Disgusting smell plaguing my house

[Orangelover]

Pretty much as it says on the tin!

A couple of weeks ago me and OH noticed a disgusting smell in our kitchen that pretty much smelt like gone off, sour milk rotting somewhere

We assumed that it was either the fridge - which I cleaned out and disinfected and found no obvious source of odour, or the bin - emptied and zoflora'd the whole thing. Smell still there...

Cleaned the kitchen whole kitchen and downstairs to within an inch of its' life (Which has been done multiple times in the last few weeks anyway as we've just sold the house!), had everything out of all of my cupboards. The smell still lingered!

The kitchen is all integrated, so OH has took the bottom panel out and we've looked underneath all of the cupboards to no avail. The smell just continues to waft throughout the kitchen diner.

The downstairs is reasonably open plan so I then moved onto the living room - done a full clean of the carpets and sofa. Pulled sofa out - nothing underneath. Had doors and windows open throughout constantly to air anything out.

I feel like I've pretty much tried everything to locate the disgusting smell. It even seems to be evolving into a drainy smell! I've mr muscled all the sinks just incase but I'm really at a loss now with what else to try. I'm very conscious that we'll be moving house in a few weeks and I really don't want the nice lady who's buying it to be stuck with this revolting stench that I can not source! I'm pretty good at maintaining my cleaning standards so this is greatly upsetting me without trying to be too dramatic!

Anyone had similar? Is there anything glaringly obvious that I have overlooked in my quest to rid myself of this pungent pergatory

[Henriettalll]

Have you cleaned the microwave, drains, is the dishwasher or washing machine smelly? Do you have pets? You could boil 1 part vinegar and 1 part water and leave it to simmer for an hour and place bowls of white vinegar in each room or corner if a space is big.

[Henriettalll]

Did you pull the fridge out as maybe a dead mouse or rotten food under? Have you looked behind the kitchen skirting board? Id usually sniff around see where the smell is strongest.

[NastyBlouse]

My immediate thought was rinsed-off food particles or something rotting in the u-bend under the sink, maybe? Might be a take-it-off-and-flush-it-out kind of situation (if you haven't already done that).

Or -- something on the tops of the kitchen cupboards? You say you checked under the kitchen units, have you checked on top of them? (If you have a gap between the tops of the units and the ceiling, of course.)

[DiscoJanet]

Dead mouse would be my first thought. We found one rotting in the cavity behind the oven once, after a week of searching 😖

[Orangelover]

Thanks for the replies. Yes I've been on a chair above the kitchen units. Had a good dust whilst I was up there but nothing found!

Can see right underneath my fridge/freezer with bottom panel off, nothing there.

Dishwasher and washer have both had a deep clean. Washer is reasonably new as well.

Will try the U bend suggestion - thanks!

[TheSpottedZebra]

The draining hole in the fridge, that's often the culprit. Or the catcher that the hole drains into.

Or a rogue potato that's rolled off somewhere and rotted.

[janeo18]

Have you tried leaving zoflora in hot water overnight? It may be masking a smell but if you can't find the source there's not much else you can do

[lavenderlove]

Could something be at the bottom of your bin under the bin bag? Also check the U-bend in the sink then I would leave the plug in the sink overnight and if it doesn't smell tomorrow you will know it's something to do with the drains

[Isolemnlyswear]

We had a horrible smell in our kitchen a couple of months ago, almost like rotten vegetables. We cleaned the drip tray in the back of the fridge but it was still there, it turned out to be the drain hole in the back of the fridge compartment. We had to clean it with a skewer then sprayed it with zoflora, did this twice and the smell went. Maybe try this!!!!

[MJMG2015]

It's probably best to leave everything for a few days to let it build a bit, it'll make it easier to find. Ask a friend to come over, preferably one with a small child- they're brilliant at locating the source of a smell!

Good luck
(& it's really nice if you to do your best to find & eradicate it before moving!! Lots of people would just ignore it!!)

[MinnieMousse]

Or a rogue potato that's rolled off somewhere and rotted.

I came on to suggest this. If you have a bag of potatoes check there isn't a rotten one in there.

[Orangelover]

The whole bin has been bleached, boiled, zoflora, antibac wiped.

After another round of being on my hands and knees sniffing round the kitchen I think it might smell worse under the oven..

Going to get OH to take it all apart again when he gets home (I'm too scared to do it alone)

[IlovecatsyesIdo]

@TheSpottedZebra

The draining hole in the fridge, that's often the culprit. Or the catcher that the hole drains into.

Or a rogue potato that's rolled off somewhere and rotted.

^^ I echo this re: the fridge draining hole. We had the exact same thing, searched everywhere and this was what it was. If the draining hole seems okay check the back of the fridge too.

[Truzza]

We had the potato rotting thing.... took me ages to find it..... or you could have a dead animal under the floor boards? 😬 mice smell like rotting onions

[Orangelover]

Right the fridge is also coming out tonight!

I will get to the bottom of this!

[IlovecatsyesIdo]

Good luck!

[BestZebbie]

Do you have a downstairs loo that is never really as a toilet? If you don’t flush a loo for a few weeks the water in the pan can evaporate allowing sewer air to get up into the house round the U-bend (usually it forms a seal).

[BestZebbie]

Never really used as a etc

[picklemewalnuts]

I left some chicken portions in the microwave after we spontaneously went out to eat. It was rank when I found them...

[Mycatismadeofstringcheese]

A loose electrical connection or lightbulbs can sometimes release the smell of bad fish. Turn your lights on and sniff them!

[Iminaglasscaseofemotion]

We get this sometimes. I wasvovinced it was my drains in the house. I cleaned them sometimes twice a day with no joy. Cleaned the washing machine, matchbook drians. ... nope. One day it just disappeared. Its happened around 3 times in the last year. It will last for a week or 2 then disappear. The only thing I can think is it's something coming from the drains father out into the street.
Have you checked under the fridge and other appliances?

[MadamFlutterby]

Do you have a vase of not so fresh flowers anywhere ... the smell from stagnant water can be overbearing

[Bluntness100]

Dead mouse under something I suspect, friggen stinks for a few days.

[Nitw1t]

Drain hole in the fridge.

Or a rotting succulent/cactus (they can be dead on the inside but still look presentable from the outside, I know how that feels).

[AudTheDeepMinded]

We had a stinky fridge area, cleaned ind=side of fridge and underneath, still smelled awful. Did not realise there was an actual tray thingy under the fridge til friend pointed it out. That was the culprit.
Also had an atrocious smell in our car recently, smelt like rotten prawns. Could not work out what the hell was causing it. Had a massive deep clean and found a KP skip crisp that was under a floor mat and had got damp, you would not believe how eye-wateringly bad that smelt!