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Original poster

Awful smell from living room

30 replies

Annnir · 10/08/2026 13:42

Please help I’ve tried so far: washing carpet with carpet cleaner, washing the cushions, cleaning the sofas but there is still a horrible musty smell coming from there. Little one spilt milk on the carpet which I noticed 2 days after he did it so cleaned carpet with carpet cleaner then. Problem is I don’t know where the smell is coming from.

OP posts:
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IAmKerplunk · 13/08/2026 14:58

Yokodoke · 13/08/2026 14:08

Oh blimey, I didn’t see that milk had been split, yes that would do! Absolutely foul 😷😷😷😷

Yep - still convinced it’s the milk. People underestimate how awful it smells long after you think you have cleaned it

Yokodoke · 13/08/2026 14:08

Oh blimey, I didn’t see that milk had been split, yes that would do! Absolutely foul 😷😷😷😷

Gardenisablooming · 11/08/2026 22:42

Is your under stairs cupboard aside your living room ?

iknowimcoming · 11/08/2026 22:41

IT’S THE MILK!! I speak from experience- milk leaves behind bacteria which multiplies and causes the smell. Get a bottle of Rug Doctor Carpet Fresh, make sure it says enzyme cleaner on the bottle - sold in B&Q or other places that hire the carpet cleaners. Might take a couple of goes but it will work!

ThatGreenCrab · 11/08/2026 22:20

I had this after I spilled a latte in my car. No amount of washing, or fabreeze, would remove the smell. In the end I purchased a biological cleaner off Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/05HSrICO which finally removed the smell.

Amazon

Amazon

https://amzn.eu/d/05HSrICO?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-am-i-being-unreasonable-5564934-awful-smell-from-living-room

EarringsandLipstick · 11/08/2026 22:12

I would almost guarantee it’s a dead small rodent or droppings from a rodent.

Spilling milk that was rapidly cleaned up is not going to have this smell, not one you describe as ‘awful’

I’ve had this experience. It’s pervasive & absolutely has that ‘spilt milk’ smell. Sorry to freak you out, it’s typically smaller (baby) rodents coming out at night & wee’ing.

Call pest control. Quickly solvable.

Foolish1984 · 11/08/2026 22:06

CaptainMyCaptain · 11/08/2026 21:59

Or under the floor boards. I have had experience of this.

Show quote history

Not everyone has floorboards

Foolish1984 · 11/08/2026 22:05

Get this! I know it’s meant for pets but the odour-removing ability of this spray is unmatched! https://amzn.eu/d/05jRmCG7

CaptainMyCaptain · 11/08/2026 21:59

BuffetTheDietSlayer · 10/08/2026 13:49

Could be a dead mouse inside your sofa.

Or under the floor boards. I have had experience of this.

Yokodoko · 11/08/2026 21:58

Is it an old house with a void under the floor, if so a dead rodent is almost a cert

GiddyViper · 11/08/2026 00:03

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

SomeOtherUser · 10/08/2026 21:02

Annnir · 10/08/2026 14:00

No it’s no dead rodents. The smell only started when he spilt milk. The sofas as material not the leather ones do all the cushions come out. I’ve taken all the cushions off and hoovered and wiped down.

We had this after using a RugDoctor. Drove me crazy for ages as the whole house stank.

If you put your nose to the carpet, is that what smells? In our case it was, and after Googling the issue, I found that it was likely due to the carpet cleaner having overly soaked the carpet, causing it to fester. The stench slowly faded over a week or two.

Kimmers4334 · 10/08/2026 14:29

My friend had this after cleaning her carpets. The underlay had become wet and she had to get a company in with a professional machine to suck the water out of them (she’d done her whole house). The company said it was common. Perhaps there was more milk than you thought and it’s gone through to the underlay or it became soaked when you cleaned it

CoastalCalm · 10/08/2026 14:23

Wet carpet underlay , try running a dehumidifier in the room with the door closed for a few days

Happyjoe · 10/08/2026 14:19

Dead rodent or bird is a very pungent strong smell, death is. I hope that's different to the musty smell you've got.
Have a look for spills and any damp area's around the edges of the room that hits an external wall as well as look for any damp around fireplaces. If just from the sofa and smells like pee, then it's damp somewhere. Damp can smell like cat pee.

Mumtotornadoes · 10/08/2026 14:18

The milk has probably soaked through the carpet to the underlay or floorboards. It'll dry up and go eventually. Don't use anything wet. Try that carpet powder stuff if it's somewhere you can move furniture over put the powder down, rub it in and put the sofa over the kids don't play in it. You want to draw all the moisture out.

PeterRabbitsWhiskers · 10/08/2026 14:12

It has probably soaked through to the underlay and has not fully dried out.
It would not surprise me if there are moulds growing under there!
Can you lift the carpet to look?

cardboard33 · 10/08/2026 14:12

We had this when I was growing up - my brother spilt milk on the carpet. Long story short, it somehow got into the floorboards (under the carpet and underlay) and over a period of week or so (whilst we were away, it was summer) it stank the place out and my parents ended up having the whole floorboard replaced to get rid of the smell as nothing else would get rid of it.

Katemax82 · 10/08/2026 14:10

Sometimes washing your carpets can leave across smell. My daughter's carpet at our old house stank to high heaven when it was shapooed

Batsratscatsgnats · 10/08/2026 14:08

Might you have forgotten about something in the oven? We left broccoli in there once. Genuinely thought something had died in the chimney

MissyB1 · 10/08/2026 14:05

Milk is a nightmare to get rid of the smell. Could you have the carpet professionally cleaned?

IAmKerplunk · 10/08/2026 14:04

I would say it is the spilt milk. Especially with the hot weather. My dad once spilt milk in his car. No matter how many times he had it professionally cleaned the smell didn’t go.

SilenceInside · 10/08/2026 14:03

There are enzyme-based de-odourising treatments you can get that are specifically designed to treat any lingering odours.

Original poster
Annnir · 10/08/2026 14:00

No it’s no dead rodents. The smell only started when he spilt milk. The sofas as material not the leather ones do all the cushions come out. I’ve taken all the cushions off and hoovered and wiped down.

OP posts:
Mumtotornadoes · 10/08/2026 13:59

You got a chimney stack? A downstairs toilet? Pets?

Food shoved down the side of the sofa.

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