Help me unravel this mystery before I burn the contents of this room down

@NotAgainWilson you can run an ozone machine in a closed room for an hour. Just don’t enter it. Once the machine is finished, just open the room window to air it. That’s the protocol for the hen I was hotel housekeeping for smokers rooms.
Although imo they didn’t actually achieve anything as I could still smell the smoke. They just sped up the process of airing a room by leaving the window open - in a hotel turn over was more important than leaving a window open for a day or two!

Can you call in a priest?

I had a mouse crawl in the back of my desktop computer many years ago (brought in by cat). Every time the computer was on it heated up the dead mouse and it absolutely stank. I hadn't idea what the smell was and it drove me mad. I only found out what the smell was months later when a guy fixed my computer and there was this mostly decomposed mouse. Mice definitely smell!

I'm surprised at all the suggestions for ozone machines.

People who buy ozone generators may not be aware that ozone can harm the cells in the lungs and respiratory airways. Exposure to ozone irritates and inflames the lining of the respiratory system. This causes symptoms including coughing, chest tightness, shortness of breath, and impaired breathing. Ozone can worsen asthma symptoms, and may contribute to the development of asthma. Elevated exposures to ozone can cause permanent lung damage, and repeated exposure can even increase the risk of dying among persons already in poor health. Persons especially vulnerable to health problems from breathing ozone include children and those who already suffer from asthma or other respiratory diseases, including the elderly. There are many experimental studies on animals, including dogs, cats, hamsters and guinea pigs, that show respiratory effects from exposure to ozone. Birds are especially sensitive to the effects of air pollutants, including ozone.

https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/air-cleaners-ozone-products/hazardous-ozone-generating-air-purifiers#:~:text=People%20who%20buy%20ozone%20generators,of%20breath%2C%20and%20impaired%20breathing.

First link that came up - Welsh government in covid times spent about 3 million on project in covid to clean classrooms before they finally took on board low level ozone is actually really bad for health.

Sticking soft furnishing and mattress in sun is a good idea - UV kills bacteria.

@Washingupdone also right to point out electrics about to go can smell of fish or urine - though sound like a different smell best to be aware.

Time and keep airing the room with regular cleaning. Anything you can move outside to give it more air and sunlight with help too.

We'd a really bad smell from when our stuff had been stored in an unventilated house in the heat.

Other people said they couldn't smell it. I think I was highly sensitive to it and any little trace I could sniff out.

I still can pick it up on say a box that hasn't been opened yet but on most other things it has eventually gone.

It did take weeks maybe bordering on a month

It wasn't Prince Andrew was it? Can imagine a lingering odour with that one.

Try asking on the Mrs Hinch or Stacey Solomon Facebook groups

The white fluffy stuff, not dry rot mycelium by any chance?

Get a fumigator in. My guess is the lodger may have had a condition that doesn’t enable them to sweat properly and the give off an odd smell.

The smell is worst by the radiator Is it an electric radiator, could it be a fault in the circuit overheating the plastics and heat-resistant chemicals used in outlets, circuit breakers, or wiring insulation may emit a fishy or urine-like smell.

I've tried that before, I find it jumajes nasty smells e even worse.

Lots of great suggestions here. So:

• My dog died in November (bear with me) - I am still finding hairs. If he was shedding smelly skin, then it will take several vacs to remove.
• Have you washed your vac filters and pipes? If not the smell may be re-introduced every time you use it.
• Have you any exposed floorboards? If so it may well have gone down under.
• Can you lift and air the carpet? You may find that it is not in the carpet but in the underlay - possibly a cheaper replacement than the carpet.
• I would not necessarily wash curtains, but hanging them on the line in wind for a few days and wash the rails out - you say febreeze did not work, but if you do this before hanging out, it might help.
• Hoover the walls and light fittings - sounds silly I know, but even paintwork can gather fine dust, and when you wash it, it will spread and dry back out, resettling
• open windows when you hoover

I had a flatmate with this issue, it was horrendous. It must have been a medical problem as he was clean. After he moved out we had to redecorate his room as the smell had got into everything, but I didn’t know then about bicarbonate/ vinegar etc.

You need a mop and bucket of soapy water to clean the floors. Bathroom wipes will not cut it! I always mop my Victorian floorboards, never heard of it damaging the varnish!!

The smell problem is worrying, but the white fluff thing is alarming! The OP said there was enough to fill the hoover! Then overnight, more appeared. Surely no mould could grow that fast? Could it be that something (animal) is shredding insulation material/paper/tissues? What is the fluff consistency - is it hairy, smooth, powdery?

He's not done one of those 'spurned lover' type revenges and left his smelly socks under the floorboards or sewn into the mattress has he lol? 'Spurned lodger' bitch said my feet were smelly..I'll show her! 😁

Seriously though, have you tried asking someone else to sniff the room? Sometimes my bloke says I smell things that nobody else can. My dog pissed on the carpet a lot when she was younger and although I've washed it a million times I still smell it when I go into our house..nobody else does..just me!

Could it be that you are more sensitive to smell due to meno? I’m perimeno and my symptoms are all over the shop x

My cats often bring in mice. Occasionally one escapes and then dies under the fridge in the utility room. They definitely do decompose and smell really bad, like a mouldy tangerine but with a meaty undertone. We always know.....and when we find them they are often still looking quite 'fresh' (i.e. not decomposing and full of maggots or anything gross) but still really stink!

Could you have a water leak? There could be pipes under the floorboards. There is clearly moisture in there for it to be growing white mould and it will keep coming back as long as the moisture is still there

Hmmn.

If he was that smelly, you would have smelled him when he arrived to take the room. But apparently when he rented the room, his odour did not offend you.

So what is really going on?

A) You should consider there is a problem with the room. Is it localised to the room? Maybe there is a leak/ damp/ mould? Or does the bathroom he used also stink?

b) You should consider something malicious has happened. Either he's stuffed something obnoxious to rot under the floor boards, behind the radiator, like dead fish, or a dead body?

c) You're mentally obsessed with how smelly he was and now have over-sensitive fake nostril smell due to stress?

Serriously. No one's body odour outlasts a good spring clean.

You probably have a more serious problem going on.