son’s dorm bathroom. He will share the bathroom with 3 other guys and I’m guessing it won’t be cleaned until Christmas break. I have good luck with fabreze in our house after we’ve come back from vacation and dog has been inside a lot and it smells kind of musty.</p>
<p>After one week the kids won’t notice it anymore. The only time they will be aware of it is when parents visit and ask how they can stand living with that smell. We toured a dorm and I noticed a peculiar sour smell that I eventually identified as vomit.</p>
<p>DD as well as my other kiddos use the Crisp Linen scent of Glade Plug-Ins. Since she and her bro are/were in athlete dorms/older buildings it was really stinky. She bought the double plug-in and put it in all available outlets. Smelled great all year, and she did it again this year as soon as she moved in. Room smells like clean sheets. Drifts down the hallway. Her neighbors asked for the scent and they all did the same thing to get rid of the disgusting odors. She swears by it.</p>
<p>That and keeping her room clean and free from sweaty, disgusting work-out gear piling up!!</p>
<p>If the odor is due to mold, the Ionic Breeze probably won’t help but if you decide to try it anyway, be sure to get the most current model. The older models release ozone and might be more likely to contaminate the air than to clean it: </p>
<p>My daughter said it might smell a bit better today; either that or she is just getting use to the smell! She has a plug in air freshener, but the outlets are at a premium. The girls each have a set of plugs behind their desk, and one set at the sink. We ran a heavy duty extension cord to the plug at the sink for the tv, tivo and coffee maker and left one plug available for hair dryers amd flat irons. There was not room for a three way as the light switch for the bathroom is also on the same outlet. The plugs behind the desk have the surge protectors for computers, printers, phone, lamps, clock radios, ipod speakers, refridgerator and microwave! I don’t know how these kids end up with so many electronics, but 3 sets of outlets with 2 sets just 3 feet apart on the same wall made a lot of work for the fathers snaking extension cords and cable tv wire through the room. Of course the cable outlet was behind one of the beds and the best place for the tv was the other side of the room!</p>
<p>There are no outlets in the bathroom as the sinks are in the bedrooms, so my daughter put her very large can of oust by the toilet. You think her suitmates will get the idea ;-)</p>
<p>NJers, that was a gross revelation. I’m sure you would have rather it had remained a mystery!</p>
<p>DRJ4, am going to try the ionic breeze one with the thing to prevent ozone and also has some kind of “ability” for germicidal action. May be all hype–but hey, placebo effect has been proven, right? Anyway, have the availability of one of these not being used by his grandmother, so can’t hurt.</p>
<p>His dorms are not allowed the plug in air freshners-against the fire code. But I may look for the “jello” looking thing.</p>
<p>He scrubbed his bathroom down with greased lightning yesterday and said that helped in there some.</p>
<p>They also sell the battery-operated fans(mini) with the oil (think it Oust Fan) if outlets are at a premium. Same scent Crisp Linen. One works great in our walk-in closet. I am sure several would work in a dorm room.</p>
<p>my dorm last year had a weird smell to it at first…I ended up buying a Glade warm scented oil plug in…worked wonders…in the same smell everyones suggesting “clean linen” …it made the room smell like fresh laundry and everyone in the hall started getting their own plug ins…if you walked down our hall it would smell of laundry and vanilla frosting heh</p>
<p>Fresh linen is definitely the least offensive of the available scents. Clean laundry smell is something few will object to (except some of these hippies up here in VT…) so it generally goes over pretty well.</p>