My house has a musky smell. My son says it is old lady smell but I doubt that. How do I figure out where it is coming from and how do i get rid of it. It seems to generate from the closets and the cupboards. Any suggestions.

as you have already posted.......those unvented fixtures are filling your house with septic gases.........get your DWV system properly vented........

Then when you use the WholeHouseAtticFan ......HVAC......the plumbing traps will remain full and you'll get fresh air from outside thru the open windows......this may help clean the smell.......but you also talked funky walls

What is this "double insulated".....that's not a normal description......is this on the inspector's report ? or the home seller's description ?..is it a double Vapor barrier?......if the walls are "funky" then they will probably need to be removed to determine what next.........

Since I have been in the home and have been using the home the smell has died down quite a bit. My brothers installed a shower in my bathroom and in doing so they removed some of the wall to make an access panel to install the shower. When they removed this wall you could see that the wall was about 3 inches thick. THey said it was double insulated. I assume they know what they are talking about. I have a roofing guy coming tomorrow to give me an estimate on a ridge vent. I think that will help tremendously. There are soffits at the end of the roof so wonder why they never put a ridge vent on top of the house. Would that be required? I stopped using the whole house fan because it smells. Will update you guys as I go along. The bathtub drains slow and I can hear a gurgling sound in the sink everytime I let the water out of the tub. It must be drawling air from the sick. Does that mean it needs a trap.

" My brothers installed a shower in my bathroom and in doing so they removed some of the wall to make an access panel to install the shower.".........did they repair the missing/broken vent pipes ?

"When they removed this wall you could see that the wall was about 3 inches thick.".....Most walls are 3 1/2" thick.

"THey said it was double insulated.".....then ask THem what THey mean.......

"I assume they know what they are talking about.".....assume what YOU like.........

"I have a roofing guy coming tomorrow to give me an estimate on a ridge vent. I think that will help tremendously. There are soffits at the end of the roof so wonder why they never put a ridge vent on top of the house.".....That's the "v" in HVAC......YOU need the "v" in DWV...........

"The bathtub drains slow and I can hear a gurgling sound in the sink everytime I let the water out of the tub. It must be drawling air from the siNk. Does that mean it needs a trap.".....Of course it gurgles.......IT NEEDS A VENT!

Here's a link that explains the health risk of UNvented plumbing systems............
http://www.dhfs.state.wi.us/eh/Air/fs/SewerGas.htm

Your first posts indicated that YOUR home inspector pointed out the UNVENTED fixtures before you ever bought the property......YOU decided to ignore his report......YOU need a plumber.........

"I have a roofing guy coming tomorrow to give me an estimate on a ridge vent. I think that will help tremendously. There are soffits at the end of the roof so wonder why they never put a ridge vent on top of the house."

Plumbing vent system is completely different than roof vent system.

The plumbing vents are pipes that are continuation of the sewage drain system and the pipe(s) stick straight up through the roof and will not have a cap or termination on them. Other pipes such as furance flue or bath ventalation fans will have caps on them to keep out the rain.

The purpose of the drain vents is to allow gases (smells) to escapse and to allow air in to so that the traps will work properly. Traps are low loops in the drain system that holds water and used to seal the drain from the sewer gases. Often you can't see the traps. But for kitchen sinks and bath vanities it is the U shaped section of pipe right under the sink.

Roof venting is completely different. It is to allow some air to "circulate" through the attic and to remove any moisture that comes throug the ceiling (actually through openings where electrical and pipes are run). If that moisture can't escape then it will condesne and end up with mold.

The other purpose to to get rid of heat that escapes from the house so that it does not warm up the roof and cause snow to melt and then refreeze and form ice dams.

Now you seem to be confusing the terms.

http://www.gordonmott.com/styles.html

If you have an "end of the roof" it sounds like you have a gable style roof. See the above link. And then at the peak of the wall there is a vent. Is that what you have?

The soffit is the lower end of the roof that is boxed out.

This shows a good picture of the soffit.

http://www.homestore.com/HomeGarden/HomeImprovement/HowTos/HowTos/CRHO_InstallingBathVent.asp?poe=homestore

Fig 2. Now in this case there is pipe for bath room exhaust. But usually there are also vents cut in that allow air to come in and flow up the under side of the roof and out the "top" of the roof and take any moisture or heat with it.

Now ridge vents are considered the best roof top vent, but they are fairly new. But if you get them installed you need to close off the gable end vents. That can hurt each other.

But you need to verify that the ridge and soffit vents have enough space for use with the whole house fan.

Here is more information on attic ventalation.

http://www.owenscorning.com/around/ventilation/roofandattic.asp

I believe that you had the house inspected and he pointed out some of these problems.

I don't know if you where at the inspection or not. But I would contact him and PAY him for an hour or 2 of time to go over the house, with you, and point out each of the "features", problems, and things that he things might need attention in the future. And also the names of the different parts of the house.

If he is a good inspector the money will be well spent and save you money in the long run.

If you have plumbing vent problems you could spend ten's of thousand on the roof and you would still have the same problems.

Likewise if you have roofing problems you could spends tens of thousands to replace the whole plumbing system, but you will still have the same roof problems.

I have a gabled roof with soffits at the end. THere is not a ridge vent at the top of the roof. The roofer today told me that the whole house fan is not releasing the hot air out of the roof because there is not a ridge vent. It has no where to go.
He also mentioned the ice dams as well. I have not lived in the home long enough to know if the previous owner had ice dams. He stated that if I install a ridge vent then the house will be 15 degrees cooler. Right now the humidity is 76 in here. In my dining area there is moisture droplets on the ceiling. He said this may be because of ice dams. Now the bathroom is a different story. The bathrooms are not vented and do not have an exhaust fan. So I will have to install one. Thank You so much for the information. I will update as I go along.

My inspection report says that I have a gable hip type roof with asphalt shingles. Rafter type frame, ceiling is rafter. And like you said the roofer mentioned ice dams when I showed him the moisture stains in the kitchen, dining area. So should I get a ridge vent?