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SeaStar
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| Posted: March 10 2007 at 7:11pm | IP Logged
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My home is up for sale, and although the realtors assure me it looks perfect for selling, several have reported a strange "mystery odor" when they walk in the door to show it- described as "musty" , "dank" or "garbage-y".
One said it was overpowering as soon as he opened the front door.
I am at a loss- I do not smell it, nor do my parents and friends when they stop by. My realtor has stopped by also to see if she can smell it and hasn't. My house is shining clean. All diapers go immediately into the outside trash. I take the garbage out daily. I have replaced all my trash cans with new ones. I have even stopped using the dishwasher. I'm washing all the dishes by hand right away so nothing is lying around that might smell bad. I have put out room fresheners and odor absorbers. I do laundry daily....and still the realtors say it smells bad in here.
I could just cry. Why can't I smell this odor? Some say it's upstairs, some say downstairs. Some haven't reported smelling it.
I have been keeping the windows open as much as possible, and I have cut back on cooking so there are no lingering cooking smells. It just seems like the rest of us would be able to smell an "overpowering" odor.
Any ideas? I am desperate and so discouraged- I don't know what else to do
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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MacBeth
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| Posted: March 10 2007 at 7:16pm | IP Logged
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Hey Melinda! The nose is a funny thing. It becomes desensitized very quickly, so that if you live in a place, you often don't notice the smell.
I am not sure what to tell you. Your story reminds me of a house in a book I read once, called the cinnamon house. The seller was told that folks would like the smell of cinnamon, so she baked buns all day long, and the realtor finally told her to stop, as the house was unbearably Cinnamon-y!
Maybe an odor nutralizer in the rubbish, garbage, and laundry would help. I hope it all works out!
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MacBeth in NY
Don's wife since '88; "Mom" to the Fab 4
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alicegunther
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| Posted: March 10 2007 at 7:57pm | IP Logged
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I do not know anything about this product and can't recommend it, but I found this online: Inspired Living, Home Odor Remover.
So sorry for the frustrating problem!
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Cay Gibson
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| Posted: March 10 2007 at 8:30pm | IP Logged
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Melinda,
What about at the front door, yet outside the house?
At our other house, there were seasons my backyard smelled dreadful. Turned out to be in the woods the mud hidden under the rotting fall leaves.
I was at the library a couple weeks ago and the security guard was outside with some people walking about, wrinkling their noses. I was headed to my car and he stopped me to ask if I smelt anything "strange". It took me a while to notice the smell. It was rather nasty and library-goers had been complaining. We all concluded it was the mud around the light pole that was causing the stench.
Also, do you have a welcome mat? Perhaps change it out. Just a random thought.
Hope you find the culprit. 
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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
wife to Mark '86
mom to 5
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Marybeth
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| Posted: March 10 2007 at 8:31pm | IP Logged
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It sounds like maybe a mildew problem?!?! Do you ever take in water or have you in the past? We have taken in water in our basement laundry room. We need to repair a crack in the foundation. We plan to take off the 70s paneling in our downstairs and look for more and also get a professional opinion. We did have one man come and say he smelled a slight odor and told us to remove the carpeting and run a dehumidifer 24/7 for several days.
We plan to do this in the spring. I think it will help to have the windows open and then we can store all our furniture and such in the garage. I just couldn't take all the upheaveal in mid-winter.
I don't smell a thing. My Mom noticed it during a party and described it as dank. Not overpowering just a lingering "basementy" smell. I was so embrassed!
I'm sorry not to add much to help just wanted to say I know how you feel and hope you can find a quick resolution.
Marybeth
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Dawn
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| Posted: March 11 2007 at 5:46am | IP Logged
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SeaStar wrote:
One said it was overpowering as soon as he opened the front door. |
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Melinda, we once had a neighborhood cat who would occasionaly spray (or mark) the front door/steps area.  We would notice an odor - indescribable, but nasty - as we walked into the house. It smelled particularly strong on sunny days as our house faces south and soaks up the heat.
Just throwing it out there. We scrubbed the door and washed the steps and didn't seem to have a problem after that.
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Dawn, mum to 3 boys 
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JennGM
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| Posted: March 12 2007 at 9:58am | IP Logged
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Melinda, I have a few questions....
Is your house split level or split foyer?
And Marybeth's question...did your carpet ever suffer from a flood or anything? Do you have a basement that ever has leaks?
What about around your house? Do you have moss and/or places that don't get a lot of sun that are moist? Is this close the house, near the window? If you are watering or had a lot of rain this could cause a musty odor into the house.
