My house smells - help!

amother

Mustard

Thu, May 03 2018, 7:04 am

When I come down in the morning, or when I come on from work after being out all day, I noticed my house has an unpleasant smell. Not horrible, but like maybe stale? There is no food rotting anywhere or laundry piling up, etc. I'm not sure what it's from . Again, it doesn't stink, but it doesn't smell nice.

Looking for tips and recommendations.... difusser? Renuzit? Febreeze plug ins?

Tia

amother

Silver

Thu, May 03 2018, 11:07 am

could have written your post word for word!

hate the musty, smells like food hanging around (but its not), smells like the house is from the 1800's and rotting (but its actually releativly newly constructed!)...

and I leave the windows open as much as possible (but not at night on the main level due to skunks!)

following for advice. thanks op for posting this question!

ra_mom

Thu, May 03 2018, 11:11 am

The best thing to do is figure out the source. It's coming from somewhere. Smell the garbage can when there's no bag in there. Smell the inside of the oven when it's cold and hasn't been used all day. Also the broiler or pull put oven drawer. Smell the fridge. Freezer. Put your head down and smell into the kitchen sink drains. The one in the bathroom. Open the toilet seat and get down for a really hard sniff. Get down on the floor and smell around the bowl and behind it. Check the cabinets under each sink for something that looks, feels or smells off. Smell the coat closet (can get musty if damp outerwear is put away). The pots/pans or cabinets that house them. The washer/dryer. Smell the air vents. Filters. Etc.

amother

Coral

Thu, May 03 2018, 11:52 am

Agree about finding the source. We just dealt with a smelly house. In our case it was a pipe under the house that leaked and until my husband got into the crawl space, discovered a paddle, fixed the pipe and drained and disinfected the paddle nothing else helped.

amother

Mustard

Thu, May 03 2018, 12:02 pm

ra_mom wrote:

Oh boy. This is going to be a project! I appreciate the details, I will go thru the list

amother

Lavender

Thu, May 03 2018, 4:43 pm

My home tends to smell like old cooking , all the smells waft upward in the 2 story foyer. (The meat stove has a vent that barely works, the dairy side has no vent).
I don't know either what to do.
And our bedrooms smell funky & sweaty even with open windows, fresh linen, no dirty laundry. embarrassed

Can't use air fresheners or fabric softener bec of severe allergies.
Wish I knew what to use.

ra_mom

Thu, May 03 2018, 5:03 pm

amother wrote:

Can't use air fresheners or fabric softener bec of severe allergies.
Wish I knew what to use.

In the bedroom, can you crawl down under the furniture and investigate? Clean every corner, nook and cranny?
What does your mattress smell like? Get down and dirty and use your nose.
Do you have drapes?
Open drawers that don't get used often and see if there's a stale smell in there?
Get really intimate with your possessions. Sometimes when we hunt this way we realize that cleaning methods need to be reevaluated.

amother

Lavender

Thu, May 03 2018, 5:23 pm

In 1 room it is the mattress, but the other ones don't smell. (I did the sniff test lol). The drawers don't either.
The carpets are old w old stains from before I moved in, no drapes just old fabric shades.
Tried baking soda aand vacuuming the mattresses , but stilll smells.

ra_mom

Thu, May 03 2018, 5:29 pm

amother wrote:

That must be it. If it can't be cleaned then it needs to be replaced. If you need to wait to replace it due to financials, buy a zipper mattress cover that fully encases the mattress and add some Bounce dryer sheets inside the zipper to try to keep the smell contained.

amother

Lavender

Thu, May 03 2018, 8:09 pm

I will try that, hopefully they won't cause allergy attacks!
What do I do about the old cooking smells that linger in the foyer or upstairs hallway?

mrs me

Thu, May 03 2018, 9:13 pm

I recently had this issue that my kitchen smelled atrocious even right after the cleaning lady was there. I was going nuts!!! went on for a few days... thought it was a dead animal hiding somewhere. I couldn't take it anymore! Finally decided to move the fridge b/c the smell was particularly strong right next to it. I prepared myself for the worst (dead decomposing rat maybe?????) and it turned out that the fridge had a drip pan underneath to collect... well.. drips. and this drip pan which I had never known existed (I'm renting this place for a year now) reeked!! something must have spilled in my fridge and dripped into that pan... I took it, put on some gloves, and bleached it and scrubbed with hot water. smell is GONE!!! gross but true story!

ra_mom

Thu, May 03 2018, 9:24 pm

amother wrote:

I will try that, hopefully they won't cause allergy attacks!
What do I do about the old cooking smells that linger in the foyer or upstairs hallway?

It has to be vented.

amother

Royalblue

Thu, May 03 2018, 9:32 pm

mrs me wrote:

something must have spilled in my fridge and dripped into that pan...

The drip pan is to catch condensation from the freezer defrost drain, not to catch the milk from the leaky jug. The reason it reeks is that standing water breeds all kinds of microorganisms you'd rather not know about. It would collect water and breed slime even if the fridge contained nothing but bricks. You're supposed to empty and clean out the drip pan on a regular basis, and it happens to be one of the first things the pros advise checking when there are mysterious obnoxious odors in a kitchen.

mrs me

Thu, May 03 2018, 9:37 pm

amother wrote:

I didn't even know that drip pans existed until I found it under the fridge lol. my parents fridge is not made that way so wasn't something I was aware of. of course once I saw it I realized I was probably supposed to be cleaning it regularly.
thanks for the tip!

amother

Royalblue

Thu, May 03 2018, 9:44 pm

mrs me wrote:

Funny! The fridge in my old place had a drip pan and cleaning it was one of my (not) favorite chores, esp. if it got too full to move without spilling the contents (yecccchhhh). Then I moved to another apt., looked and looked for a drip pan and never found one. Not all fridges have them.

mrs me

Thu, May 03 2018, 10:37 pm

amother wrote:

No way. How do I know if my fridge has one? I rent.

look under your fridge where all the loose cheerios hide

amother

Lavender

Wed, May 09 2018, 9:16 am

Ok so I mentioned up-thread my house smells like old cooking, but I realized it's also from food baked in the oven the day before. Have a wall oven so no vent to turn on.

Any ideas? My room currently smells like the breaded tilapia I baked last night & the french press coffee from this morning. (The kitchen does not even smell as much as my ropm upstairs near the foyer) Sick

ra_mom

Wed, May 09 2018, 9:29 am

amother wrote:

Turn the oven back on and put up a pan of water and cinnamon to bake.
But see if you can have an appliance guy give you an estimate for installing a vent through the walls/ceiling.

amother

Green

Wed, May 09 2018, 9:36 am

My laundry and exercise rooms smelled musty. I found it was the duster with the extension handle. While, it never touched water the stench was able to permeate two rooms.