# Help Identify a very bad household Odor



## meanwhile (Dec 13, 2007)

My older sons bought a small house late summer. It is only about 8 years old, they are the 2nd owners, it was inspected, was clean. They did paint, a good cleaning and everything seemed fine. They used the Air conditioning in August - Sept. and everything was fine. When cold weather set in, used open windows for a while then turned on the heat and closed up the house.

Over the past few weeks a bad smell has become stronger and stronger. To me it smells like a rotten or spoiled citrus fruit - a sharp smell - almost like a chemical. To one of the boys it smells like spray paint or some other paint. Everyone can smell it. 

We have checked everything we can think to check:
- cleaned up good
- checked under everything for a stray piece of fruit or other rotten item
- checked to see if smell is from sinks, washing machine, under house

We just cannot find it. The smell is stronger on one side of the house - the kitchen side - and we can smell it faintly outside on that end of house. We have checked under the house but cannot smell it there.

There is not any rat or mice poison under the house and it does not smell like a rotting dead animal.....plus we do not smell it under the house. 

What else to check? What else could it be? Thank you. 

(Jokes OK but please try to help too!)

Added -- the heat is electric and the vents seem to be clean. We checked that too.


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## Win07_351 (Dec 7, 2008)

Perhaps some type of adhesive/glue (flooring, countertop, or paneling)??


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## Gailann Schrader (May 10, 2002)

Like acetic acid? Vinegary?

Could it be the insulation?


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## Common Tator (Feb 19, 2008)

You might want to get the HVAC ducts cleaned. We had a rat crawl in one and die once. I found the opening in the duct myself and removed it. That was the same time we discovered my daughter had lost her sense of smell. It was the vent to her bedroom and she didn't smell anything.


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## rambler (Jan 20, 2004)

Pet pee where the vents heat up? Soaks into wood, never really goes away...

A floor drain or toilet or other unused trap that is dry?

A vent stack that is vented into the attic, instead of vented outside?

A bee hive that built in the wall cavity?

--->Paul


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## lostspring (Jun 29, 2007)

Maybe the wax ring on the toilet needs to be replaced.


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## nodak3 (Feb 5, 2003)

If it smelled like sewer gas it could be a problem we had in one house: a drain trap too near forced air heat vent. Water would evaporate in the trap and let stink up.

But we did have an odd kitchen chemical smell one time that we noticed when we closed up for winter. I suspect it had been there all the time, just we NOTICED it then.

The fridge was extremely slowly leaking its' coolant. We learned that when it ceased cooling and was replaced. Odd smell went when it went.


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## Common Tator (Feb 19, 2008)

I have been in the homes of middle eastern and asian people before, and sometimes there are very strong cooking smells that permeate everything, walls, carpeting, window treatments, everything. Strong enough that a subsequent owner could spend a great deal of time wondering what the smell is.


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## mdharris68 (Sep 28, 2006)

meanwhile said:


> My older sons bought a small house late summer. It is only about 8 years old, they are the 2nd owners, it was inspected, was clean. They did paint, a good cleaning and everything seemed fine. They used the Air conditioning in August - Sept. and everything was fine. When cold weather set in, used open windows for a while then turned on the heat and closed up the house.
> 
> Over the past few weeks a bad smell has become stronger and stronger. To me it smells like a rotten or spoiled citrus fruit - a sharp smell - almost like a chemical. To one of the boys it smells like spray paint or some other paint. Everyone can smell it.
> 
> ...


 Do you notice the odor more when the furnace is blowing? 

Have you had the furnace checked? If you could have someone pull the heat coils out and inspect them, there could be a hard plastic piece of something that could be lying there melting when the heat is on, which could cause a reoccuring smell. Just a thought.


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

I vote for wet insulation. Either wet from pipes, or a roof leak. Maybe even from condensation somehow.


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## BetsyK in Mich (May 14, 2002)

Wonder about the pan in the bottom of the refrigerator. Maybe you smell it when the furnace turns on and pulls the air from the floor. I used Osage Oranges one year and as they dried out they had a strange, sweet, dirty sock smell.


