Please help. We are in our first home. It has a pier and beam foundation with a crawl space. It also has some funny air return under the carpet in one place that has been patched. When we were considering the home, there was no odor in it. We asked the previous person to fix a weak spot in the floor where the air return was and afterwards, the smell has been musty and strong.

There is no evidence of mold anywhere. We do have a problem without having gutters where water drips too close to the house and I think moisture is getting into the crawl space. Its a rental and the landlord doesn't want to put a lot of money into the house.

The carpets are filthy and washing them has helped a little, but the musty smell keeps coming back. We have a converted garage and no crawl space there - we still have a smell. is it the crawl space?

our ducts have a lot of dark stuff outside of them. I'm not sure what it is, but it looks like dirt. is the smell coming from there?

Also, I'm pregnant, so I'm very afraid of odors injuring the baby. Any advice would be seriously appreciated.