Unidentifiable smell-please help

amother

Wed, Sep 09 2020, 11:40 am

Hi,
My DCs room has a horrible smell.
I was not in the room for months on end and I currently don't have cleaning help due to COVID and I don't know when the smell started.
DC's room was a mess, we initially thought it was smelling from that. Made DC clean, didn't not find anything gross. The smell persists.
Thought maybe mold from wet towels as DC is not great at hanging them up.
Brought in a mold guy, did tests of the wall/floor/air samples-no mold.
Finding the smell seems to be above the room in the attic, the exposed fiberglass around the HVAC seemed damp (today was dry but still smells) and dirty. Had a non-professional check for animals who were maybe excreting or dying there and leaving oders which go down into the room. No sign of life or past life.
I brought a piece of the fiberglass which reeks, in a ziplock, to work and begged the custodian to take a stab at it. He said, doesn't think animal, but no idea. Someone else thought it was reminiscent of when the air conditioner in their home was leaking, but they are not sure as it was years ago and might just be because I said it was need the HVAC. Furthermore, the room underneath smells significantly more than the attic. The custodian said it is because smell is particles and particles settle. Not sure if that makes sense, or if it's because it is going down in the wall.
I can't figure out how it would be from the HVAC but it may or may not make sense-but I really don't want to pay for them to laugh at me and not even really check, saying that nope -not possibly (if anyone thinks/know it could be that would help). I am also out of ideas. It still smells and D.C. has been sleeping in the guest room.

Please help with ideas of what I should look for or who to call.

Thank you.

zaq

Wed, Sep 09 2020, 12:22 pm

You said the fiberglass reeks--why do you think that it is not the source of the odor in your dc room? Air currents and the odors they carry travel in odd ways, and it's not at all unusual for an odor to be stronger at a distance than at the source. Have you never walked into you house, been bowled over by the smell of rotting garbage, yet not smelled anything off when you stood right next to the trash can?

To get rid of the odor, you'll have to replace the insulation, since disinfecting fiberglass is simply not practical if it can be done at all. But your larger concern is to find out why the insulation was wet in the first place. Is the roof or a nearby wall or window leaking when it rains? Is it condensation? You may need to use insulation with a vapor barrier layer to keep it dry, otherwise the problem will recur.