What's that smell? | Tackling my Basement

Here's a peek at another room in my house that is in need of intervention- my basement! 

This photo makes it clear my house is still in a 1970s time warp! The red burgundy carpet is throughout the back half of the house. The wood paneling is on the walls throughout the back half of my house. It was popular in the 1970s because it was cheap and easy to install- it goes up in one big sheet!

The view off this room is great- I'm picturing making this a living room or family room:

There are a couple problems that need to be solved down here- the most pressing being the smell! It smells like the house has been closed up for a long time and there is a heavy musty odor down here. The first to go is definitely the carpet and the wood paneling. 

Now that we have ripped up carpet in....what, two, three rooms in my house we are kind of feeling like pros at this now so we went to work. But again....this house always has a surprise for me...

My stairs before tearing out carpet...

My stairs mid carpet tear out- no, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you! We found carpet UNDER THE CARPET! What kind of sick, sick person would do this, you ask? 

Well.. the good news is we got to the bottom of the smell! The bad news is we had twice as much carpet to remove. The top layer of carpet appears to be "newer" carpet that was installed sometime in the 1980s. The bottom layer of carpet is blue indoor/outdoor carpet usually reserved for patios that is GLUED to the stairs and the concrete. Removing it will take a lot grunt work.

There are places where the blue carpet has literally disintegrated from wear; its easy to understand why the previously owner wanted something new; the fact that literal gallons of glue were used to install the blue carpet explains why this was not removed previously...whenever I stop by, I go downstairs and yank up a few strips of blue carpet for a workout now (until I can't stand the smell anymore, that is).