2026-07-22 · Dave Kessler · 4 min read
That Musty Smell in Older York Rowhomes
If the smell hits you on the first-floor stairs, the cellar is already voting.
Why rowhomes announce themselves
Downtown York and a lot of West York are attached, tall, and tight. The stair from the cellar to the second floor is a chimney. Soil gas and damp air both use it — which is why radon and musty smells show up in the same conversation. Downtown notes and West York notes split the housing stock.
Look here first
- The party wall at the low spot in the yard, including the side you do not own.
- A coal-chute or old window that is now a flower box.
- An open sump and a washer sitting in a tray that has never been emptied.
- Stored paper: records, decorations, the box of books “until we sort it.”
What not to do before an open house
Do not ozone the house and leave. Ozone is an irritant, it does not dry masonry, and the smell returns on the first humid day. Do not close the cellar door and run a candle upstairs. Buyers open doors.
Questions people also ask
+Can a neighbor’s leak become my mold?
+Will a radon fan pull the musty smell out?
These pages are homeowner education from Radon Mitigation of York, written by Dave Kessler. They are not a medical diagnosis, a species identification, or an insurance determination. Color does not tell you which mold you have. If someone in the house is sick, talk to a physician. EPA's homeowner guidance treats roughly 10 square feet as the line where many people stop DIY cleanup and call a remediation crew — sooner if sewage, HVAC, or anyone immunocompromised is involved. We are a radon and basement crew. When we are already under a York house we will tell you what we see and what we would do in our own place. We do not pretend a radon fan is a mold remedy.