Persistent Mildew smell near bathroom and room closet

Hey guys, im very concerned about this problem and need advice. I live in an old small two bedroom apt in florida, and about a year ago, my landlord replaced my shower which is nice tan tile, sliding doors. But for the past 2-3 months or so I've been smelling a persistent mildew smell and don't know what to do.I also have little gnats flying in front of my computer screen from time to time(especially at night). I barely eat in my room though. Please help I went to home depot and got a container of damp rid and placed on the bathroom floor near the shower.

Yesterday the complex maintenance man took a look at the shower, he was able to wedge his pocket knife through cracks in the corner of the shower and said a little water is leaking through the cracks everytime you take a shower. He also found little cracks on the floor of the shower too where he wedged his knife into.

I have a small room closet which is on the outside of where the shower is and smell the mildew smell there also, we recently changed our ac vent for about a year, im scared my family has been breathing in this mildew smell for a very long time and i think since we're so used to being home sometimes we can't even smell it.

But I know for sure some days i smell it and some days i don't. What would be the safest thing to do? Should i ask my landlord to buy a dehumidifier?
Thanks any advice is greatly appreciated.

I would suggest to get the landlord over to look at it and have a smell. It won't get better if you don't push the issue.

ok thanks hopefully he can get in here some time this week i'm going to call his first thing in the morning.

You'll have to stay on top of this to get anything done. Don't let the landlord forget, but try not to make him an enemy. learn as much as you can about tile work and grouting, and about mold & mildew. Just getting a dehumidifier will be helpful but that is not the cure. Stopping the moisture problem is.
Do you have an exhaust fan in the bathroom? If not, could you get one installed?

slownsteady said:

You'll have to stay on top of this to get anything done. Don't let the landlord forget, but try not to make him an enemy. learn as much as you can about tile work and grouting, and about mold & mildew. Just getting a dehumidifier will be helpful but that is not the cure. Stopping the moisture problem is.
Do you have an exhaust fan in the bathroom? If not, could you get one installed?

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Yea i think i could call that an exhaust fan, it only comes on when you leave the light on and makes this low volume generator sound. How do i get rid of the gnats?

If the shower is up against interior wall, just poke around with your hands and see if the drywall is soft or feels damp near the floor.

it is a temp fix,,it works. drill a hole up high in the wall with mold, using a garden sprayer

spray 100% clorox into that wall,,,saturate it

frodo said:

it is a temp fix,,it works. drill a hole up high in the wall with mold, using a garden sprayer

spray 100% clorox into that wall,,,saturate it

Click to expand...

Hey thanks for the advice, well the contractor finally came today and caulked up the cracks in the shower, he's hoping that may eliminate the smell but he suggested the best thing to do for sure would be to knock down the shower and replace it with a new one so we can get that old wood out behind the shower that may be mildew.

But I notice the smell coming from the ac vent in the living room? It seems to happen when we the ac kicks back on, we have it automatic... It smelled the same as my room, what u think could be causing that? is this a whole new problem

Thanks

jummyloke99 said:

Hey thanks for the advice, well the contractor finally came today and caulked up the cracks in the shower, he's hoping that may eliminate the smell but he suggested the best thing to do for sure would be to knock down the shower and replace it with a new one so we can get that old wood out behind the shower that may be mildew.

But I notice the smell coming from the ac vent in the living room? It seems to happen when we the ac kicks back on, we have it automatic... It smelled the same as my room, what u think could be causing that? is this a whole new problem

Thanks

Click to expand...

mold in the duct work or return air plenum

not good...

frodo said:

mold in the duct work or return air plenum

not good...

Click to expand...

i'm glad i found this forum. An update maybe this post may help someone else who's in this predicament that may visit this forum in the future.

Well today the landlord at the apartment rite beneath mines was there with his ac contractor, so i asked him was his tenants having the same problem, he said their ac wasnt working but he'll send his ac guy up there to look at mines.

His ac guy checked out my unit and said our coil was dirty and we were inhaling all this mold. So i called my landlord he's going to have service america out to fix and clean up all this.

Well last month my mom was in the hospital for six days with bronchitis which was her first time ever having it. They say she had inflammation on her esophagus, i'm sure this ac ventilation had something to do with it because she sleeps in the living room with the vents aiming directly at her every night, she's ok now
thanks alot guys, i hope this helps all the other people who may be experiencing this.

after the ac guy does his job. have him show you how to open the front of the unit,

so that you can get to the drain pan,, pour a tablespoon or 2 of clorox in the drain pan twice a year

to keep algae/mold down to a minimum...

ok thanks very much will do

This thread may be helpful:
http://www.houserepairtalk.com/showthread.php?t=19844&highlight=concrobium