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OT- help! Weird smell

SonOfABrisketMaker's picture

Submitted by SonOfABrisketMaker on Sun, 01/21/2018 - 11:00pm

A few days ago I went into SD's bedroom to give back some of her childhood sheets that I found mixed in with DD's stuff. Everything was normal. Today I noticed the two youngest pets (cat and dog) would not leave SD's room alone. They kept sneaking in. So I walked in and was hit with a smell of.. death? Normally her door is closed since she never comes over anymore but the latch was broken. I threw out her area rug, hand scrubbed every inch of her floor with pet pee spray, took out her garbage, checked under the bed, checked the drawers for mouse nests, gathered up everything made of fabric and took it to the laundry room. Left the window open for hours. The smell is still there.
Anyone ever experience anything like this? It's only in her room., I'm baffled.

Comments

twoviewpoints's picture

Submitted by twoviewpoints on Sun, 01/21/2018 - 11:09pm

A dead mouse inside the bed? Check for a hole in bottom of box spring. Did perhaps your cat have babies in box spring? Did SD stuff something that is now rotting up inside box spring?

SonOfABrisketMaker's picture

Submitted by SonOfABrisketMaker on Sun, 01/21/2018 - 11:18pm

Great ideas! I'll check the mattress.

None of this is SD's doing. She hasn't spent the night in years.

notsurehowtodeal's picture

Submitted by notsurehowtodeal on Mon, 01/22/2018 - 12:15am

It could also be a dead mouse in the wall. My sister had that happen and the smell was horrible. I can't remember how they dealt with it! I'll ask and let you know tomorrow.

SonOfABrisketMaker's picture

Submitted by SonOfABrisketMaker on Mon, 01/22/2018 - 7:48am

I considered that. This is a different terrible smell than I remember dead mouse being but its a different part of the country. I've never seen any sign of mice in the house but anything is possible. I suppose if that's what it is, I'll just wait it out since the room will be unused until we vacate the house.

Cover1W's picture

Submitted by Cover1W on Mon, 01/22/2018 - 1:24pm

An old boyfriend of mine had a dead squirrel in the wall of his bathroom.
We couldn't use that room for a month - it was awful.

--figureditout--'s picture

Submitted by --figureditout-- on Mon, 01/22/2018 - 1:03am

Odoban works on the death smell. It is a harsh scent, but works quite well.

SonOfABrisketMaker's picture

Submitted by SonOfABrisketMaker on Mon, 01/22/2018 - 7:49am

Great advice! As soon as I figure it out, I will use that on the source. Thank you.

witch.hazel's picture

Submitted by witch.hazel on Mon, 01/22/2018 - 9:32am

Yep- odoban is awesome. I had a smell in my house a couple of years ago- death was my guess as well, but couldn't be sure because I don't know what that smells like. It was just different than anything I've smelled before. Cleaned house from top to bottom and could not find a source.

I bought these odoban containers that are supposed to absorb smell, and put them in every room. The smell went away.

Acratopotes's picture

Submitted by Acratopotes on Mon, 01/22/2018 - 2:21am

Sonofa.....

stop trying to get an alibi...... I read between the lines... and I must admit you are brilliant woman....

"Normally her door is closed since she never comes over anymore" - Thus you have not seen SD for a while..... weeks/months.... mmmm
"two youngest pets (cat and dog) would not leave SD's room alone." - they are looking for her woman....
" Normally her door is closed since she never comes over anymore but the latch was broken" - who broke the door if she's not around anymore

" So I walked in and was hit with a smell of.. death" - I stopped reading and gasps.... you've done it!!! and you are admitting it freely on internet, even telling us you are doing major cleaning of the room, mmm getting rid of evidence are you?

You should've wrapped the body in plastic, vacuumed the air out, then in a carpet and plastic again, again vacuuming all air out, before you stowed her under the floor boards or did you go with the fake cupboard back? Blum 3 Blum 3 }:) }:) }:) }:)

SonOfABrisketMaker's picture

Submitted by SonOfABrisketMaker on Mon, 01/22/2018 - 7:25am

Fake bottom to a cedar chest. Can't do the floorboards because her room is directly above mine. I mean.. Acra, how could you think me capable of murder?? I'm hurt.:(

The funniest part is that the cat has met her once and couldn't pick her out of a crowd and the dog, even though he's lived with her, acts like she's a stranger and pees himself in terror if she walks into the house and no one is home. My 70 pound guard dog, a real champion.

Acratopotes's picture

Submitted by Acratopotes on Mon, 01/22/2018 - 11:57pm

I simply luvvvvvv Law and Order, CSI, and crime channel.......

I plot and plan and well it make sense, you do not have a huge desert to hide a body in.... you only have your house, dumping a body in the woods is so 1995...