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## BetsyK in Mich (May 14, 2002)

Sorry double post.


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## brody (Feb 19, 2009)

I thought of drain trap issue right away ....


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

Rotting citrus smell is orangene and alcohol. Paint can be acetone or other volatiles. Smells have to have some conveyance, be it water or chemical. Started during heating season... Heat is electric... most logical cause - overheated wiring and/or contact points and relays. Time to get an electrician out, this could be a major fire hazard.


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## gwithrow (Feb 5, 2005)

be sure the smell is not coming from where the main electrical line comes to the breaker box...we had a funny smell, took me awhile to narrow it down to the area near the box...turns out it was a loose connection where the main connected to the box, and where it entered the house outside..this caused some arcing and heat and was slowly melting the wire insulation....could have been a major issue if not resolved...the electrician just kept saying it was a good thing we called...he tightened everything up and the smell is gone...oh and this house, though very old, was completely remodeled 5 years ago...so all the wiring dates from then....


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## NCLee (Aug 4, 2009)

Smell stronger around the kitchen... That sounds like it's source is somewhere around that area and is above the crawl space. Take the kick panel off the dishwasher and check under there. Could have a leak that's now showing up yet. Run the dishwasher and when it's in the drain cycle, check all of the pipes. There's probably one that connects to the kitchen sink drain. If there's a leak and you have any lemon scented cleaning supplies under the sink, they could be getting damp and emitting a citrus/chemical smell. 

Is the smell stronger when the furnace is running? When it's running smell of the air coming from each vent. If it's something in the vents between them and the furnace, you may be able to isolate where it is by doing that. 

If you haven't done so, pull out both the refrigerator and the stove. Check behind and under them. If there are kids around, there's no telling what they may have lost or dropped in the wrong place. While you have them out, also check the electrical outlets and feel the cords to make sure they aren't hot to the touch.

Check the food storage cabinets. Make sure you don't have a can of spoiled fruit that's leaking. They, IMHO, are the worst, for bulging cans that eventually leak.

Also check for leaking cleaning products. Things packaged in plastic or in cans can also spring a leak over time. 

Don't know that any of this will be of help. Hoping it will at least trigger a thought or two that may lead you to the cause.

Lee


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## Witterbound (Sep 4, 2007)

I'd guess you've got some mold. Possibly water has gotten behind the siding and the inside of the wall is damp.


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## soulsurvivor (Jul 4, 2004)

I'd be tracking down the first owners. I bet they know.


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## uncle Will in In. (May 11, 2002)

We bought a house that had a similar problem. After several months of not locating the source, we had the gas company send out a man with a gas leak detecter. After over a half hour of looking, he found a tiny crack in the flexable gas line going to the cook stove. I went to the Hardware and got a new one. The odor stopped. THe gas company had a little hand held gas detecter they used to go over all the gas lines. <>Unk


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

i had an apartment once with a very old fridge. it wasn't in use, but it was built into the counter so it remained. the insulation must have been decomposing in that thing because it had avery bad odor. it was a weird smell.


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## meanwhile (Dec 13, 2007)

Thank you everyone -- good ideas. I had not thought of most of these. We will start going down the list to check. The heat is electric and since the smell did not start till then, it is a prime suspect. We could not find anything that looked odd from the unit but we will call the Heat man and an electrician and get everything checked out. 

Thank you for all the ideas of things to keep checking.


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## cindy71 (Jul 7, 2008)

What about the bad sheetrock from China? They say it has a bad smell to it. You said the house was built 8 years ago I don't think that the sheetrock from that time is bad, but the owners could have remodel some and got bad sheetrock from that time. Just a thought. Cindy


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## Gercarson (Nov 2, 2003)

My own home HAD such a horrible oder that I could not find - UNTIL, I pin pointed it. It was where the washer hose was just "hooked" in the pipe that went to the septic tank. The pipe was a direct line to the septic tank and there was no cover except the smaller hose from the washer. I caulked around the pipe and "VOILA" odor gone.


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