What's this gone off meat smell in my bedroom??

[nomoredramarama]

I keep noticing a horrendously disgusting smell in my bedroom. It's not there all the time. It smells like beef or chicken past the sell by date. The only other way I can describe it is like rubbish bins. Thing is....it's not there all the time.

Im single and live in a one bed flat. No kids or partner. Im fairly obsessed with cleaning and keeping a clean and tidy home. I'm very minimalist and regularly get rid of junk I don't need....I'm only saying this so you understand I don't think it's anything to do with the way I live creating the smell! I even have a top of the range carpet cleaner which I use regularly.

The weird thing about the smell is it can be overpowering for days....and then suddenly vanished again!

What is it? I do wonder if it's a dead mouse or something in the floorboards....but surely that would be a constant smell wouldn't it??

A dead bird in a chimney breast?
A "gift" from a cat?
Whiffy shoes?

Dead neighbour?

Could it be a blocked drain outside and the smell
Is seeping in?

Electrical fault? A light bulb too high wattage for a lamp can give off a very nasty smell.

Dm had a dead mouse that must have been in the wall cavity at the top of the stairs.

There was a gap in the skirting and every time the wind blew (must have had a gap in the pointing as well) it sent a waft of dead mouse down the stairs 🤢 you couldn't smell it all the time just when it was really windy.

Can you sniff the floor and walls to identify a more specific location?

I've had that before drama, but I think that is more of a fishy smell iirc?

I don't think it's an electrical fault....I've experienced that fishy smell before...it's not that!

Dead neighbour...unfortunately not.

The wind blowing thing is very interesting. I live in a block of flats at the top of a hill. Our building is so high it's been struck by lightning in the past....more than once! We do have amazing views off the city (irreverent I know!). But interesting that maybe when the wind is up the smell might be worse. Will look out for this.

It's so disgusting 🤮

No chimneys in this building.
No cats here (sadly!)
Shoes all kept in the hallway.

If there are mice/ rats in the building somewhere and someone is poisoning them it could account for the coming and going smell- dead animal stinking until it's done rotting, then another, and so on.

Ah yes, you're right, the electrical fault smell is fishy of course

I would not be at all surprised if we have rats or mice....more likely rats in the building. We have a communal bin area shared by 15 flats. Over the last 6 months the bins have been horrendous. People not bothering to use the recycling bins, and just piling it up in the general rubbish. Overflowing. Lids open. Sacks of rubbish left next to the bins. Maggots actually crawling over the bins!! I keep looking at the state of it and thinking that it is inevitable that we will end up with rats here. The building is not that well kept so I'm sure they could find their way in.

Thankfully there have been no signs of rats/mice inside my flat.

But I don't really understand why the smell in my flat would come and go. It's definitely coming from the floor on a specific part of my bedroom. I can literally isolate the exact spot it is coming from.
I just don't get why it comes and goes. I'm sure if I call my landlord to come over, the smell probably won't be there at that moment!

Would a rat smell come and go?

I'm worried it's rats now!!

No one who lives here would be independently putting poison down. The whole building is owned by one landlord

Does your bedroom open onto a lovely patio that you had built after your cheating ex and his lover swanned off suddenly to the continent?

justlou that’s a wonderfully specific question!

How long does the smell last? It could be different (dead) mice. Is anyone putting down poison do you know? Rotting animals do smell like you describe.

www.thriftyfun.com/Locating-the-Source-of-a-Foul-Smell-in-House-1.html

Lots of 'comes and goes' smells listed

No. But I had some really terrible neighbours living in the flat below me. Really hated them. They made my life hell for 6 months. Now they have vanished. And now the smell. It wasn't me your honour.

Do you have carpets?

We had a gross oniony/meaty smell in our bedroom that came and went. Turned out it was floods making the carpet damp, and everytime it got damp it released a disgusting odour, and then the odour went when it dried.

Well thank you everyone for your suggestions. I think, from all the suggestions, that it is probably a dead rodent. Still can't understand why the smell comes and goes through?! It's almost inevitable that our building will end up with a rodent problem, with the amount of rubbish dumped outside. It's quite disgusting. Landlord doesn't care. Making a lot of money by renting the flats to the council to use as temporary accommodation for homeless families. Flats totally overcrowded...really unsuitable for families and young children. No one cares about the building, because everyone is here temporarily now. So many people coming and going. Luckily I should hopefully be able to move on soon myself!

In the meantime I will learn to live with dead rodent under floorboard smell 😂

No floods or carpet issues. It's a first floor flat. Fairly new carpets. I give them a clean with a carpet cleaner every few months.

The room is quite empty apart from bed, bedside table and chest of drawers. The smell is coming from underneath the chest of drawers......maybe I will move the drawers and have a
closer look .

We had a smell like that. It lasted for months. At the same time we also had a huge number of big flies show up in our basement. Disgusting to say the least. We ended up pretty sure it was a dead rat in the basement wall. We had to spray the basement and vacuum up hundreds of dead flies.

Have you looked behind the drawers of the chest of drawers?

I'm sorry to say - I don't think it's a dead rodent. I think it's a rat issue, and probably live ones. Get out a pest control service for clarification.

A long number of years ago I had this problem in a room in my house. It wasn't constant but a dreadful smell when it was there.

There was no other evidence for a long while. Eventually I was away for a long w/e & came back to droppings in my kitchen. Thing is, they didn't correspond to rat droppings, much smaller, so reckoned mice & dealt with as such.

Fairly soon after smell escalated & I heard 'noises'. 🤢 once I got the pest control company out, it turned out there was a significant rat infestation, living in the wall cavities, the small droppings were baby rats, the smell was rat urine, and the reason it was periodic is that they were 'clever' enough to only come sporadically.

🤮🤮🤮🤮

I'm like you, very clean, info cleaning etc. Had one small child at the time. I was distraught & felt dreadful I'd let it go on so long.

The only good thing was it was sorted really quickly and then I did some work on the house & gutted the room, knocked down wall between that room & kitchen, which I'd been meaning to do & this prompted action!

Pest control. ASAP!

Not quite the same, but in my Aunt's spare bedroom when I stay over, a few times -always about 2.30 in the morning but not regularly - only experienced it twice so far, I smell a struck match right where I am sleeping. In my dazed state I think there is a fire so go all through the house checking! The smell is only there for seconds but is a worry!