Peridwen's picture

Submitted by Peridwen on Mon, 01/22/2018 - 2:27am

Any chance of a hard-boiled egg or two hiding in the room? The first year DH and I were married, SS11 (then 5) had hidden his leftover Easter eggs all over his room. It hadn't occurred to me to check the basket, since my family always used fake eggs. DH's family hunted real eggs. It literally smelled like something climbed into the room and died. DH and I were cleaning vents, spraying the walls with deodorizer, shampoo'ed the carpet multiple times and still the horrible smell remained. We only figured it out because I found an egg in SS's toy chest.

SonOfABrisketMaker's picture

Submitted by SonOfABrisketMaker on Mon, 01/22/2018 - 7:37am

First of all- Ewwwww!

Secondly, I wish it was that easy. No one lives in that room anymore l. DH keeps it as a shrine to SD and I use it as storage for DD's extra toys (how many stuffed animals does one kid really need??). I can't imagine what catastrophic thing happened in the past week to make it smell like that. There's only DD and I.. and the pets. I also might be losing my mind but I feel like there is a French door panel missing, too. DH salvaged these oversized French doors from an office rebuild and brought them home. They are gigantic and won't fit in my house so I listed them on Craigslist a couple months ago. I swear to Dog there were 5 but now I only count 4.

Veritas's picture

Submitted by Veritas on Mon, 01/22/2018 - 7:59am

Have you considered following the animals into the room and seeing where they go? May direct you to the source...

SonOfABrisketMaker's picture

Submitted by SonOfABrisketMaker on Mon, 01/22/2018 - 8:05am

A poster after my own heart!:) The kitten goes directly to the bed and falls asleep. The dog stands guard over her. He does a cursory perimeter check but nothing seems to catch his nose.

SonOfABrisketMaker's picture

Submitted by SonOfABrisketMaker on Mon, 01/22/2018 - 8:18am

I'm pretty sure one of them was peeing on her rug. I thought it was my old cat (dying of cancer, bad kidneys) so I soaked the area in pet pee enzyme spray. The floor smells fine now. The smell is overwhelmingly gross. Almost like.. burning vinyl? Melting oil paint? Excessive farts in a 1982 Diesel Volkswagen Rabbit in Florida during a heat wave? I even checked SD's art panels to see if somehow they had gone bad.

notsurehowtodeal's picture

Submitted by notsurehowtodeal on Mon, 01/22/2018 - 2:37pm

Is there a "fish" like component to it? We had that happen and it was the socket for an overhead light. Apparently a "fishy" smell is a common sign of an electrical issue - I had not idea until this happened.

It didn't smell like "death," but it was an odd smell and hard to describe - sort of a "burning" smell, but not quite.

still learning's picture

Submitted by still learning on Mon, 01/22/2018 - 8:05am

I'd look for mold, it can hide in the walls under edges of carpet. There could be something rotten in a vent. She could have something nasty in one of her jacket pockets, the possibilities are endless. I've found so many disgusting things in my kids rooms.

DaizyDuke's picture

Submitted by DaizyDuke on Mon, 01/22/2018 - 8:42am

hiding food or dirty dishes somewhere?

Daizy confession:

when I was in about 6th grade, my mom insisted that I take my lunch to school, I HATED it, because all my "cool" friends bought their lunch. So I would take the stupid lunch and stick it in my locker and buy my lunch. Then bring the uneaten lunch home and hide my sandwich in a suitcase in my bedroom closet to be disposed of later when I could sneak it into the garbage without mom knowing. Only being a scatterbrained tween, I'd forget and the smell ensued. Your whole post reminded me of my mom, coming in my room, wondering what smelled, me in panic mode remembering that I forgot to chuck the sandwiches out and hoping her nose wouldn't track them down. LMAO I did get rid of the sandwiches and then a few days later she tracked the smell to the suitcase, (because of course it STILL smelled) but when she didn't find anything she assumed it was a dead mouse or something. Biggrin

My poor mother... lol

ProbablyAlreadyInsane's picture

Submitted by ProbablyAlready... on Mon, 01/22/2018 - 9:40am

Move the furniture, when my older sister first moved out we kind of just ignored the room... Came in a few months later, there was leak behind her dresser, it smelled AWFUL... But we didn't find it until we finally moved furniture... We then had to temporarily take off floor boards, and carpet and get everything cleaned out and redo a portion of the wall... I hope it's not that... But just a thought. Plus if the leak is near an outlet it could cause all those other smells.

bananaseedo's picture

Submitted by bananaseedo on Mon, 01/22/2018 - 2:53pm

Since it's your crazy dh's shrine for sd-have HIM find the source.
He needs to open vents, curtain rods, outlets and he needs to go through all clothing, etc. How old is SD and how long has it been since she's overnighted? Why is it still her room?

THis makes NO SENSE .