This summer I solved a big problem....not sure where you are, if it's hot where you are or not. Our garbage cans are kept in the garage, but during the summer I kept smelling some awful odors only in the mudroom area, into the kitchen (from the garage area). It bothered me to no end, I couldn't find the smell. FINALLY, I figured out that the cat door (left by the previous owners) allowed the odor to seep through from the garage from the garbage, and summer heat was intensifying the breakdown. But it was funny, because the garage wasn't as stinky as the mudroom.
Oh, and right before I sold our townhouse I kept smelling a musty odor near our kitchen. It was the wall behind our kitchen, in our dining room. I would only smell it that area, not in our kitchen. I kept telling dh, and I was the only one that smelled it...and then I discovered some warped floor boards in the dining room. Our dishwashed had developed a slow leak and it was seeping into the dining room, not our kitchen.
A blacklight is a big help to see if the problem is from animal or human stains. It might be something in the yard.
You might need someone with a good sniffer to go on the floor and sniff carpet. Tedious, but you need a good detective. I am blessed (or cursed) with strong olfactory senses. But smell is so huge for me, that it is what gave me clues about buying or not buying (or even looking) at houses according to smell. And covering up with candles and cinnamon does make it worse. I want "clean."
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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JennGM
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| Posted: March 12 2007 at 10:03am | IP Logged
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Oh, a couple of other thoughts. Check under your sinks, make sure there isn't a slow leak underneath.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to & ds1 '03 & ds2 '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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SeaStar
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| Posted: March 12 2007 at 11:52am | IP Logged
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Thanks for all the suggestions. We had new carpet put in two years ago. I will check into all the other suggestions. I've already replaced the door mats and moved and/or replaced the trash cans. As far as I can tell we have no water leaks. I'm going to have a professional come out and check all the air ducts. I'm in a two story house. I've washed the front door.
No one smelled anything bad over the weekend, which I hope is good- but what if the odor comes back again?
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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JennyMaine
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| Posted: March 18 2007 at 6:03pm | IP Logged
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Did you find anything?
I know it sounds crazy, but smell around the electrical outlets. I have a dear friend who had a weird smell in her house. She literally crawled around sniffing and smelled something disgusting near an outlet. Her husband discovered a dead mouse when he took it apart. Apparently the little critter was exploring within the wall and got electrocuted. Yuck!
Just a random though!
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--JennyMaine, Mom to Catherine (17) and Sam (15) "The countenance is a reflection of the soul. You should always have a calm and serene countenance." -- Therese of Lisieux
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Dawnie
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| Posted: March 18 2007 at 11:51pm | IP Logged
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JennyMaine wrote:
Did you find anything?
I know it sounds crazy, but smell around the electrical outlets. I have a dear friend who had a weird smell in her house. She literally crawled around sniffing and smelled something disgusting near an outlet. Her husband discovered a dead mouse when he took it apart. Apparently the little critter was exploring within the wall and got electrocuted. Yuck!
Just a random though! |
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Oh yeah, I found a squished dead mouse under one of my couch cushions!
My 6yod smelled it first--"Mommy, I smell something."
Me: "I don't smell anything."
DD starts lifting up the couch cushions
Me: "What are you doing!? Leave the cushions on the couch! I don't smell--" Then I see the dead mouse. Insert scream. Totally gross. Bleh.
Dawn
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JSchaaf
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| Posted: March 19 2007 at 1:46am | IP Logged
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JennyMaine wrote:
Did you find anything?
I know it sounds crazy, but smell around the electrical outlets. I have a dear friend who had a weird smell in her house. She literally crawled around sniffing and smelled something disgusting near an outlet. Her husband discovered a dead mouse when he took it apart. Apparently the little critter was exploring within the wall and got electrocuted. Yuck!
Just a random though! |
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Here's a scary story:
In our Ohio house (a few moves ago) we would go in at night to check on the girls and would smell this strange odor-like a fishy smell. I couldn't find anything to account for it. We would also find the girl's nightlight on the floor in the morning. Dh and I assumed one of them was taking it out of the outlet at night. Then Anne-Catherine (who was just three) said something about the fire in her room every night. That was it! I wasn't going to put anyone to bed that night before I figured out what was going on. I got down on my hands and knees and sniffed every inch of that room. When I got to the outlet I could smell the fishy smell. I took off the outlet cover and found the melted and burned foam insulation-that was the source of the fishy odor. I called an electrician who came right over. He said the wiring was sparking and burning-the smell came from the burning insulation and that every night (we turned on the nightlight before we went to bed) it would burn until the nightlight popped out with a shower of sparks (the fire A-C was seeing in the night) He said we were fortunate not to have a full electrical fire in the walls of the house. It still rattles me to think it took me three days to figure out the problem...
