Except for the smell. It was faint, barely noticeable at first. A musty, earthy scent that drifted through the living room like a cloud passing through a beam of sunlight. They chalked it up to dust or old insulation. But it didn’t go away. Even after Daniel scrubbed the vents. Even after Megan put dehumidifiers in every room. Some days it was barely there.
Other days it hit them the moment they walked through the door. “Mold?” Daniel suggested. Megan shook her head. “No. Mold smells different. This is… I don’t know. It’s like wet soil. Or like something is rotting in the walls.” They cleaned again. Deep cleaned. Daniel even borrowed a thermal camera from a friend to look for damp spots. Nothing. But the smell persisted.