What Makes a Basement Smell Like One?
The Answer is MOLD

Did you know that mold can grow in a "waterproofed basement"? Mold needs organic material to grow (which you have) and high relative humidity - over 60 to 70%. It doesn't have to be wet for mold to grow, just humid. In fact, mold won't grow underwater.

A SaniDry Basement Air System ensures that the relative humidity stays below 50% all year long so mold doesn't have a chance.

There are a lot of "Mold Experts", but one that tells you to eliminate the mold without eliminating the water and humidity is not helping you. Some tell you to coat your floor joists and other stuctural elements with anti-mold paint. If this was the solution for your basement, would you need to coat everything with the same sealant? A sofa? A cardboard box?

Mold - Allergies and Your Health
Mold releases airborne spores or "seeds", which are so light they float on the slightest air currents, off to find more suitable places to grow. Most people are not allergic to mold spores, but some are. The higher the concentration of mold spores, the greater percentage of people who will be bothered by them.

There is plenty of information out there on the health effects of mold, and they will not be explained here. One thing is for sure, mold growing in your house is not good. It's not good for your health, and it is increasingly not good for your property value. Who wants to buy a house with mold? Nobody. Eliminate High Humidity and You Eliminate Mold.

Mold Spores
Mold knows why it was put here. If it's organic, dead, and wet, mold knows to eat it. Organic means it is a material that was once living, such as wood. Mold sends out its spores everywhere, which can lay dormant for many years. So when something is organic, dead and wet, mold grows on it and eats it. When we say "mold", we mean any mold or other fungi, of which there are many thousands of varieties.

Since mold spores are everywhere, and our building materials and contents of our homes (furniture, boxes, clothes, etc.) are made from organic materials, this factor cannot be controlled. The only one that we can control in our homes is the moisture.

Mold needs 70% Relative Humidity (RH) to grow; however this is a loose number. Some molds can grow at less RH.  In many cases, like in a crawl space, the RH of the surrounding air, and the RH of the surfaces are two different things because of temperature differences between air and surfaces.