Jennifer
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JennyMaine
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| Posted: March 19 2007 at 5:19am | IP Logged
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Wow, Jennifer! That is so frightening. My ex-husband was a fire fighter for many years, and instilled in me a very healthy terror of electrical fires.
Those guardian angels were working overtime at your house! Praise God for His mercy and protection!
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--JennyMaine, Mom to Catherine (17) and Sam (15) "The countenance is a reflection of the soul. You should always have a calm and serene countenance." -- Therese of Lisieux
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Maria B.
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JSchaaf wrote:
Here's a scary story:
In our Ohio house (a few moves ago) we would go in at night to check on the girls and would smell this strange odor-like a fishy smell. I couldn't find anything to account for it. We would also find the girl's nightlight on the floor in the morning. Dh and I assumed one of them was taking it out of the outlet at night. Then Anne-Catherine (who was just three) said something about the fire in her room every night. That was it! I wasn't going to put anyone to bed that night before I figured out what was going on. I got down on my hands and knees and sniffed every inch of that room. When I got to the outlet I could smell the fishy smell. I took off the outlet cover and found the melted and burned foam insulation-that was the source of the fishy odor. I called an electrician who came right over. He said the wiring was sparking and burning-the smell came from the burning insulation and that every night (we turned on the nightlight before we went to bed) it would burn until the nightlight popped out with a shower of sparks (the fire A-C was seeing in the night) He said we were fortunate not to have a full electrical fire in the walls of the house. It still rattles me to think it took me three days to figure out the problem...Jennifer |
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I can't beleive I am reading this! The exact same thing happened at our house three weeks ago. My daughters' have had this fishy smell coming from their room on and off for the last several months. Sometimes it was so bad they could not sleep in the room. We emptied their room out thinking it was a dead mouse, maybe rotting food in a gym bag or old smelly laundry from a gym bag. Nothing was found to be causing the smell. Then one day my daughter unplugged her CD player and noticed that the prongs on the plug were black. Then she saw that the plug itself had a black, melted corner on it. My husband took off the outlet cover and found a metling outlet box with one side completely black. Even worse, the wires were glowing in the wall! We quickly turned off the electricity, took out the box, and capped off the wires until an electrician could come. He told us the same thing that you were told. It is an absolute miracle that our whole house did not burn down. And to think this was going on in the wall for over three months. That is how long we had been smelling the fishy odor. We told the children that our guardian angels protected us from harm. We saved the melted outlet box as a reminder of our great blessing.
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Maria in VA
Proud Mom to 10 Great kids!
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jdostalik
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| Posted: March 19 2007 at 11:43am | IP Logged
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Maria and Jennifer,
Thank you for sharing your stories--what a blessing that no one was harmed. I have been noticing a funny smell in dd's room and am going to have dh check the outlets--it is a kind of fishy smell and is only in her room. She is a meticulously clean girl, so it's disturbing that her room has an odor! 
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Jennifer in TX
wife to Bill, mom to six here on earth and eight in heaven.
Let the Little Ones Come
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SeaStar
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I am going to double check all my outlets! I had a professional company come out and check the air ducts- they are fine. The company tried to sell me a device that will zap odors by putting out ozone particles into the air- has anyone tried anything like this? The cost was $1,195.00, which is kind of an expensive thing to just try.
My realtor stopped by Sunday and said the house smelled good- but she could smell the smell in the garage. I am going to clean and store my recycling bins- won't use them again until the house sells. Also- we keep all our shoes in the garage- I wonder if the kids shoes in particular are smelly? I have noticed that a couple of pairs I bought for them from Target had a funny smell, which is why I started keeping them in the garage. But now where will I put them?
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
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JodieLyn
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What about getting a bin to put them in.. you can cover them with the lid when you have people coming.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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cathhomeschool
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Texas Bluebonnets
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| Posted: March 20 2007 at 9:20am | IP Logged
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JennyMaine wrote:
| I have a dear friend who had a weird smell in her house. She literally crawled around sniffing and smelled something disgusting near an outlet. Her husband discovered a dead mouse when he took it apart. Apparently the little critter was exploring within the wall and got electrocuted. |
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This happened behind one of the electrical outlets in my bedroom when I was a child. My dad didn't take the outlet apart, though. He just completely sealed the whole thing in silicone sealer and left it that way for years. Smell gone and no need to dig out the critter.
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Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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Topic: Mystery odor- need help desperately
