This is OT, but I am Desperate! HELP!

[WaltD4Me]

Something has died somewhere in my house and it STINKS!!!!! It is an awful, awful STENCH. Best way to describe it is rotting meat in the sun.

This started yesterday. I noticed like a whiff here and there. I checked everything, could not find the source. I sprayed some Glade Clean Linen spray and went out to the movies and dinner. When I got home....OMG!!!!!! the smell was HORRIBLE!!!!!! I opened all the windows and tried to hunt down the source again. It seemed the worst under my kitchen sink, but I couldn't find anything. I went on-line and went out and bought some stuff called Odoban, people raved about it, said it didn't just cover the smell, but broke it down and killed it. It SEEMED to work. I sprayed a ton of it and it was MUCH better, by 95%, but when I got home from work tonight, AGAIN with the smell, not quite as bad, but still there. I'm assuming what ever died is in the wall or something, it isn't under the sink, in the drawers, under the stove or fridge, so no where visible. I just don't know what to do. I guess I'm going to have to call an exterminator, but what will he do? Cut holes in my walls? And I checked around, it is so expensive!!!!! Although I don't know that I care at this point, but I really can't afford it. I'm at a total loss and would appreciate ANY suggestions.

 

[Tonya2426]

Have you checked any potatoes you may have? I once thought something had died in my sink and it turned out it was just a rotten potato next to the sink. You wouldn't think a potato could smell like roadkill but you would be surprised.

Good luck with whatever it is.

 

[Becx N Gav]

Have you checked any potatoes you may have? I once thought something had died in my sink and it turned out it was just a rotten potato next to the sink. You wouldn't think a potato could smell like roadkill but you would be surprised.

Good luck with whatever it is.

rotten potatoes smell awful I hope it turns out to be something like that

 

[mikelan6]

Good luck. I hope you solve your problem soon.

 

[GingerJay]

Check your shelves, too. I once put a package of handburger on a shelf above my storage-freezer in the garage (scatter-brained, I know) and only noticed it once it started stinking up the place.

 

[WaltD4Me]

Have you checked any potatoes you may have? I once thought something had died in my sink and it turned out it was just a rotten potato next to the sink. You wouldn't think a potato could smell like roadkill but you would be surprised.

Good luck with whatever it is.

It would be nice if it was rotten potatoes, but since I'm not much of a cook, potatoes don't come into my house unless it's in the form of a french fry or a bag of frozen ones.

The smell is much, much better this morning. I had to close my windows yesterday because it got really cold and actually SNOWED here a little Friday. (after being 85 degrees a couple days ago!) Last night before I went to bed I opened 2 windows in the kitchen and sprayed more of the Odoban stuff and this morning the smell seems to be mostly gone. Just have to keep the windows open and my fingers crossed now.

 

[sjsjbrook]

We had a mouse die in the walls in our basement. Sadly the smell doesn't help locate the darn thing. It does eventually go away. It is annoying, and I went through a lot of lysol spray trying to cover up the smell.

 

[disneyholic family]

it doesn't even have to be from your house - it could be a smell coming from somewhere else in the sewage system, not in your house...

that has happened to us...
i was SURE there was something dead somewhere.....and i searched and searched...
the next day the smell was gone..
all i could figure was the smell must have come from somewhere else within the sewage system.....and whatever it was had been removed, washed away, or eaten by other animals...

it's happened a few times....with several months in between the incidents....

in any case, i didn't do anything any of the times and each time the smell ultimately went away (thank god )

 

[Disney Khi]

We once had a mouse crawl into the overflow drain in the bathroom sink and die. We discovered it when it started to smell. DH had to dig it out with a stuck or something. It was so gross. I was pregnant and smells already made me sick. This just about put me over the edge. So, check the overflow drains in your sinks. I hope you get it figured out soon!

 

[jpeka65844]

I can vouch for the potato thing! When I was in the 4th grade, the kid who sat next to me SMELLED to high heaven. Stinkity stink stink stink.

At the end of the school year when we were cleaning out our desks, he found a potato in the back of his desk that we'd used to make a turkey out of for Thanksgiving.

