How can I get a musty smell out of an antique wood hutch?

Q: I have a beautiful antique hutch with a wooden cabinet below and a marble top and glass case above. It was in storage and unused for more than 10 years. Now that it’s in my home, its mildew smells are so strong that they seep into glasses I store in it. I’ve tried airing it out by keeping the cabinet doors open for extended periods, but that has not helped at all. How do I get the mildew smell out?

A: Mildew or other musty smells can be very off-putting. When airing out the interior isn’t enough, the first thing to do is to clean the surfaces by washing them with warm water and a little soap. Some people recommend Murphy Oil Soap, but clear hand dishwashing soap (around one capful in 2 cups of warm water) also works well.

Then follow these steps:

• Wipe down all surfaces with a clean cloth dampened, not soaked, in the cleaner. As the cloth becomes dirty, rearrange it to expose a clean area or switch to a new cloth.

• After you clean an area, immediately go over it with a clean cloth moistened with plain water. It’s OK to clean an especially dirty area several times.

• Clean all interior surfaces, including the cabinet case, door interiors and both sides of any shelves. If there are drawers, remove them and clean them inside and out. Then clean the exterior, including the back of the cabinet. Tip the cabinet and clean the underside and the legs, places where mildew often grows.

• On the front and top, be especially careful not to soak the wood, which might damage the finish. All intact finishes can usually be damp-wiped.

• If you aren’t sure whether the finish is intact, one test is to wipe the exterior with mineral spirits (paint thinner), which will darken areas where finish is missing. If that happens, your choice is to clean anyway or to stop. But when the smell is especially off-putting, the decision is easy: It’s clean or go.

• Leave the doors open and the shelves and drawers out until they are completely dry.

• If cleaning hasn’t fixed the problem, which is likely, you can try eliminating the odor with absorbent materials such as baking soda, activated charcoal or zeolite, a highly porous mineral that conservators use to absorb smells.

If that’s not enough, one option is to take the piece to a company that uses ozone to eliminate odors. Some car detailing shops have this equipment to get rid of smoke smells in vehicles. Companies that do remediation after fires or floods also might be able to help. Or you could buy an ozone generator designed for home use, such as the Autel 1000 ($329 at odorfree.com). Seal the room while it runs and don’t let anyone enter; ozone can damage lungs, and even relatively low concentrations can cause chest pain and shortness of breath.

Or you can seal the wood inside and out with shellac. Shellac, which is made from crusts of an insect, is sold dissolved in denatured alcohol as a brush-on finish or in spray cans. It isn’t toxic (it’s actually used to coat fruit to preserve freshness), but the alcohol is smelly, flammable and not safe to breathe in high concentrations because of the denaturing compound that’s added so people don’t drink it (instead of alcoholic beverages that are taxed). Apply shellac where there is plenty of fresh air, or wear a half-face respirator fitted with an organic-vapor cartridge. Don’t smoke, and don’t apply shellac near an open flame.

Shellac is the ideal sealer because it sticks to almost any finish and almost any finish sticks to it. If one coat reduces the odor but doesn’t eliminate it, apply a second coat. Work on a day when the relative humidity is less than 80 percent. Wait at least an hour between coats. As a sealer, any kind of shellac — waxed or dewaxed, amber or clear — should work fine. If you later plan to coat the surface with polyurethane, use the unwaxed kind, such as Zinsser Bulls Eye SealCoat ($22.99 a quart at Ace Hardware).

Sometimes, the drawers and interiors of antique cabinets reek not of mildew but from a rancid smell that’s hard to identify. That could be because the surfaces were oiled but not exposed to enough air. Shellac usually seals in this kind of smell. Other times, the smell is from rodents. Odor-eliminating products that you’d use to get rid of cat or dog urine in carpet can help with that.