I Think There is Something Dead In My House

[Christine]

We spent a lot of time yesterday trying to figure this out.

First, let me say that this bathroom is on the top floor of our house--not near a basement or any ground. It sits above the garage and has an attic above it. It is, literally, the highest point in the house. Just not sure it could be a mouse as I truly think that whatever got in came in through the roof.

Anyway, DH searched both attics again. According to him, there is NO smell in the attics at all and nothing to be seen. Also, it appears that back sides of the walls are sealed at the type (quite well) and it would be very difficult, according to my husband, for anything to get into the attic and get down into the walls. Not impossible, but the "critter" would have had to try hard to get into the walls. So, there was nothing obvious to be seen.

But the smell continues... I've narrowed it down to one area in my bathroom that seems the strongest. It is where my vanity joins the wall that sits in back of my soaking tub and in back of the shower. While the shower and the tub are "back-to-back" they don't really share the wall as there is about a 2-ft space between the walls. I feel like it is coming from that area. So either something has gotten into that area and died, or my worst fear, is that something might be leaking back there and rotting.

As far as I can tell, the shower area looks "sealed" so nothing could be leaking back into the wall, and nothing would be coming from the tub either as it's not used much.

I will tell you that the smell is driving me NUTS. It is pretty bad.

And, whoever suggested a dog--I have one. In fact she is a hound and is quite scent-oriented but I don't think she's even noticed the smell.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Mice can get into some very tight spaces. I even get some inside my car sometimes. They can even climb up wires and insulation. We have 1 bathroom and it's upstairs and we get mice in the walls all the time. I can usually hear them at night.
If the smell gets even stronger in the next day or two I would bet money it's a mouse. The smell should start to go away by day 5-6. Try placing a bowl of white vinegar near the smell, sometimes it helps absorb the odor. It doesn't always work but it may be worth a try.

I'm sorry you are going through this!

 

[Christine]

Mice can get into some very tight spaces. I even get some inside my car sometimes. They can even climb up wires and insulation. We have 1 bathroom and it's upstairs and we get mice in the walls all the time. I can usually hear them at night.
If the smell gets even stronger in the next day or two I would bet money it's a mouse. The smell should start to go away by day 5-6. Try placing a bowl of white vinegar near the smell, sometimes it helps absorb the odor. It doesn't always work but it may be worth a try.

I'm sorry you are going through this!

Thanks, I'll try that. This smell has actually been going on for over a week now, but only since Saturday has it been intolerably STRONG. I keep hoping that it will start to disappear a bit, but it was just as strong this morning.

Honestly, I hope it is a dead animal of some sort because the alternative (plumbing and structure) don't sound fun.

 

[Poohnatic]

This happened in my mom's house in NY. We smelled something awful in the living room. Through process of elimination, my stepdad decided to remove the built in bookshelves-and found a squirrel's body. Yuck. Let's just say I was glad I wasn't home at the time.

It took a few months for the smell to go away completely.

Personally, I'd probably cut the drywall where the smell is strongest. Easier than trying to get at if fom the ceiling, especially since you're not able to see evidence that something got through the blown in insulation.

Suzanne

 

[Christine]

It took a few months for the smell to go away completely.

Personally, I'd probably cut the drywall where the smell is strongest. Easier than trying to get at if fom the ceiling, especially since you're not able to see evidence that something got through the blown in insulation.

Suzanne

Oh God, this sounds $$$$$$$--my DH is terrible at repairing drywall once it has been cut. But another few days of this and I think I will probably be ripping down walls.

 

[momtoce&j]

Oh I feel so bad for you. We just had a dead something in our basement. The smell was bad beyond bad. It has lasted just over 2 weeks and is now finally starting to go away. I still smell it, but the rest of the family insists the smell is gone.

Last weekend DH pulled apart the whole basement looking for the cause of the stench with no luck. He did however throw out 7 lawn and leaf bags of stuff. (We did have water in our basement 2 Fridays ago from heavy rains.)
He also found some mold growing along the walls - we have an unfinished basement, but we do have bookshelves and area rugs down there to look like a play area for the kids. (kids haven't played down there in years because they never picked up their toys, so the basement became a catch all for all the clutter from the rest of the house. )

We have used just about everything to get rid of that putrid smell of death : Citrus Magic, Odor Sponge, Odor absorbing drops, baking soda, coffee grounds (both fresh & used), Fabreeze, even turned off the heat opened all windows and turned on attic fan to 'air' out the house. That helped a little, but mostly just froze us. What it did accomplish was instead of the smell of death smacking you in the face when entering our house, you got a smack of oranges, coffee, floral scent (from Fabreeze), and yes you guessed it...smell of death.

Hang in there, the smell does go away, the dead thing just has to finish 'drying out.'

 

[Christine]

Hang in there, the smell does go away, the dead thing just has to finish 'drying out.'

Did you find your "dead thing?"

 

[momtoce&j]

Did you find your "dead thing?"

Nope. It's still there somewhere.

Funny thing is DS (6) had homework last week to write a letter to a friend. He wrote: "Dear ..., Sorry you can't come over to my house to play. My house stinks. Love, " DH & I both . Well, next day after school, I asked DS about his day. He then starts to tell me how his teacher called him up to her desk and asked if his letter was real or made up. DS responds "Oh, no Mrs. .... it's real, my house really does stink." She asked him what the smell was from so he tells her. "My house smells because we have a dead animal in the basement, Daddy says it's a mouse, but Mommy says it must be something bigger because a little mouse wouldn't smell this bad."

I'm still waiting for DYFS to come knocking on my door.

 

[Poohnatic]

Oh God, this sounds $$$$$$$--my DH is terrible at repairing drywall once it has been cut. But another few days of this and I think I will probably be ripping down walls.

I'm so sorry. My stepdad was (and is) quite handy, as is my DH. If I had to deal with something like that again, I have no doubts my DH could fix it well. Its only the blasted knockdown they put on perfectly good walls that would be the issue...

Suzanne

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

I know this won't help OP, but maybe give people one more thing to consider when faced with this situation: we had a putrid smell in our basement.....finally realized it was worse the longer one of the lights was on.

Turns out one of the light fixtures - (the type you attach to a ceiling and just screw in a bulb - like in an unfinished basement) was plastic and not ceramic like all the others. For some reason, the plastic made an awful smell when it got hot. It took us so long to find it because it is just not something you would think of. I don't even want to think what made its way into that plastic!!!!!