I'm 34 and I still remember that story. Haunting.....just haunting.

 

[WaltD4Me]

We once had a mouse crawl into the overflow drain in the bathroom sink and die. We discovered it when it started to smell. DH had to dig it out with a stuck or something. It was so gross. I was pregnant and smells already made me sick. This just about put me over the edge. So, check the overflow drains in your sinks. I hope you get it figured out soon!

Interesting. I will have to check this. I certainly can't find whatever is causing the smell and it the worst by the kitchen sink, maybe this is what happened?

I'll say one thing, I never knew a little mouse could cause such a horrific smell! At first I was convinced it had to be a raccoon or something, but since I can't find it anywhere it must be something small.

Big improvement today. I had to go into work for a few hours and left all the windows open, when I got home almost no smell, a tiny whiff, but not at all gag worthy like before. I've walked all around outside and can't smell anything outside at all so whatever it is in inside somewhere going to check that drain overflow thing.

On a side note...this whole thing made me think of the Casey Anthony case and her mom trying to blame the overwhelming stench in the car on rotting pizza. I didn't believe the pizza story, but after this experience with a little mouse, I now know there is absolutely no way you could confuse rotting pizza with this awful smell.

 

[Gigi22]

Do you have floor "traps" in your house? If so, slowly pour a couple of pints of water into each one. Sewer gas can get into your house if you do not keep some water in the traps--it can make quite a smell.

 

[Mrs D]

My thought is do you have a sump pump and/or a battery back up. Sometimes if there is a little water in the sump pump well that is below the pump level it can mildew and smell like death. Also a back up battery can go bad and have a kind of rotten eggs smell. I was afraid the cat had died when ours went bad.

 

[3guysandagal]

My first thought was the potato answer as well.
Do you have a crawlspace under your house? If something is dead under there the smell could be coming up where the pipes come through the floor to the sink making it seem like it is the sink.

 

[connie1042]

Sorry about the smell, but I have a great story on that subject. It started to smell like rotten food in my house. I checked everything. Had tree little ones at the time, so checked closets , clothes, drawers, under beds. You name it, I looked there. This went on for days. It was a little stronger in my daughters room, so checked everything again. She had gone to a farm the week before with our neighbors. What I did not know was she brought home something and did not tell me. They said they had a great time butchering chickens. I said that was fine, as long as I did not have to do it or clean it up. Well we found out what was smelling. She had brought home a bag of chicken feet, and did not tell us, just put them in her drawer under some clothes. She thought I would make her throw them away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Guess what.........I DID!

 

[Sphyrna]

There's a Chinese buffet here that serves chicken feet.

 

[elaine and the boys]

If it's a mouse, once it "dries out" the smell will go away!

 

[farmergirl]

I had the same problem for like a week could not find the the source of it until one day we finally figured it out. I had raw meat in the fridge thawing not sure if it was ground beef or what it was but when it thawed some blood leaked out of the plastic wrap all over the fridge. So of course I cleaned up the mess but noticed this horrible smell for the next week which at times seemed worse than others. Turns out there is a drain in the fridge for it to defrost then it drips in the drip pan below. When we pulled out the drip tray it had pool of blood from the meat and why it was worse at times is when the fridge would turn on it was baking it pretty much it was all baked on and did not smell pretty. I was so happy when we finally figured it out. It was driving me loopy not knowing where it was coming from.

 

[Snork]

One more thing to check is your chimny. If a bird decided to get inside your chimney or build a nest on top of the pipe that your sewer gas escapes from, it could cause the gas to back up into your house and stink.

 

[ericafny]

I can vouch for the potato thing! When I was in the 4th grade, the kid who sat next to me SMELLED to high heaven. Stinkity stink stink stink.

At the end of the school year when we were cleaning out our desks, he found a potato in the back of his desk that we'd used to make a turkey out of for Thanksgiving.

I'm 34 and I still remember that story. Haunting.....just haunting.

That's HYSTERICAL I have sat next to some smelly people through the years...wonder if it had anything to do with a potato..


Any updates on the source of the smell??