Home Improvement Stack Exchange
Home Improvement Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [smell]

For questions related to resolving a smell or odor.

Smell questions should be related to smells with a known source. Locating the source of an unknown smell is considered off topic per this meta discussion.

267 questions
26
votes
6 answers

How can I find the source of a mysterious bad smell?

We have recently moved home, and all is fine appart from a mystery smell which I'm unable to track down. It's driving me crazy (actually, my wife thinks I am crazy as she can't smell it). I'm hoping someone on here could offer some tips on how to…
UpTheCreek
  • 1,051
  • 4
  • 14
  • 20
6
votes
1 answer

How do I find and eliminate a sickly sweet smell in my apartment with no obvious source?

Ever since the start of winter my studio apartment has been smelling quite bad. The smell is sweet and astringent, almost like rancid ice cream or sweet vomit. The apartment is only one room and a bathroom, and thorough investigations (i.e.…
vlsd
  • 211
  • 1
  • 2
  • 8
5
votes
2 answers

Locating (and, more importantly, removing) mysterious foot smell?

I've just purchased (and moved into) a new house. (New to me; the house was built in 1994). I noticed when I did my initial viewing was that a single spot in the living room seemed to have the smell of stinky feet. I just wrote it off as an…
Adam Robinson
  • 931
  • 5
  • 16
  • 26
4
votes
2 answers

Who can you call to check on odd smells?

Who would someone call to investigate odd smells. I've been going crazy trying to find the source of this odd,musty smell in our stairwell.
Tony
  • 41
  • 2
3
votes
3 answers

Smell like fish oil coming from cupboard with hot water tank

Somebody has said there is a smell like fish oil coming from her hot press (not sure if the term 'hot press' is used worldwide: the airing cupboard / the cupboard with the hot water tank in). Her house doesn't have mains gas. She's checked for…
Richard
  • 131
  • 1
  • 1
  • 3
3
votes
1 answer

How can I remove odor that causes throat irritation and headache?

I had some work done on my house in January. In particular: A painter painted the walls, then another person glazed the window frames and finally another one clean the marble floor .. Now I absolutely can't stay in the house because I get an…
stighy
  • 79
  • 7
3
votes
3 answers

What could be the source of an intermittent, unlocatable rotten egg smell?

This has happened a few times since I moved into my current house about a year ago; every once in a while, I'll get a faint, brief whiff of rotten egg smell that I am unable to locate. Then, after a few minutes it will be gone and not be smelled…
iLikeDirt
  • 12,573
  • 17
  • 53
  • 92
2
votes
1 answer

What could cause my house to smell musty after coming back from vacation?

I just returned to my house (northern New Mexico, ranch-style, built in 1972) after a ten day vacation and found an unpleasant musty smell to greet me. The smell is primarily in the living area and the master bedroom, and I cannot smell it in the…
iLikeDirt
  • 12,573
  • 17
  • 53
  • 92
2
votes
0 answers

Why is our house so musty?

My husband and I bought a beautiful 1950s mid century modern brick ranch house in upstate New York a year ago. We love it, but it stinks. It’s a strong musty/earthy smell throughout the whole main floor of the house that clings to everything and it…
whpearl
  • 21
  • 2
2
votes
1 answer

How can I find the source of a smell?

OK we moved recently, it's been less than six months. I don't know if it matters but the weather has been its warmest sense we've been here. I think it's relevant because this smell just started about two weeks ago. The smell is only in my room, it…
Simone
  • 23
  • 4
2
votes
2 answers

Old house odor in a condo

Condo is in Florida. The building is 32 years old. 8 Units in a 2story building. Mine is on the 2nd floor. Brand new HVAC system including ducts-2018. Attic insulation was fine according to a home inspector in 2018, but some "bare" spots were…
Anna Smith
  • 21
  • 3
2
votes
2 answers

Foul smell in living room

For the past couple days I have noticed a foul smell in my living room and I can't seem to locate it. It smells more like dog poop and/or puke. I have a dog but she has never pooped in the house before though she has thrown up and at this point I…
user1723699
  • 365
  • 1
  • 7
  • 16
2
votes
2 answers

Find and eliminate musty smell in bedroom and bathroom

How can I find and eliminate musty smells in my bedrooms and bathroom? These occur in the first floor above a crawlspace which frequently has standing water. I've posted separately about making a vapor barrier, but here I'd like to ask about the…
FireFox31
  • 61
  • 1
  • 4
2
votes
2 answers

Can't track down smell in bedroom

I've posted in a few places about this but there is a smell in just one of the rooms of an apartment I moved into that has not aired out in several months. I believe it's a kind of chalky, almost like there is powder in the air. I've had the fan…
user68998
  • 21
  • 2
1
vote
8 answers

Are there any health concerns with using copper green wood preservative indoors?

So we had a roof leak and water was slowly dripping through the exterior wall and drywall. It had been going on for years, but until recently it became noticeably during a heavy rainfall when the water dripped through the drywall. So my contractor…
Amey Stune
  • 11
  • 1
  • 1
  • 2
1
2 3