Some households have a grimy smell? What causes it?

I remember my grandads house being a bit like this as he got older. He has a deep fat fryer and ate a lot of fried food so there was always a slightly “greasy” smell in the air and there was often a stickiness/ tackiness to his kitchen cupboards. He did clean but wasn’t on his hands and knees scrubbing and would have been insulted if we tried to do it!

It smells like unwashed hair to me, I can smell it on furniture and pillows that haven’t been washed

Cooker hood filters can get really smelly if not cleaned on a regular basis.

I think people get nose blind.

I dropped my colleague home once and her house stank of grease/fat. Her husband only eats meat and it was rancid. She obviously didn’t realise because she lived in it.

It’s like when you poo, if you’re sat there long enough, you stop smelling the poo. Unless you leave and re-enter…

I noticed last winter how many older people’s coats stank!!

As well as everything else that has been said; there is also rubbish to consider - if people dont clean, then they won't be cleaning their rubbish bin either and it'll stink. I know everytime I empty the bin, the recycling or the food waste, it gets washed and spritzed with antibacterial spray. Rubbish smells too.

My mum was a teacher and one of her colleagues always smelled of fried food. She dried her washing on a pulley in the kitchen where she was daily grilling or frying meat and the smell lingered in her clothes.
Everything that comes out of MIL's house stinks of damp because she refuses to ventilate the place. PIL looked after our DDs an afternoon a week before they started school and they came home with their hair and clothes smelling of damp. When she visits us, if I am out when she arrives, even if it wasn't for her car randomly abandoned on the driveway, I can smell the damp on her jacket hanging on the coat stand as soon as I walk in the door. BIL was visiting her from overseas recently and just before he went home we went out for lunch. I gave his DW a goodbye hug and her beautiful long hair stank of damp.

Yeah I know exactly the smell you mean! - it’s hard to describe, just a grimy, dusty smell and, yes, old oil.
We used to have a deep fat fryer when I was young. I bloody hated it. The smell was just grotty and the smell you are describing reminds me of that as well, deep fat fryer.
For a few weeks there I was paranoid about a damp smell in my house. Turns out we had a leak under the kitchen sink!

Im now worried that when I cook with olive oil my house now has this smell . I do notice that my house has a certain smell especially if I return from a few weeks away. No cats anymore but a dog that likes to jump in the canal! Maybe I should bath him daily. Our house is pretty clean tho- no grease or chip fat as cleaners come weekly and are very thorough.

Eek! Maybe your ex is now my husband lol.

It's a rancid fat smell. Sticks to hair and clothing. Awful!

I know exactly the smell you mean. I would have to regular visit people's homes and experienced this so often. The smell clings to your hair and clothes too. It's a mix of old fryer oil, body odor, grime, and just general uncleanliness

I agree with others that it can be from a mix of fried food and clothes and furnishings absorbing the smells. I used to be able to smell it at my parents house. I washed all my dad’s coats and changed the filter in the extractor hood and that helped.

I think it's fried food where the smell permeates soft furnishings. Made worse by never opening windows. I think some people have stinky coats hanging up in the hallway too, also soaking up the fried food smell. Yuk!

Feet smell from shoes .

I used to live in a block of flats where someone used a deep fat fryer most days and I don't think they ever changed the oil. They're not that common now and the smell is so nostalgic.

I know what you mean. My in-laws aren't the cleanest and their home has that smell. They try and cover it with air fresheners which just seems to make it worse. It's hard to describe but a mix of damp, dirty scalp, with something sweet thrown in. I often refuse to visit but DHs clothes have that smell when he comes home.

My sitting room often smells like a pile of dirty laundry. That's usually when DH is sitting in it! He doesn't change his clothes very often.

I used to care for an elderly couple and the smell going into their house would knock you sideways when you went in.... yet it was an acceptable level of clean and it took me ages to realise that the smell was coming from their coats hanging in the hallway. They hadn't been washed or aired properly for years and they absolutely stank! His had a really oily collar....

I think old water has a smell. Like when laundry isn't dry properly or you get caught in the rain and have to sit in your damp clothes. its not like death smell but damp... unclean bathrooms and kitchens have old water smell. (I sound nuts!)

The cause is nose-blindness

Agree, my in laws house smells of chip fat,it's disgusting, lingers on your clothes. MIL always kept a clean house but ill health and age means she can't keep on top of things. FIL tries his best but again not good at a thorough clean. They also don't open the windows much anymore. My DH scrubbed their house from top to bottom when they went on holiday in May but the place still stinks.